by Shawna Galassi
Michelle Long, executive director and co-founder of Sustainable Connections in Bellingham, WA, is no stranger to social marketing. The 35-year-old powerhouse used social marketing principles to launch a successful Think Local First program in her community that is now emulated throughout the country. “I’m a big believer in community based social marketing,” Long said in a telephone interview. “I think it’s a proven set of strategies for changing behavior.” The success of Bellingham’s four-year-old buy local campaign is a prime example of how well the strategies work. A survey conducted in 2006 shows that 69% of Bellingham residents are familiar with the Think Local First campaign, and three in five households within the community have changed their purchasing behavior because of it.
Long, who founded Sustainable Connections with husband Derek, and Rick Dubrow, said the model for the buy local program was built on reciprocity. The group decided that they didn’t want a one-sided campaign in which they implored residents to buy local, when some local businesses may not provide good customer service or use good environmental practices. Instead, Long said, it was decided they would “help local businesses be really good stewards of the community, and in turn ask the local community to support them.” Promoting a dual-sided message enables Long and her cohorts to show residents what local businesses do for the community. “That’s a key to why it’s worked so well here,” Long said. “The campaign is about stewardship.”
Another key to the program’s success has been the use of social marketing tools to educate the public. Sustainable Connections provides participating businesses with marketing tools, such as Think Local-Buy Local-Be Local logos for their windows. They also sell bumper stickers, T-shirts, and onesies with the logo. When people sport the logo, Long said, the message that comes across is, “I’m proud to be a local, and I support local.”
Sustainable Connections also places advertisements promoting the Think Local First campaign in local newspapers, and twice a year places inserts in newspapers emphasizing the good things the local businesses do for the community. The campaign also has its own mascot – a bee – that attends events and promotes the “think local-buy local-be local” message.
“Community-based marketing is about person-to-person (contact),” Long said. “Behavior gets changed by talking to a trusted person. We make the information ever-present. So many businesses are using it (the Think Local First logo) that it becomes what you see.” Long said the more people see others participating in the Think Local First campaign, the better because “most people want to do what’s considered normal.”
Another key marketing strategy used to promote the Think Local First campaign is the use of events. This past year, events have included seasonal promotions with holiday posters, such as “Luck O’ the Local” posters for St. Patrick’s Day and “Make Your Mother Proud” posters on Mother’s Day; Think Local First games at the farmers market; a spring/summer “Buy FRESH” campaign with materials and farm maps delivered to restaurants and grocery stores; Eat Local Week, with local food and celebrations at local restaurants and food businesses; and coming up in December, Buy Local Week, with balloons and promotional events at businesses throughout the region, as well as distribution of game flyers with chances to win prizes, and a winter guide to local, independently owned businesses.
Besides using tools and strategies to publicize the Think Local First campaign, Long said they took a look at the tenets of social marketing and came up with solutions to obstacles. One of the tenets of social marketing, Long said, is that people don’t do things they don’t feel committed to do. Long and her cohorts combat this inertia by devising creative ways to educate people on the reasons they should buy local, and then provide incentives for them to follow through. As an example, Long said, at a Fourth of July event, sticky pads that said “I shop local because ...” were passed out, and people were encouraged to complete the phrase and hang their stickers in windows all over town. “People feel committed after doing it,” Long said.
Reducing barriers is another tenet of social marketing that Long implemented into the program. She interviewed people and asked them whether or not they shopped locally, and if they answered “no,” asked why not. “We found people didn’t know what we were talking about when we said ‘local’ or ‘independent’,” Long said. She said they interviewed a Walmart employee who thought shopping in the community Walmart was an example of buying local. “We realized we had to show people what (buy local) is, and where to go,” Long said. As a solution, a coupon book was developed that helps residents identify local businesses and provides them with incentives to frequent them. They also have a directory of participating businesses.
And to help people understand why they should support local businesses, Sustainable Connections has created a flyer listing the top ten reasons to think local-buy local-be local.
Before delving into the reasons, the flyer acknowledges that it may not always be possible to buy local, and begins by stating, “We realize it is not always possible to buy what you need locally and so merely ask you to Think Local FIRST!”
Early on in the program, Long said they met with some resistance from people who didn’t understand the concept of think local first, and accused them of being “parochial” and against trade. “Some think we’re not being inclusive,” Long said. “Our purpose is in being inclusive. We believe in a community of independents, and we believe it’s smart to promote a majority of independents.”
In four years, Sustainable Connections has recruited six hundred independent businesses into the Think Local First program. “It’s such a wild success here,” Long said. “There’s been a real cultural shift in our community.”
For those interested in starting a program in their community, Sustainable Connections has put together a Think Local First Campaign How-To Kit that is available for $100. For more information, go to
www.sustainableconnections.org .
