by Micah Loucks
We all love progress, but no one enjoys seeing the orange barrels come out during Michigan’s road construction season. Additionally, it takes on a completely different meaning if they appear outside the front door of your small business. For business owners on Livernois, Grand River and Bagley, this has been their reality all summer. Diggers, cement trucks, backhoes and semi-trucks zoom up and down the road, park in front of their businesses and rip up their sidewalks, making it even more difficult than normal to execute a marketing strategy.
Knowing the difficulties, TechTown’s SWOT City collaborated with Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation, Detroit Economic Development Corporation and Lydia Michael from Blended Collective to provide business owners with some key marketing takeaways during these difficult times. Blended Collective is a multicultural marketing and brand consultancy with a heart to help small businesses. Last month, eight business owners along Grand River met with a marketing professional to discuss ways to improve their digital marketing strategies to attract customers.
Lindsay Marr, owner of Town Hall Caffe, has been severely affected by construction with a 70% loss in sales in September. Speaking with Lydia allowed her to focus her marketing vision and intentions. “It helped reassure me in what I was already doing and gave me new ways to expand my marketing,” Marr said.
In addition to Grand River, eight businesses in Southwest Detroit and another eight businesses on Livernois affected by road construction were able to meet with Lydia in the past month. SWOT City is thankful to be able to work with our partners across the city to provide these great services to neighborhood businesses. Everyone is excited to see the beautiful streetscapes to come, but for many business owners, they cannot come soon enough.
If you would like to meet with Blended Collective’s President and Founder, Lydia Michael, you can sign up for TechTown’s Ask an Expert where Lydia generously gives of her time to meet one-on-one with businesses.
