• This event is now fully booked
  

Susan Briggs, a North Yorkshire based marketing specialist, will offer a practical and straightforward insight into low cost marketing activities that work, including:

• Deciding on a Unique Selling Point (USP) – some practical examples and options
• Which promotional tools work best, and when?
• Very quick, simple ways to market on the web – whether you have a website already or not
• How to write press releases to get no-cost publicity and attract more funders
• Working together – collaborative approaches and ideas that nearly always work
• Not just ‘yet another leaflet’… easy fast ways to massively improve print material – and do it without a big budget

Practical sessions will be interspersed throughout the day so the learning is interactive and fast moving.  You should go home feeling enthused, excited and not just clear about what you have to do next to improve your marketing – you’ll have already started it before the end of the day!

You will also be able to hear from one town which has done just this and, having identified their USP, have used it to promote their town with award winning results.

Download the programme for the day: How to market your town – seminar programme

Venue: The Courthouse, Westgate, Thirsk, YO7 1QS

Detailed directions, parking, transport and hotel information will be circulated to delegates nearer the time of the event.

If you have any questions about your booking, please contact Dawn Dowds, Action for Market Towns at dawn.dowds@towns.org.uk or call 01284 756567

We have set up a dedicated online forum to give you the opportunity to exchange ideas and queries with each other and with us before and after the event, to let others know you’re going, or to ask any questions you would like answered on the day. 

• Go to the How to market your town – Networking Forum

A social enterprise in Settle, North Yorkshire which generates green electricity with all profits going to the community has won the Yorkshire and Humber regional prize in the prestigious Market Town Awards and will now go head-to-head with projects from seven other regions in the National Market Town Awards.

Settle Hydro Ltd is Yorkshire’s first community benefit hydro electricity company. It will produce about 150,000kw of clean green renewable energy per annum, sold into the national grid, producing a sustainable income. The scheme involved installing an Archimedes screw alongside an existing weir.

Funded by a mix of grants, an Industrial and Providence Society share issue, and a bank loan, Settle Hydro was started and is run by a team of dedicated and business-minded volunteers. It will produce an income for the Settle community for at least the next 50 years, and is proving a role model for other communities.

The judges commented that the project was very strong on community involvement, innovation and the viability of the funding package. They said it was a well conceived and well implemented project with community benefits.

Settle Hydro won the Partnership and Strategic Working Category in the regional Market Town Awards and was also the overall regional winner. The award was presented at a ceremony in Todmorden by the Mayor of Todmorden, Cllr Margareta Holmstedt.  They now go head-to-head with other regional winners to compete for the National Market Town Award at the Action for Market Towns Convention in Chippenham, Wiltshire on October 12.

Other winners were:

Environment and Culture Category – The Junction, Goole, East Yorkshire for a £3million  landmark community, arts and civic building to provide  a catalyst for the creation of jobs, training opportunities and the broader regeneration of Goole market and the town centre. The project was led by Goole Town Council.

Business and Economy Category – Slaithwaite Community Shop, West Yorkshire. This is a community-owned shop which was set-up when an existing greengrocer was about to go out of business. It was established as an Industrial and Provident Society and has raised over £25,000 in share capital from the local community.  The shop promotes local food, is thriving and continues to increase its sales and impact on the small town centre.

Social and Community Category – Hudswell Community Pub, North Yorkshire for establishing a co-operative to buy and operate the village pub, which had closed down with no prospect of a buyer. The George and Dragon will be run for the benefit of the residents of the village and of visitors to the area, providing services to the village and to visitors that will support other local businesses and tourism within Swaledale.  Most importantly it will put the heart back into the village and provide a place for social gatherings, cultural activities, a place to meet people, exchange information and it will promote a cohesive and friendly community in Hudswell.

The Yorkshire and Humber Market Town Awards are part of the National Market Town Awards which each year celebrate the great variety of volunteer-led projects which are helping to regenerate and sustain small towns throughout the country. The Awards are organised by Action for Market Towns, the national organization with over 400 towns in membership which supports the regeneration and vitality of small towns.

Ends

For further press information on the market town awards, please contact: John Pole on 01430 441557. E-mail: john.pole@towns.org.uk

To contact Settle Hydro, ring Ann Harding on 01729 812155

To contact The Junction, Goole, ring Charlie Studdy on 01405 763652

To contact Slaithwaite Community Shop, ring Camilla Govan on 01484 844554

To contact Hudswell Community Pub ring Martin Booth on 07903 872635

Attracting and Retaining Visitors to our Market Towns – Thursday 13 May 2010, Malton, North Yorkshire.

The next North Yorkshire Towns Alive Seminar is all about  identifying the events and attractions which are your town’s visitor magnets.

In an effort to help towns combat the ongoing effects of the recession, the seminar will focus on helping market towns realise their visitor offer and increase ‘footfall’ of both residents and visitors (from near and far). The event will cover how to identify which features and attractions can contribute to getting people not only to visit but to return, stay longer and hopefully spend.

For AMT members (anywhere in the country) this event costs just £10. For non-members, it is £25 for North Yorkshire residents or organisations or £35 if you are outside the county.

This is scheduled to be the first of two events, with the first focused on encouraging towns to see the benefit of looking at their offer and thinking laterally, about who their market is and what the features, events and festivals they have which currently attract or could attract people to the town.  Delegates will then be shown how to identify their unique selling points from this research, to identify products and themes to promote and then learn how to develop these themes and projects into an overall vision for the town.  (The second event, to follow at the end of the summer will then be on how to promote and market these projects).

Click here for a detailed programme and event information

The Venue:

Ryedale House, Old Malton Road, Malton, North Yorkshire. YO17 7HH

Directions, parking, transport and hotel information will be uploaded to this page and sent out to booked delegates at a later date.

To Book:

To secure your place, please click here to access and complete the online booking form as soon as possible. This will allow us to confirm numbers with the caterers and venue. Any questions give Dawn Dowds a ring on: 01284 756567

Why not let others know you’re going and ask any questions you would like answered on the day – click here to go to our AMT Forum

The delegates list will be downloaded to the forum at least a week prior to the event to give you a chance to identify who else is going to be there and to give you the opportunity to start networking even before the day itself!

The seminar, on Thursday 25 February, was organised by the North Yorkshire Towns Alive Programme – a collaboration between North Yorkshire County Council and Action for Market Towns, supported by the Big Lottery Fund.

• Download a detailed programme and event information

ShopLocalNY

Cath Grimsey kicked off the day by explaining how and why she had developed ShopLocalNY, which started in Bedale in 2009 but rapidly spread to other towns in North Yorkshire.

The project model involves a website, membership and loyalty cards linked to discounts and special offers. There are currently 190 business members and nearly 10,000 cards have been distributed (sold).  Cardholders can claim promotions/discounts on goods and services from any member shop or business while the business directory on the website promotes ‘hidden gems’ on the local high street.

• Read Cath’s presentation on ShopLocalNY

Caterham ShopSmart

Chris Windridge then presented the experience of Caterham Shopsmart. Although Caterham’s loyalty scheme only began in August 2009, over 1800 people are now members and 50 shops and local businesses are part of the scheme, which continues to expand.

The scheme offers free cards to the public, who in return register basic details. The free aspect is aimed at reducing barriers to entry for shoppers.

• Read Chris’s presentation on Caterham ShopSmart

Pitfalls of loyalty cards

The third presentation of the morning was a frank and open portrayal of the potential pitfalls of loyalty cards by Mark Barnes, Town Centre Manager, Louth. Mark has been working with loyalty schemes for a few years, with various towns and organisations such as the Civic Trust.

• Read Mark’s presentation on the pitfalls of loyalty cards

After tucking into a delicious buffet of local produce, the delegates split into three groups to consider the issues involved in setting up or expanding a shop local scheme in their own towns, before returning to the plenary and the opportunity to question the panel of speakers.

amt-i research into loyalty cards

The day concluded with a presentation by Hannah Bowden of amt-i who presented the main findings of her recent research project into the role of loyalty cards in market towns.

The research looked at a variety of schemes and considered issues ranging from the reasons behind the different approaches and methodology, to costs and funding sources and the collection of customer data.

• Read Hannah’s presentation on loyalty card research

Your questions

If you have questions about starting a shop local scheme, why not check out our North Yorkshire Shop Local online forum where people experienced in developing and running loyalty card campaigns are waiting to answer your questions.

If you were there and want to keep the conversations going (or if you weren’t but want to find out more from those who attended), why not post a comment in our Settle Hydro discussion forum? (Note: you will need to register a username and password to post a comment in the forum)

We’ll be posting more details of the day soon – including presentations and the Q&A session.

On what may have been the hottest day of the year so far, North Yorkshire Towns Alive put on their first Market Towns Seminar at the community cinema in Thirsk, The Ritz.

‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’
The day kicked off with a detailed account of how Thirsk had managed to bring the cinema back to life (after many years in the wilderness) and transform it into a successful, volunteer-run community cinema that has been playing to growing audiences for 15 years.

Find out more about the award-winning Thirsk cinema project.

Shaping your town’s future through benchmarking
We then moved on to Catherine Hammant’s presentation on benchmarking. This focused on the simple benchmarking tools towns can use to find out how they are faring and where they can improve, for example, by bringing in a ‘key attractor’ such as a Marks & Spencer’s, or reviewing their car parking strategies – always a controversial one!

In groups, attendees examined the benchmarking results for an ‘example’ town and had plenty of debate on which elements were key to turning a town’s fortunes around.

AMT Community
After a delicious lunch in the Town Hall, technophobes and internet addicts alike were introduced to the (very) new AMT Community and Forum and invited to discuss in groups the ways in which online technology was or wasn’t working for their market towns and how we could develop the AMT Community into a useful tool for connecting market towns across the country in the future.

Read more about the Market Towns Online session.

Empty Shops Network
We also enjoyed a presentation on the Empty Shops Network that has been set up by Dan Thompson of the Revolutionary Arts Group.  Although Dan wasn’t able to make it on the day, he sent his presentation in his place and is now ready and waiting for your questions in the AMT Forum.

View the Empty Shops Network presentation.

Yorkshire & Humber Market Town Awards 2009
And finally we came to the moment everyone had been waiting for, the announcement of the winners of the Yorkshire & Humber Market Town Awards 2009. The winners (with judges’ comments) were:

OVERALL WINNER and winner of the Environment and Culture category:
Incredible Edible Todmorden – The community seems to have got well and truly behind this very laudable idea. Innovative, with long term viability and easily transferable. An exciting small town project.

Business and Economy category:
Bedale Heritage Partnership Scheme – A good example of a town wide integrated programme that is helping to develop resilience in the local economy. An effective regeneration project with multiple aims from improving shop fronts in the town centre to turning underused buildings into office space.

Partnership and Strategic Working category:
Wallingfen Way – B1230 Working Group – A project that is trying to solve a ‘real’ community issue. Involving three separate communities the project shows that people can work together with one ultimate aim. Innovative and transferable, the next challenge will be to raise sufficient funds to make the vision a reality.

Social and Community category:
Driffield Community Street Survey - This project demonstrated that small communities can get together, articulate where improvements could be made, and then go on to make the authorities do something about it. Street surveys are becoming more important and this project is already being replicated in other towns in the area.

This event was organised by the North Yorkshire Towns Alive Programme – a collaboration between North Yorkshire County Council and Action for Market Towns supported by the Big Lottery Fund.