DGI presents: Destination Business

Main Street Alabama Brings International Destination Marketing Expert
Jon Schallert To Alabama Business Owners
 
Jon Schallert, whose “destination business” principles have transformed communities and companies across North America, will train Main Street Alabama participants on the strategy at a public event on Oct. 29 in Gadsden.
          The all-day education, The New Rules of Marketing Success:  Capturing Today’s Consumers as a Destination Business, is open to retail business owners, downtown advocates and economic development professionals as well as Main Street officials and staff.
Schallert’s strategies, developed in a career spanning three decades, have transformed thousands of mom-and-pop shops and other independent businesses into irresistible destinations for out-of-market shoppers in more than 500 towns.
Communities that have adopted his methods report increases in retail sales of up to 40 percent in as little as two years, even during the Great Recession.
“Jon's insight is frequently seen in national publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Entrepreneur Magazine,” said Mary Helmer of Main Street Alabama, which leverages private investment to revitalize historic downtowns in the state.
Schallert teaches owners how to highlight their business’s differentiating qualities, including history, market position and ambience, for low-cost, high-impact visibility that boosts traffic in the store – and in its neighboring shops and restaurants.
“I’m excited about working with towns in Alabama, where there is so much history and beauty,” he says. “They’re natural destinations, and it will be a privilege to help them get their message out to the rest of the country and the world.”
Schallert honed his unique marketing strategies honed at Hallmark Cards, where they were known as “The Schallert Method,” and opened The Schallert Group in 1996 to provide training with insights from working with hundreds of owners.
The New Rules of Marketing Success:  Capturing Today’s Consumers as a Destination Business is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. October 29 in Gadsden, Ala. Electronic registration is open. Contact Mary Helmer, mary@mainstreetalabama.org or 205-910-8819.