council report on small business festival

7/24/2019 Council report on small business festival

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Productivity - Reports 146 Ordinary Meeting - 04 November 2015

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4.8 BENDIGO SMALL BUSINESS FESTIVAL 2015

Document Information

Authors Peter Jeffery, Business Development Manager (EDU)Brian Gould, Manager - Economic Development

Responsible Stan Liacos, Director - City FuturesDirector

Summary/Purpose

The purpose of this report is to provide Council with a summary of the recent BendigoSmall Business Festival held in association with the Victorian Government sponsoredVictorian Small Business Festival.

Policy Context

Council Plan References:

4.1 Council fosters business and industry growth.

4.2.2 Foster new industry and business initiatives through business, agricultural andindustry events.

Economic Development Strategy Reference:

5.3 Business Support and Investment Attraction.

Background Information

The Victorian Small Business Festival is a State Government initiative that promotes a

series of independently run events, workshops and seminars across Victoria offering arange of support avenues for small business during the month of August each year. Thisyear was the first time that the CitysEconomic Development Unit (EDU) had formallypartnered with State Festival officers to assist with the programs delivery. Theresponsibility of a Festival Partner is to identify and coordinate local individuals or entitieswho wish to host appropriate events, workshops or seminars and to then promote theseevents to their local business community.

This report aims to outline the generally successful approach adopted by the Citys EDUas a Festival Partner this year and to highlight some pertinent outcomes for theinformation of Councillors and the community.


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Report

Background

A review of last years Small Business Festival provided by the Victorian Governmentidentified some strong trends that were taken into consideration when preparing for thisyears program. It was identified that the most preferred communication method forsmallbusiness was digital correspondence i.e. facebook, email etc., influencing the EDUsapproach towards a local marketing campaign this year. Other important considerationsincluded events run at convenient times for business owners and a variety of eventtopics focused on stimulating new customers. It was also identified that the averagefestival attendee was typically female, between 30 - 59 years of age, passionate abouttheir business and typically working 50+ hours per week.

The EDU started developing this years festival program by identifying appropriate hoststo deliver local events, initially attracting 41 expressions of interest. Twenty seven (27)

events were selected considering their ability to inform small business owners,managers, staff or someone considering starting or growing a small business, includingfour events that had already planned by the Victorian Government.

See attached list of events (summary only).

A local marketing plan focused on driving facebook followers to the Bendigo SmallBusiness Festival page which was primarily achieved by carefully selecting andpromoting engaging content albeit with a small budget. Event bookings were availablefrom the Victorian Governments festival website which linked with a range of digitalmarketing as well as traditional media tools.

The events

The unveiling of a special Faces of Small Business outdoor installation at the BendigoRailway Station by Small Business Victoria and the Mayor marked the launch of the 2015Bendigo Small Business Festival on 30 July. The CitysEconomic Development Unitcoordinated the launch and delivered a further three events for the festival that providedattendees with practical business development advice including:

1. What makes Bendigo retail customers tick

2. How to get and keep great customers and;

3. Six steps to grow your business.

To complement these topics, the Citys Tourism Unit presented three retail focusedevents comprising two workshops and a feature presentation from the AustralianRetailers Association.

Other events covered a variety of topics including on-line marketing, retail advice,juggling work/life balance, social media and networking. The festival concluded on 27August with a presentation from Naomi Simson, founder of Red Balloon and judge onNetwork Ten TV show The Shark Tank attended by over 150 people.


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Outcomes and feedback

The outcomes and feedback from the festival met expectations and in some cases wellexceeded them - 202 social media posts developed to promote the Bendigo Festivalreached approximately 200,000 individuals. Facebook activity peaked at the start ofAugust and accumulated 4,955 counts of engagement (when someone opens orresponds to a message). Newspaper advertising consisted of a full page advertisementand a quarter page event listing in both the Bendigo Advertiser and Bendigo Weeklynewspapers complimented by a variety of editorial interviews and articles.

The number of page followers attracted on social media was one of the EDUsprimarygoals set at the start of the promotional campaign. Total followers reached 1,270,exceeding initially set targets. Another goal of the Bendigo Small Business Festival wasto attract over 600 attendees to all events held in Bendigo during August. In the end,over 1,000 people attended, which we consider a very good result.

Victorian Government survey results (available upon request) have recently beenprovided to the City and indicate attendee satisfaction levels above the Victoria wideaverage. The quality of local events, in particular the calibre of presenters, rated wellabove the average across the State too.

Conclusion

This years marketing efforts for the Bendigo Small Business Festival successfullyengaged the business communitysawareness of the 27 events conducted throughoutAugust. This communication also helped raise awareness of Councils commitment to

support the local small business community. Our mission is to build on the initial successand momentum and develop the festival concept further next year and beyond.

In terms of resource implications, the EDU received $15,000 in funding from the VictorianGovernment to support the initiative.

RECOMMENDATION

That the Greater Bendigo City Council acknowledge and commend the conduct of the

2015 Bendigo Small Business Festival and encourage it to take place on an annualbasis.


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Sustainability - Reports 150 Ordinary Meeting - 04 November 2015

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5. SUSTAINABILITY

Nil.

council report on small business festival

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