SANDWICH BUSINESS GROUP
MINUTES
DECEMBER 4, 2006

Members present: Julie Deak, Diane Johnson, Don Sutton, Lois Carmody, Don Brown, and Patsy Carega.

Don Brown called the meeting to order at 8:40.

Today's meeting is a research meeting as there is not a lot of concrete business to discuss.

Tom Klein is unable to be at Monday meetings. He did open a Post Office Box. Don Brown and Julie Deak will be responsible for mail pick up. Our new address is:
 Post Office Box 116, Center Sandwich, NH 03227.

Marketing Committee: Chair: Don Sutton.

Don passed out three papers: General Themes/Thoughts, Marketing Implications, and Potential Marketing Actions. (The copies are attached) Discussion was as follows:

Don Sutton's committee has had several meetings, and queried the SBG membership in an effort to hone in on recommendations for a marketing plan 2007. A plan will be presented to the group next month.

The general theme was that word of mouth is the best PR in town.

The SBG is made up of two groups: External and Internal. The External group needs to reach outside of Sandwich to survive and the Internal group can exist on business generated from the town. Summer residents are a target for both groups but not enough for the external group. There is overlapping between the two groups.

Don's committee found that only one business belongs to all Chambers of Commerce in surrounding towns that many belong to one Chamber of Commerce in a surrounding town.

The brochure is the common thread between the two groups. The Web is also a good marketing source. The Sandwich Board is also a good source. The marketing implications are that our group has different needs. Some members are willing to spend money, others are not willing or find it unnecessary to pay for advertising. The result is that it takes a long time to accomplish joint projects.

Marketing Actions:

Diane Johnson spoke about the Sandwich Book, which the Women's Club is producing. It is a handbook of all the businesses in town to be available to the town and to new people coming to Sandwich. The group felt that the SBG could underwrite the project by factoring a small amount into our membership fee. The book would benefit us all. Diane will begin work on the handbook in January.

Brochure mailing: Mail the brochure within Sandwich and also to neighboring towns. We can get mailing labels from the town for a fee.

Combine resources with the Town of Sandwich. Work with the selectman where appropriate. Take part in Town events such as Christmas in the Village, Dog Sled Races, Old Home Week, Winter Carnival and any other town events. Any events are potential marketing tools for the SBG. Anytime that there is an event that brings people into town, it is the business of the SBG to be involved. The problem is finding the people to volunteer. For Example Christmas in the Village could involve carolers, door decorations and other ideas. We are competing with every other neighboring town especially at Christmas time. We don't have enough to offer shopping-wise so we would have to focus on the lack of shopping and more on the spirit of Christmas. It was discussed adding animals to the weekend but animals raise a big insurance issue. Perhaps through the town's policy animals would be possible. We should talk to other communities to see how they handle insurance. Whatever the event, we need to involve more people from the group. For example 25 people could each work one hour for an event and the time is covered.

Invite Selectmen to come to our meetings. (Especially for events).

Membership:

Last year we had a tiered membership that was complicated and not always understood. Suggestion for this year's membership is as follows:

1. General membership for all businesses would include the brochure, mailing the brochure to property owners in Sandwich and surrounding towns, distribution of the brochure to Visitor Centers, and basic web membership.

2. Additional web services and enhanced website opportunities.

3. Externally focused group advertising in publications to draw people to Sandwich, web enhancement, and group membership in the LRA. It was suggested that we think of the different categories of membership as "opportunities" not tiers. We also must be careful at how much we promise per level, as we are a volunteer organization. We can only promise what we can give 75% of our group has no marketing budget. The group with the marketing budget would cover the group without but would also benefit more so it works out in the end. We should price out the things we want to do and try them in different "tiers" of membership.

Advertising space in the "glossies" is expensive: $1200 to $1500 for a half page. We could advertise in The Laker and other local publications under the Discover Sandwich banner. 

CTM will also print should we run out of brochures but there is no reduction in cost only convenience.

Don Sutton is our new Webmaster.

We should also be more involved in the Fishing Derby.

Sandwich Signage. We are each responsible for our own signs. Perhaps re-do signs and add a sign with www.discoversandwich.com.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:15.

Respectfully submitted

Patricia Carega
 

[12.04.06]