So What’s Totally Locally all about?

Totally Locally was created, and continues with passion, to celebrate the fantastic shops, businesses and people that we have in our local areas. These are the Hidden Gems in our towns that make the place that little bit different, that little bit more colourful, and that little bit better to live in. They are all there in every local area – it is just probably that we have forgotten them a little in our rushed lives and our obsession with the Supermarkets.

The first stage of Totally Locally was funded by Calderdale Council, which enabled us to start looking at how to get inside people’s psyches and help them to re think how they shop. We won an International Award from the Association of Town Centre Managers and a Yorkshire Government Award , both for Outstanding Response To The Economic Downturn. Both were judged on results. We created the whole campaign, which was adminstrated by Marketing Halifax.

Totally Locally is about reminding people of what the have around them and that if they want to continue to have these great and different things that they only need to make small changes to make a large difference.

If every adult in the UK spent £5 of their weekly spend in their local independent shops & businesses, instead of online or at a big supermarkets, our high street and towns would change dramatically. Examples so far on this site are that Calderdale would have £40 million into it’s local economy, and Helensburgh would have an extra £3.1 million. This means  better  towns, more jobs  and a nice place for everyone to live. Makes you think doesn’t it?

Having run Totally Locally in Calderdale for a couple of years, the biggest surprise to us was that people told us that they wanted to shop locally but they didn’t really know how, and they didn’t even know what they had on their doorstep! They had forgotten how to ‘shop’ rather than simply ‘getting stuff’ at bigger stores.

So we created Hidden Gems. These are the great little shops and businesses that people love and are more than happy to share the rest of us. This is simply about giving people choice as to where they can spend the £5 per week. You can soon “remember” how to shop again and it is amazing how much more fun it is when you begin to know the shopkeepers and business owners personally. It’s about creating a sense of place, and helng people connect with the towns where they live.

The final piece in this simple jigsaw of Totally Locally, is the idea of the Magic Tenner. This is how money can circulates around the local economy and have a multiplying effect. This is something that we encourage local businesses to actively promote. Most Local businesses or shops will have at least 10-20 local suppliers that they give work to…and those businesses will have another 10-20…and so on. We help business promote this and to also find other local businesses for supply, services and the like. This create a vibrant local economy.

This is a simply overview of how Totally Locally makes a difference. We have created a national brand and marketing strategy that can work within any towns and areas that has proven to work and is still working.

You can use our Totally Locally for free – we give you a website, a marketing strategy and everything you need to get people excited about shopping locally. It just takes time and effort…but that’s a small price to pay for better towns and nicer places to live, don’ you think?