The Downtown Long Beach Alliance (DLBA) is always looking for new ways to encourage people to support Downtown businesses. With the seasons changing and Shop Small Saturday coming up, DLBA is honing its marketing efforts around holiday shopping and dining. For those unfamiliar, Shop Small Saturday is an American Express campaign that turns Black Friday on its head by promoting mom-and-pop shops, rather than big name retailers, the following day.
DLBA is encourage shopping local on Shop Small Saturday with the following initiatives and promotions:
Organically promoting businesses through Shop DTLB and Dine Out DTLB
Shop DTLB is a digital directory of DTLB retailers. Dine Out DTLB is an interactive map of Downtown restaurants open for takeout, delivery, or dine-in service. It is 100% free for Downtown businesses to be featured on Shop DTLB and Dine Out DTLB, which are regularly shared via DLBA’s social media channels.
Advertising Campaign with Los Angeles Magazine
Starting November 12, DLBA is advertising its Shop DTLB and Dine Out DTLB campaigns with Los Angeles Magazine to increase the visibility of Downtown shops and restaurants in the Los Angeles County area. These advertisements will consist of digital ads on www.lamag.com, dedicated social media posts, email blast spotlights, and a print advertisement in the December issue of the magazine. The goal of this comprehensive campaign is to drive new business to Downtown shops and restaurants and increase their visibility in the region.
New Downtown Scene Giveaway
Beginning November 6, DLBA is running a new gift card giveaway through our monthly Downtown Scene newsletter. For a chance to win a $200 gift card to a Downtown Long Beach establishment of your choice, simply make sure you’re signed up to receive our Downtown Scene monthly newsletter, and submit a November receipt from a DTLB business to our contest page. This competition will benefit one DTLB businesses with a direct $200 gift card purchase from DLBA, and it will also encourage spending at all Downtown businesses and restaurants as part of a requirement to win.
Promotional Video: Support DTLB
Also in November, we will be filming and releasing a video promoting Downtown Long Beach and urging viewers to support local businesses. Once released, this video will be shared and boosted on DLBA’s social media accounts.
Sharing Shop Small content
Finally, DLBA will be promoting businesses participating in Shop Small Saturday by resharing individual businesses’ specials. Businesses should tag DLBA on social media or send promotional content to Social Media and Digital Marketing Coordinator Lauren Mayne at LaurenM@dlba.org.
Increasing the visibility of Downtown Long Beach businesses is one of DLBA’s top priorities. We believe that the more we promote, the more sales our local businesses will see. Why is this important? For every $100 spent at a small business, $68 remains in the community. When you Shop DTLB, you Support DTLB. Help us support Downtown Long Beach and its businesses by shopping small this holiday season. For information on which stores are open and services available, visit DTLB.org/Shop. To see which Downtown restaurants are open for dine-in, takeout, and delivery, visit DTLB.org/Dine.