Think Local – Think Live Oak
The Live Oak Partnership and the Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce have partnered to launch a buy local campaign. The campaign is designed to raise awareness of the importance of keeping local dollars local and how it affects public services, local business, jobs, and community activities.
“Each time you make a local purchase, you support local jobs.” said Dennis Cason, President of the Suwannee County Economic Alliance. “During tough economic times like these, spending those dollars at home makes an even greater impact on the economy of the community. Sales tax that is generated by community purchases goes to fund important departments such as fire, police, parks, library, senior services, and Suwannee County schools. Businesses also support and sponsor community events and activities that make the city of Live Oak a great place to live and shop.”
“We realize that not everything is available in our stores, but we want to encourage local shoppers to look here first before making a trip out of town,” says Randy Torrance, Live Oak Partnership Chairman. “With gas prices what they are, shoppers will often save time and money by shopping within our community.” The campaign is three fold in principle. The Live Oak Local campaign will work to encourage Live Oak residents to Think Local when they are considering where to make purchases, Buy Local whenever possible and Be Local by supporting business that support our community, and make it unique.
The campaign will include the distribution of fact sheets, known as factoids, regarding the influence that spending money in locally owned and operated businesses has on the community’s economic prosperity. It will also have a multifaceted internet presence including a webpage and an active social media marketing campaign which will utilize Facebook to the benefit of all participating businesses. These facets of E-communication will operate largely as a free directory of local goods and services and will be a reliable resource of information about community events, featuring user-submitted content and allowing anyone in Live Oak to share news and photos. Additionally, street-side banners will be prominently displayed representing the campaign.
Torrance also shared, “Local businesses are the essence of our economy. Live Oak’s businesses create jobs for our residents, contribute significantly to our nonprofits and help to sustain a vibrant downtown. It is important for all of us to choose to support them. We are not excluding the big-box or national retailers, we do recognize the impact that they have in our community. Not only through jobs but through the offering of many of our daily needs and services. I am really excited about this new program and partnership that has been established with the Chamber of Commerce. I look forward to working with them in this effort.”
The Live Oak Local campaign will be administered by steering committee of participating retailers who will discuss and evaluate campaign productivity and plan upcoming campaigns, events and incentives. This steering committee will work under the auspices of the Economic Restructuring committee of The Live Oak Partnership, Inc. Additional information can be gained by visiting www.ShopHistoricLiveOak.com.
