Tag: business

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Business & Community Development Update – April 2014

Kristen-Honeycutt-Photo-Co_karensquare_smallI don’t have much to add since last week’s blog, but I’d like to mention briefly a couple of opportunities that remind me why Pioneer Square is such an extraordinary neighborhood:

The Spring Clean on Saturday, April 19 is an opportunity for everyone to roll up their sleeves to work side-by-side to make our neighborhood shine. Business owners, property owners, people who work in the neighborhood, people who live in the neighborhood, and people who love the neighborhood all have a vested interest in Pioneer Square. Behind-the-scenes planning has been underway for weeks so the event will be organized. We’ll accomplish a great deal in a short period of time. It’s going to make you feel great about being part of Pioneer Square AND you’ll get a great t-shirt. Sign up here.

4Culture’s annual LANDMARKS CAPITAL application period is now open.  The deadline for submittal of online applications is Wednesday, May 14.  Owners or long-term tenants of individual Seattle landmarks and contributing buildings in landmark districts are eligible to apply.  Any type of ownership, whether private, public, or non-profit, qualifies. The funding range this year remains at $3,000 to $30,000.  There is no longer a cash match requirement, although some level of owner cost share is encouraged.  Grants are reimbursable, and work items completed prior to award notification are not eligible costs.  Please help us spread the word. Landmarks Capital Applications are due May 14. For more information, contact Flo Lentz at 4Culture.

 

KAREN TRUE

Director of Business Development

ALLIANCE FOR PIONEER SQUARE

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All of the Above: What’s Behind the Revitalization of PSQ

The Washington Shoe Building with cranes at Stadium Place in the background

I’m the first to say that I’ve got the best gig in town.

People seem most intrigued by the “retail recruitment” aspect of my work for good reason. What’s not to like about being the neighborhood matchmaker? I get to connect brilliant retail and restaurant businesses with fabulous spaces in our beautiful historic district. Beat that.

It’s not about filling vacant street level spaces with whomever is ready to sign a lease. Far from it. It’s about finding those quality, intriguing, and relevant retail businesses that will make Pioneer Square an even better place to live, work, and visit. The recruitment strategy developed in 2012 with the help of community stakeholders suggested guidelines for a particular mix of restaurants, retail, and services. It also recommended leading the recruitment effort with food. 26 new storefront businesses opened in Pioneer Square in 2013, 15 of them restaurants. More are scheduled to open in this summer. Not a bad start, right?

What kinds of retail businesses are great candidates? Sometimes it’s an existing business ready to expand or try a new concept. Other times it’s a new venture that’s been the dream of someone working behind the lines for someone else. Sometimes it’s someone I’ve personally invited to take a walk around the neighborhood. Others find their way here all on their own. My goal is to generate a buzz about all that’s happening in our business district. When creative entrepreneurs are ready to “set up shop”, we want them to think about Pioneer Square. Regardless of how they get here, my job is then to help new businesses understand the vision of the neighborhood, help navigate the waters of administrative permits and approvals, connect them to whatever resources might be useful, introduce them to other businesses, and help them spread the word.

As the story of Pioneer Square’s revitalization gets more attention, I’m often asked “what was the real turning point?” Was it the restaurants? The apartments at Stadium Place? The tech companies? The King Street Station renovation? The streetcar? The waterfront? The stadiums? The ….?

Of course, you know the answer. It’s all of the above. And it takes time. Stadium Place, for example, was over ten years in the making. No one program, including the retail recruitment and business development program that fills my days, stands alone. If the Alliance for Pioneer Square hadn’t partnered with so many community stakeholders to weave a sustainable infrastructure based on a comprehensive neighborhood plan, the changes we’re buzzing about wouldn’t stand a chance.

For instance, if it hadn’t been for those long-fought battles:

  • The streetcar route would have ended in the Chinatown/International District.
  • Metered parking would still go until 8:00 PM.
  • After losing those hundreds of parking spaces under the viaduct, there would have been no mitigation dollars to subsidize short-term parking in four neighborhood garages to be cheaper than street parking – and fund free parking for First Thursday.
  • There’d be no marketing of the neighborhood. (Think maps, social media, and those awesome bus ads!)
  • There would be no advocate at the table to make certain our interests are represented in talks about the waterfront, street civility, transportation and public transit, parks, historic preservation, stadiums, housing, etc.

We’re not done. Not even close. We’ll continue to move things forward, welcoming all who care about the future of Pioneer Square to be part of the effort. I’ll continue to watch for cool retail to complement the anchors who have been here for decades, as well as the newest kids on the block.

I welcome all ideas and suggestions about possible retailers – or other kinds of cool uses – that you think might add to the magic of Pioneer Square. What have you seen in another neighborhood or what did you see during that trip to Florence, Prague, or Nashville that would be perfect here? I want to know. The coffee’s on me.

Oh, and be sure to sign up here to join me at the neighborhood Spring Clean on April 19.

 
KAREN TRUE
Director of Business Development
ALLIANCE FOR PIONEER SQUARE
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Social Media Quick Start Guide for PSQ Businesses

Since 2011, the Alliance has been hard at work changing the story of Pioneer Square with a social media marketing strategy. Social media is the new “word of mouth” – our connected digital lives make it easier than ever to share opinions on everything from news to products to places. Viral photos and tweets can make or break public perception in a day, so it’s important to share all the positive things happening in the neighborhood online.

The Alliance is active on two social media platforms: Facebook and Twitter. If you are already on one platform or the other, use the following tips to help us get your business out into the web-o-sphere:

1.#PSQlunch

For restaurants in Pioneer Square, the simplest way to get exposure on social media (and capturing top of mind awareness) is by announcing your daily special with the #PSQlunch hashtag. If you’re on Twitter, you can start doing this for the next lunch rush. Include the hashtag in a post yourself, or you can ask to be included in our daily lunch retweet list, which we go through every weekday around 11 am. Please note that if we retweet and include the #PSQlunch hashtag for you, we may need to edit your announcement so that it fits 140 characters.

Here is an example of Central Saloon tweeting their lunch special of the day with the #PSQlunch hashtag:

This is us retweeting Fuel Sports Bar’s daily lunch special through our @pioneersquare Twitter handle. In this case we added “RT” (for “retweet”) and #PSQlunch for them:

 

2. Media Attention

If you have a restaurant that is lucky enough to have some local media buzz, make sure we see it! Keep in contact with us and email us a link, or just mention/tag Pioneer Square on your Facebook or Twitter post. On Twitter, you can integrate “@pioneersquare” into the message of your post. If it’s retweetable (see number 5), we’ll definitely retweet it. Otherwise we’ll save it for later.

Here’s the Puget Sound Business Journal tweeting an article about Good Bar. We found it right away since they mentioned us using our Twitter handle, @pioneersquare:

On Facebook, you can also use the @ symbol to tag us – start typing “@Pioneer Square Seattle” and click on us when it appears in the drop down menu. You may need to “like” our page before this shows up for you. How to tag Pioneer Square in a Facebook post

3. Not All About You

Retail shops are a bit trickier to promote. Unlike the food scene, excitement is a little more difficult to conjure up for retail (and services). It helps to observe the most important rule in social media marketing: It’s not all about you!

An oft-repeated tenet of social media marketing is the 80/20 rule. Of everything you share on social media, 80% of your posts should be about something relevant yet bigger than yourself. The last 20% of what you share online can be directly advertising your business. There are exceptions, but to make your social media outreach work make sure it’s balanced – when your audience receives constant social media messages asking them to buy something, it comes off as self-serving. Try posting messages related to holidays, big events, Seattle, and Pioneer Square.

Every month we promote gallery shows by connecting them to the First Thursday art walk, which started in Pioneer Square and has taken on a life of its own. If you are participating in the First Thursday art walk, make sure we have you on our radar and that we can share images and details for your show easily:

Post by Pioneer Square Seattle.

4. Brand Universe

So what should 80% of your social media posts look like? Define a topic relevant to your brand. This topic is now a part of your brand universe. You can create blog posts, images, or videos related to this topic and share it with your followers. Or you can seek out content peers have already shared, and retweet or re-share. As long as it is relevant, aesthetically pleasing, and interesting your fans will like it. And since they’ve connected you to that article or picture you shared, they will keep your business in mind for future reference.

Cats are part of Pioneer Pet’s brand universe, so they regularly post pictures of their two adorable shop cats on Facebook:

Post by Pioneer Pet feed & supply.

5. Be Retweetable/Shareable

But wait, there’s more! In order for us to retweet or share your content, it has to be relevant for followers of our Pioneer Square Facebook and Twitter feeds. The best way to do this is to mention or tag us (see number 2) and connect the story about being part of Pioneer Square. Just being in the neighborhood shows that you care about being part of history, revitalization, and Seattle. Tell a story about being in the ‘hood. We love those stories! And so do our audiences.

Here’s Washington Bikes on Twitter, promoting an item in their gift shop. Although part of the message is to “buy now”, they made it easy for us to retweet by connecting themselves to Pioneer Square. (And they also included a picture, and mentioned us using @pioneersquare!)

If you’re in the neighborhood and just getting started with social media, hopefully these tips will get you oriented. Just know that the Alliance is online and is a resource for you to utilize. See you in social media land! If you have any questions or if you want to be on our radar for future promotions, email hien[at]pioneersquare.org.

Hien Dang
Marketing Coordinator
Alliance for Pioneer Square