How We Scale Your Marketing With Soul
Marketing prefers tactics that scale easily. National perks, mass discounts, the same gift card for every customer. Generic scales, but it’s also forgotten easily.
Marketing of that sort overlooks the mom-and-pop businesses that contribute to a neighborhood’s soul – the feeling of being home. LoLo’s founders grew increasingly frustrated as they watched neighborhood after neighborhood be stripped of its personality by big-box chains using these tactics. The local independent mom-and-pop businesses that supported the community for generations didn’t have any of those tools and were being pushed out. That’s why LoLo exists.
LoLo founders Matthew and Clark decided to take action by building a network of independent businesses to celebrate what makes a community special, and then equipping them with the marketing tools to compete. They wanted to preserve the coffee shop where the owner remembers your order. The brewery that is trying out a seasonal beer with local ingredients. The wine shop that has an extra case hidden away.
What they couldn’t crack was distribution. An accidental but consequential meeting changed that. It led them to the marketing team at Beverly-Hanks & Associates in Asheville, NC, who were chasing the flip side of the same problem. They wanted to scale their agents’ sphere marketing without resorting to spammy tactics. The LoLo team figured out that anyone whose business runs on repeat and referral needs to stay in touch with the people who send them business. And if they can direct their marketing dollars to the same communities that support them, that’s even better.
Local sales professionals already have an audience that trusts their recommendations. Why not complete the loop by gifting a donut from the bakery down the street and simultaneously support a local business? A pour from the brewery testing a new seasonal batch or a houseplant from the flower shop that just opened can all be used to keep a business connected to their sphere of influence while celebrating the very best that a community has to offer.
But before that kind of cooperation can happen, the loop needs to start spinning. When it does, everyone benefits from working together, but a critical mass is necessary. The LoLo team builds momentum by partnering with local salespeople to build that critical mass and introduce LoLo to new communities.
750 Is The Magic Number
We’ve run millions of campaigns each year for ten years now. That taught us every great LoLo community needs one thing before anything else clicks: people.
Enough people starts at 750 or above. Once a location hits 750 monthly recipients, something great starts to happen. The featured business sees a new face walk through the door about every other day. That’s not a stat on a dashboard. That’s a real person, showing up because someone they trust sent them there.
When the local businesses feel that kind of steady support, they begin to offer up more attractive gifts and even recommend other shops in the area to get involved. Below 750, it’s harder for them to feel it. Above 750, the whole thing starts to hum.
It’s all about getting to the point where a local business feels supported, and where staying connected to your community becomes easy.
Building a zone that holds.
Here’s what hundreds of launches have taught us. People move, contacts change jobs, and some opt out along the way. Launch with exactly 750 recipients, and you’re often below critical mass before it finds its footing.
We’re always looking for professionals who bring a solid sphere, not just a handful of names. In real estate, agents know a strong book of business is often built on 150 to 200 people who already know, like, and trust them. The fuller the list, the more likely the community will generate opportunities to curate fantastic gifts from the best local businesses.
Professionals feel this too. A fuller list means touches add up faster into momentum a professional can feel: more conversations, more thank-yous, more redemptions, and more repeat and referral business. Uploading a handful of contacts isn’t bad, but it can take a while before the results become visible. It’s alright if someone’s starting there. It just means there’s some sphere-building to do first, and LoLo can help with that too.
Keeping It Fresh
Recipients get a zone moving. Local businesses keep it fun.
A community with a handful of participating businesses runs out of surprises fast. The bagel shop shows up again. Then again. Even a great gift loses its shine after a few “features.” That’s why every community also needs enough variety that no one sees the same gift twice in a row.
Variety isn’t simply to avoid repeats. It’s about selecting something that surprises and delights the recipient. Our own data backs this up: specific gifts outperform generic ones. A bagel beats a “breakfast.” A slice of pizza beats a “meal.” When someone can picture what’s waiting for them.
Specificity doesn’t just get more clicks. It creates a moment. Offers built around a tasting or a local discovery spark nearly three times the emotional response of a plain, passive discount.
A deep bench of local businesses is what makes all of that possible, gift after gift, month after month, without going stale.
Bringing LoLo To Your Community
None of this happens without taking the first step.
Each introduction starts with at least one community partner. That’s the organization or professional who steps up and believes in backing local businesses, and in return, LoLo makes it worth their while. Launch partners get special pricing, up to 50% off for the first six months. Being a launch partner means more than early access. You’ll have the chance to help us map the community’s boundaries and build the first list of local businesses to feature. That’s real goodwill in your local business community, and your name is attached to it from day one.
Building The Momentum
The Ingredients To Launching A LoLo Community
- A launch partner willing to help gather the 750+ monthly recipients. Ideally, 25 senders each agree to add at least 50 contacts to create the critical mass that drives real foot traffic to local businesses and keeps them engaged.
- 75+ local businesses. Enough variety that no one sees the same gift twice in a row for many months.
- A community’s boundaries. Set together with the launch partner, based on zip codes and how people actually move through the area.
- An initial business list. Also built with the launch partner, so the first gifts feel right for the community from day one.
Alright, then, let’s get started! We’ll get to work building momentum with you and the local businesses in your area. Most of the time, we can launch a new zone within six to eight weeks.