The Saundersfoot CONNECTORY is being launched by Team SaraH (Sara Hicks and Sarah Whiddett) as an off-shoot of the Saundersfoot Connect Facebook page and website, which have become so popular during the Covid-19 outbreak.
It’s aim is to provide a really low cost way for businesses to advertise as it becomes the go to place for residents and visitors to shop local, buy local and of course eat local with details of all the great cafes and restaurants around our village.
Many people now wish to continue to do this for so many reasons, to support their friends who are running businesses, to enjoy freshly sourced produce whilst improving their carbon footprint.
HOW IT WORKS FOR BUSINESSES
- Businesses will pay a small monthly subscription to be part of the Connectory, starting at £5 per month for sole traders and £7.50 for businesses who employ two or more members of staff.
- We will develop a listing for you, including some branding or a logo if you don’t have one.
- The Saundersfoot Connectory will be publicised regularly on the Saundersfoot Connect Facebook page and it will also have it’s own Facebook group too where you’ll also get a listing – this will be called Saundersfoot Connectory on Facebook (coming soon).
- The Saundersfoot Connect Facebook page has an impressive membership of nearly 3,000 now, and a very large percentage of these members are based locally. Not only that, the people who are further afield, in the main are regular visitors to Saundersfoot and are more than a little bit in love with the place!
- The Saundersfoot Connect website, where the Connectory will sit, has only been in existence for a few weeks but has already had nearly 30,000 hits in that time. It has a link to the really popular webcam that we recently introduced meaning people are visiting the site regularly and will therefore potentially go to the Connectory at the same time (lots of users are going there to check the weather/tides/how busy the beach is etc). Below are figures relating to the Saundersfoot Connect website taken today (14th June 2020)
- We will encourage all local businesses who have listings to regularly share a link to the Connectory on their own social media channels so that we will effectively all be promoting each other’s businesses as well as our own.
- We will help and guide you if needed to set up a Facebook page of your own for your business if you don’t already have one. We can help with websites too.
- Listed businesses must be either Saundersfoot based or within a 10 mile radius so will include Narberth & Tenby listings. We will only accept businesses outside of that radius if there is no business locally providing exactly the same service.
- We will encourage holiday let / B&B owners to include a link to the Connectory in their arrival/welcome information to visitors. The old pile of leaflets that normally are found in most accommodation will need to be avoided in the short-term due to Covid-19 hygiene guidance.
- We will endeavour to ask larger businesses to support the page too, by taking a listing. We will use some of the funds raised from this to develop other marketing tools for the Connectory including improving it’s ranking on Google etc.
- Whilst we totally understand that as we come out of Covid-19 and try to achieve some kind of ‘normal’, spending money is something to be avoided in the main by all business owners. However, we really feel that the initiative we are offering here has the potential to become a fabulously easy way of marketing your business as we all support each other as we have done over the past 3 months since lockdown happened. We are all having to adapt and change for the new world that we are going in to and that includes the acceptance of some things that historically some people may have shied away from such as using social media and the web to sell what we have to offer. We need to make our products and services as easy to access as possible to fend off the ‘big guys’ and do business at a local level as well as further afield. We therefore hope that you will consider ‘giving this a whirl’ for at least the next three months so we can really all give it our best shot.
HOW IT WORKS FOR RESIDENTS & VISITORS (THE “USERS”)
- When a local resident or visitor chooses to look on The Connectory, they will easily be able to shop local and enjoy all the amazing produce that goes from supplier to buyer in a matter of hours. Think of the thrill of getting fresh fish caught off Saundersfoot Harbour and within hours being able to cook it for your tea!
- Not only that of course, we have a huge number of talented artists and crafts people who create the most wonderful items to buy and how easy will it be to have a virtual ‘look around the shops’. Saves the worry of social distancing too!
- Then there’s the massive range of gift shops that are the ‘must do’ on to do lists for many visitors who’d like to take a little gift home either for themselves or others from their holiday.
- Also included will be a ‘Trades & Services‘ section which will take the hassle out of trying to find someone to fix that leaking tap or install a new plug socket! Solicitors, financial advisers etc will also be listed here and again, we will endeavour to gain references before advertising a listing on The Connectory giving you confidence to use a trade or service.
- The Connectory will be on the main page of the Saundersfoot Connect website making it easy to find.
- Local residents will feel reassured that all businesses that are listed in The Connectory will either be very well known by Team SaraH or will have to have provided some references from satisfied customers to get their listing.
- Visitors will enjoy the ability of getting to know businesses and their owners online before they even arrive in Saundersfoot and be able to plan their shopping trips around that. We know that many visitors love the fact that they get to know local business owners when they holiday here, year on year.
So there we have it, it’s new and we know it might take a week or two to get going but, if it receives support anything like the Saundersfoot Connect Facebook page and website has, we really hope it will be a winner for everyone!
Rates to advertise are below. If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact Sara Hicks or Sarah Whiddett of Team SaraH Marketing & Events who will as always do their best to help.
You can use the CONTACT US facility on the website (top left-hand corner of screen on a laptop or by clicking on the three lines at the top of your phone screen).
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CONNECTORY
