San Anselmo 2020 Holiday Marketing Plan & Toolkit

Shortly after our Small Business Saturday (SBS) debriefing and planning sessions for Holiday 2020, our business community was once again hit with increased COVID restrictions. Despite the new restrictions, our stores are still able to allow shoppers in their stores with maximum of 20% of normal capacity allowed, and restaurants and cafes are able to offer take out and delivery. Our marketing plan and toolkit has been adjusted to reflect these changes.

Announcement of Zoom Sessions for Holiday Marketing Program

As requested, Jessica Rising, Chair of EDC will be holding two planning sessions with Town staff regarding the implementation of the San Anselmo Business Holiday Marketing Program and invites you to attend one of the sessions, which will take place Monday, December 14, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Session Topics will include:

Rollout of the San Anselmo Holiday Marketing Program, including support materials, store signs, social media marketing and advertising.
Last Minute Late Shopping Nights for Red Hill (12/17), and Downtown & Other Business Districts (12/19).
Determine if we should also focus on After Christmas Sales in our Holiday Plan.

To review the project plan for the SA Holiday Marketing Program click here.
December 14, 2020 Monday two sessions 8:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88526454823
Meeting ID: 885 2645 4823
Join by phone (San Jose area code) (669) 900-6833

If you can't attend one of the sessions, please feel free to contact Jessica Rising at jrising@risinggroup.net or text her at 415.602.3772 with any questions or requests.

Quick Summary of SA Holiday Marketing Program

Custom Storefront Window Poster Signs

We have custom designed 10 new storefront window poster signs, which are available in multiple colors, themes and messages aligned with Holiday Shopping, planned Last Minute Late Night Shopping Days, and the urgent situation our merchants face with current COVID restrictions. The selection also includes the popular signs where merchants can hand write in seasonal specials and list their website url for online shopping. Click here to view signs

Complimentary signs have been printed and can be picked up at Town Hall in the hallway across from Council Chambers, during business hours starting now. Jessica Rising will also personally keep some inventory at her house. Please contact her if you wish to pick up from her home or possibly have delivered.

We may create additional Holiday sign designs, but due to extremely limited bandwidth of our volunteer sign group (Rich Burns, Kelley Warner and Jessica Rising), we are launching with these current designs for now. Special thanks to Rich and Kelley and also to Elise Semonian for printing the signs.

Also, additional copies of the "Open for Business" and "Mask" signs have been printed and are also available for pick up, in case current signs are worn and need replacing. Click here to order.

Social Media Marketing

JPG's

Nine versions of our signs have been created into jpgs. for SA businesses to use for posting with their Holiday social media campaigns. Click here to download from the Town website or contact Jessica Rising directly at jrising@risinggroup.net and she will happy to email them to you. Please note these graphic files are available for one time use only with the SA Holiday Marketing Campaign, and are not to be altered in accordance with San Anselmo Town branding and copyright guidelines.

Hashtags

Aside from your usual hashtags, we recommend using #shopsananselmo, #sananselmo, #shoplocal #shopsmall and #dinesananselmo in your social posts.

NextDoor

Aside from individual business social media accounts, we saw good results on NextDoor for SBS and encourage posting on this platform as well as the entire business community posting comments, likes, following, etc. on each other social media accounts.
Official posts by the Town will also be placed.

Print Ads

Due to the positive response with the SBS ad in Marin IJ and request from those that attended the SBS debriefing sessions, three additional 1/4 page ads will be placed for the Holidays. They include:

12/16/20 (W) issue of the Marin Scope newspapers (six cities).
12/16/20 (W) issue of the Marin IJ
Either 12/20/20 (Su) or 12/27/20 (Su) issue of the Marin IJ, to be determined by those attending upcoming planning sessions.

Please note that the Town of San Anselmo in partnership with the San Anselmo Chamber of Commerce is paying for these three print ads.

Shopping Options

It important to communicate to customers shopping, ordering and delivery options you offer with your business, especially as some customers will prefer not to come into your stores. Examples include in store @ maximum 20% capacity with strict safety protocols, online ordering, Facetime shopping experiences, Instagram live selling, phone orders, online takeout ordering systems, personal shopping appointments, curbside pick up, delivery options, etc.

Last Minute Late Night Shopping

Some of our business owners wanted to offer customers last minute late night shopping experiences, where businesses stay open until 8:00 p.m. Here are the dates selected by business districts:

Red Hill Shopping Center: December 17, 2020 (Thursday)
Downtown & Other Business Districts: December 19, 2020 (Saturday)

We will be advertising and promoting the late night shopping dates by area in our program.
EDC member Rebecca Bugas (Co-owner of The Hub) is the lead for Red Hill Late Night Shopping on 12/17/20, and can be emailed here.

Eblasts & Blogs

All open businesses and restaurants should send out an Eblast letter about their Holiday season specials and the upcoming Last Minute Late Night shopping, if they are planning to participate. We also recommend letting people know shopping, takeout, and delivery options. Same with blogs/news on websites.
Promotion of our Holiday Marketing Program will be featured in the Town Manager Newsletters.

Website Pop-ups

Create a pop up on your website to highlight Holiday shopping, any specials you are offering, and Late Night shopping if planning to participate.

Handbill

Some of our businesses wish to have a handbill with call to action about late night shopping to handout to customers.
The handbill for Red Hill merchants has been completed and EDC member Rebecca Bugas is distributing to merchants who wish to stay open late on 12/17/20.
Design of the handbill for Downtown & Other Business is in process and will be available via Town website for downloading on 12/14/20 (M). Jessica Rising is also happy to email the digital file to any interested merchants for them to print out on their end.

Media Outreach

We will continue to reach out to media sources regarding our Holiday efforts.

Holiday Decorations

Members of the community donated funds to purchase garland and volunteers installed the garland on most street light poles in the Downtown.

After Christmas Sale

At our planning session on 12/14/20, we will determine if the business community would also like our Holiday Marketing Plan to include After Christmas Sales.

I look forward to our upcoming Holiday planning sessions and thank all who have given of themselves to help our small businesses during this very challenging time.