Most professional marketers can easily recite The Four Ps of Marketing. Otherwise known as The Marketing Mix, The Four Ps have been a cornerstone concept driven into the minds of aspiring marketers everywhere. However, marketing is so much more than that. In fact, an additional four Ps exist that are more important and more impactful. The Four Ps of strategic marketing are critical to the prosperity of any organization. Unfortunately, most companies don’t invest time on these areas and suffer the long-term effects of ignoring them. Let’s take a closer look at all Eight Ps and how great companies employ them.

The Four Ps of Strategic Marketing

Probe: Market research consists of taking the time to uncover potential markets and what makes them tick. No business can operate without investing in thorough market research. A company cannot simply build a mousetrap without knowing if there are any mice. Utilizing focus groups, surveys, sales rep feedback, and personal interviews are a few easy ways to get started.

Partition:            Otherwise known as segmentation, partitioning is the key to all business. Determining like characteristics within potential prospects and clients is the path to success. Defining certain variables and then partitioning the market into “like” groups is an exercise that few companies perform. The best companies stand for someone, and you cannot stand for anyone until you define them succinctly.

Prioritize:           Once you have probed the market and segmented it into groups, you can start to determine which groups would be fruitful to pursue. Just because you have a segment does not mean you can make any money there. Look at your assets and your skill sets and prioritize the groups relative to your ability to serve.

Position:             Many academics will put Positioning as the fifth P of tactical marketing because it is so critical. It is the bridge from strategy to offering. In other words, once you have determined the attractive markets, you must define who you are to them. You could be the low-cost leader, the high-quality supplier, or the intimate consultant. Regardless, you need to make a decision about who you stand for and what you mean to them.

The 4Ps of Tactical Marketing (The Marketing Mix)

Product:              Now comes the offering or marketing mix. This should be based on what your clients need and not what your capabilities are. It is no longer enough to build a product and then look for people to buy it. You need to define markets and then source the products that the market demands. You cannot do that without great insight and understanding that the four Ps give you.

Price:   After you have established the products needed, you must consider the value of that offering. More specifically, price is not about affordability. It is about value. Having the right products is one thing, but understanding the value the client attaches to it is powerful.

Place:   The marketing mix also includes the manner in which clients acquire the product. Is it through a store, an online channel, a sales rep with an order pad, or a call center? How a customer gets the product is important not only to them. It may be relevant to the costs of your business. Place or channel, is often misunderstood and left unexamined.

Promotion:        Finally, we get to what most of the universe believes is marketing. Promotion is NOT marketing. Promotion is simply the communication pillar of the marketing mix. Interestingly enough, promotion communicates the other three Ps of tactical marketing and nothing more. It tells you what the product is, how much it costs, and how you can get it. Unfortunately, most businesses ignore this idea. The belief that marketing is promotion is limiting, and, in the long term, deadly.

Marketing is everything, and unless you have a real marketing process in place, you will have no control over your future. Engage the Eight Ps and thrive.

Today’s email is a doozy. It’s a lot to take in, but it’s crucial to the success of your email marketing campaigns. We’re going to talk about how to build your email marketing list. We have ten ways to collect email addresses, and a link to a more in depth article on the importance of growing your list.

The Gold is in the List
As a marketer you need to think like a consumer. Consumers are smart, and they know what they want. If they receive an email from an unknown source, they will usually ignore it or delete it. If, however, the email comes from a trusted company, they are much more likely to take a look.

Building lists of subscribers, prospects, and customers is one of the most important activities your business can undertake. Once built, permission-based email lists can create sales for your company for years to come.

Ten Ways to Collect Email Addresses

Your Website
If nothing else, use your website. If you’re not promoting your email list on your website, you’re not using your website well enough.

Current Email Lists
Using current email lists to build your own email list is an essential part of your growth. If your current recipients see something of value to them, they may think their friends will benefit as well. Allowing them to pass your email along may easily add more to your list.

In-store Sign-up
When checking out or browsing around allow people to sign up for your email list by way of sign-up forms.

Contests
Register participants’ address and announce the winners through your next newsletter list.

Coupons & Discounts
Offer special incentives through email only, and allow subscribers to pass these along to friends.

Advertisements & Direct mail
Never pass up the opportunity to inform readers about your email community. Direct them to your website or have them send an email to you requesting their addition.

Business Cards
On the back of your business card, promote your website and mention any opportunity to receive informative emails or newsletters.

Trade Shows & Networking Events
Offer collateral material that requests individuals to sign-up on their own.

Seminars
Host seminars on your area of expertise and have people sign-up to your mailing list for future seminars, discounted rates, and other announcements.

iContact Community
The iContact Community is a forum through which iContact users post and share blogs and articles related both directly and indirectly to email marketing. You can visit the iContact Community at http://community.icontact.com/.

By participating in the iContact Community, you can increase the exposure of your messages and grow the number of opt-in subscribers on your lists.

Hi friends:

This information is compliments of iContact. From a marketing perspective, we think it is good advice.

Picture this…
After gathering the right list, writing the perfect content, and designing the ideal template, you’re ready to send out your first email newsletter. Your mouse hovers over the send button – and you freeze. In a panic, you ask yourself, “what if nobody wants to read this?”

Worry not, for today’s lesson will ensure that you’re never in such a predicament. In fact, it’s easy to get recipients to open and read your email messages – once you understand a bit more about:

The “From Name”
The email’s “Subject Line”
The recipient’s expectations

The From Name
Your recipients might receive hundreds of emails per day… and their inboxes might be flooded with SPAM… which means your email messages need to stand out – but how?

It’s all about the From Name. Your recipients are infinitely more likely to open their emails when the From Name is a familiar individual or organization. If your company name is more widely recognized than your own name, then use the company name as the From Name. For example, a Starbucks coffee drinker is more likely to open an email sent from Starbucks, as opposed to an email sent from “Kyle Rhodes,” the author of that particular Starbucks message.

Once you select a From Name, be consistent. Your subscribers will become familiar with that name (if they aren’t already) and they’ll also expect future messages to come from that From Name.

The Subject Line
Before you select a Subject Line, you need to assess (or set) your recipients’ expectations. Are your readers expecting a newsletter or a special promotion? Recipient’s opt-in to receive “newsletters” when they’re looking for relevant news, information and updates. Alternatively, when recipients opt-in to receive “promotions and offers,” they are interested in special discounts, savings, and incentives.

These expectations should dictate what type of Subject Line you use. Traditional newsletter recipients will appreciate headlines such as: “Company XYZ: Quarterly Update” or “Company XYZ Newsletter – November, 2009.” On the other hand, subscribers interested in promotions and offers will respond to the following headlines: “Save 20% – Company XYZ Winter Sale” or “Last Minute Gift Ideas from Company XYZ.”

All Subject Lines – for newsletters or promotions – must be clear and to the point. Don’t confuse or mislead your subscribers. And don’t try too hard. Simply let your subscribers know the subject of what they’re about to read.

More About Expectations
A familiar and consistent From Name, paired with a clear and appropriate Subject Line, will encourage your subscribers to read your emails. But your email content must deliver – or your readers will eventually learn to ignore your emails, regardless of the relevant From Name and Subject Line.

For instance, when you send an email with the subject line “November Newsletter” to a subscriber that opted-in to receive “newsletters,” you’d be wise to make sure that your email, is in fact, a newsletter! Obvious? Perhaps. But the idea is important. Your content must match your reader’s expectations, while also matching the Subject Line and the From Name.

Until Next Time
You’re now on your way to increasing the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts. With the right From Name, Subject Line, and overall content, you’ll find that more people are reading your emails. We hope this helps!

Every day for the past several weeks I’ve asked myself; “What is wrong with our country, our elected officials and the electorate?”

Do people just not read the newspaper or listen to the reports on television about the looming debt crisis we are facing in the United States? Are people so disengaged in the process that we should consider renaming our great nation the United States of Apathy?

We should all be outraged regardless of what party we belong to. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue; this is an American issue. And just to be clear — I am not a tea partier.

The debt crisis is real; it is affecting the core of our nation and our economy which are more fragile today, than ever in our history, even during the Depression.

I feel it as a small-business owner and others (clients) are feeling it, too. The American people feel it; look at our unemployment rate, foreclosure rates that continue to rise as income levels sink in comparison to what it takes to live in 2011.

Does the crisis in Greece resonate with anyone? Are we as a nation so arrogant to think that could never happen to us?

Well, wake up, people. The Greek taxi drivers had the right idea on Monday by staging a strike. If we Americans had the nerve we would stage a nationwide strike to protest the ridiculousness in Washington, D.C., by people elected to represent us instead of their own ambitions.

Have we become so apathetic in that we don’t rise up in protest of our elected officials and remind them who is boss? We are the boss! We are the folks they hurt by their irresponsible actions on Capitol Hill.

We, as small-business owners, community leaders, volunteers, employees, parents and Americans, need to send a strong message to Washington, D.C., — and Sacramento, for that matter — that elected leaders and corporate America are screwing up our country and messing with the future of our children and grandchildren.

Americans need to elect intelligent people who have our country’s best interests in mind, people who can play nicely together in the Washington sandbox.

Our elected officials are making a mockery of the United States in front of the rest of the world. Just look at these headlines:

• “Debt Worries Roil Markets”
• “Investors Fear Contagion of Greek Crisis, Washington Stalemate Over Deficit”
• “Capital Markets in U.S., Europe Rattled”
• “Hope Fades for Much Good To Come From Deficit Fight”
• “Debt Worries Disrupt Global Markets”
• “Dow Industrials Sink As Default Jitters Rise”

Wake up and smell the coffee (not the tea), and take back our economy. We need to raise our expectations of elected officials; they are there to serve us, not to use us as indentured servants.

It is not about conservative or liberal, it is about being responsible. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (if it was not so caught up in self-interest lobbying) should be calling for a strike and/or demonstration to send a message to our nation’s capital and state capitals that we are fed up and our collective fatigue has reached its limit of tolerance for the nonsense happening in Washington.

Join me in contacting our elected officials to send a strong, united message on the debt crisis.

An oft-cited fear of brands is that online consumers will post negative comments about them, especially on social media where opinions can be broadcast far and wide. In their “Social Media and Online PR Report,” Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia explored ways marketers can combat brand bashing.

Read full article //
Social Media and Brand Reputation Strategy – eMarketer.

Jacqueline Cruz-Ortega was honored as Citizen of the Year by the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce. I attended the awards luncheon and enjoyed her speech. Jacqueline attributes her ability to reject the drug and gang lifestyle that was taking over her family and to become the educated, inspirational role model she is now through the caring involvement of mentors. She ended her speech with a plea that we give our time and not give up on those community youth struggling with the same choices today that she struggled with: drugs, alcohol, gangs and family strife. There was hardly a dry eye in the room when Jacqueline concluded, and most people I’ve spoken to since have commented on how moved they were by her story. I hope they are moved to action and not just emotion.

Even prior to Jacqueline’s words, I had begun thinking about mentorship. I’ve always been fortunate to have had mentors throughout my life of strong, successful men and women who took an interest in my personal, leadership and academic development. I attribute some of my success to the good fortune of having their guidance and support. A good friend of mine has never had a mentor, which I find surprising and sad, and I can see how a lack of mentorship has affected his self-confidence as an adult, as well as his ability to make decisions about his future. I’ve wondered how it’s possible he made it into his mid-30s, graduated from college and hop-scotched through a succession of jobs without ever once being taken under the wing of someone older and wiser who wanted to help him grow or expand his horizons.

Do you see yourself as a mentor? For a long time, I did not. It shocked me when in my late 20s, a woman at my office in her early 20s wrote me a note saying how thankful she was that I would spend time with her, answering questions about her job, talking about my own career experience and giving her advice. She wrote that she valued my mentorship. And I remember thinking, “WHAT!? I’m not a mentor. I have mentors, but I’m not one.” But if she found our chats helpful, then great! The revelation allowed me to think of my own life and career experiences differently. I thought I needed a lot more life and job experience before I could be someone’s mentor, but she showed me mentorship can happen at any time.

Looking back, I’m somewhat disappointed now in the coaches, instructors and troop leaders who missed an opportunity to connect with me. Sports, classes and youth activities are often the best situations for mentorship to develop. But not for all kids, and definitely not for me. My mentors reached out to me and invited me to do something special outside a group. One-on-one chats or going to lunch, attending events as someone’s guest, or an activity together made the biggest impacts on me. The mentors for me who made the biggest impact (parents aside) were my Aunt Susan; the dean of the school of business at CSU Sacramento; my first two bosses, Jim Philips and John Hatfield (who remain in touch to this day)’ Elise Moritz, a co-worker; Bari Love, the head of PR at one of my ad agency jobs; Phil Rubin, a coworker; and a few local people.

I’m not sure if I could be considered a mentor to anyone at this point, and that bothers me. I intend to take action to rectify that (thanks, Jacqueline!), and I hope you will do the same.

According to a study published in 2005 by the California Diabetes Program titled “Diabetes in California Counties: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Resources,” Monterey County is tipping the scales, and not in a good way.

The county ranked 51st out of 59 counties in terms of percent of the population that is overweight (61.78 percent), ranked 48th in obesity (24.99 percent), and ranked 42nd in inactivity (74.35 percent, defined as less than 20 minutes vigorous activity three times a week).

Scoring so poorly in these three major risk factors means our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers are at significant risk of becoming afflicted with diabetes. However, Monterey County ranks 4th in the percentage of our population that consumes less than five servings per day of fruits and vegetables. This means the residents of 55 other California counties have larger percentages of their populations that eat worse than we do. It might help that we live in the Salad Bowl of the World. Unfortunately, this high-ranking score doesn’t mean we’re doing well with our diets. That ranking equates to 43.25 percent who eat fewer than five servings per day of fruits and vegetables – that’s a lot of people eating poorly.

The Alisal Union School District is doing its part to improve those statistics. Alisal is a partner in the Network for a Healthy California program, whose mission is to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the physical activity of students and their families. The program, branded Champions for Change, teaches students the importance of healthy eating and healthy living.

Champions for Change, according to the Web site www.cachampionsfor change.net, are people – just like you – who are using their power to help their families prevent serious health problems, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and certain types of cancer, by helping their families eat more fruits and vegetables and be more physically active.

Alisal’s Champions for Change program works with first-grade through sixth-grade students. The goal is for students to learn about the benefits of fruits and vegetables and of physical activity so they will be able to make wiser choices, and to be exposed to fruits and vegetables they might not normally eat. Nutrition Educators meet with classes and present nutrition education, as well as cross-curricular lessons incorporating science, language arts, math, health, English language development and physical fitness.

For kindergarten and pre-kinder students, Alisal’s Champions for Change introduced a new character named “Frijolito,” who has become quite popular. All students taste new fruits and vegetables, and learn a variety of nutrition and health- related subjects, such as safe produce handling. They also cover topics such as the new food pyramid, portion control and nutrients.

At each of the 11 district schools, Champions for Change maintains a vegetable garden used to enhance nutrition education and provide a source of physical activity. Students work in the gardens, learning firsthand about food systems from planting to harvesting and preparation. Students can also visit the gardens during their lunch hour and after school. Occasionally, the students harvest enough produce to provide some to their school cafeteria salad bars. Local farmers visit the school gardens and teach students about agriculture, and sometimes take students on field trips to local commercial farms.

Alisal’s Champions for Change is always looking for volunteers and equipment donations for their gardens. To volunteer or donate, or for information about this worthwhile program, contact Petra Martinez, program coordinator, at 831-783-3395. Or online, visit www.alisal.org. Click: Departments/ Educational Services/Network for a Healthy California.

Another fantastic resource for physical activity is the Salinas Community YMCA. Y programs for youth and teens include: judo, karate, rock climbing, basketball, swim team, water polo, weight training, volleyball and much, much more. The Y has resources for adults as well, including a popular Twelve-Weeks to Fitness program, and classes for yoga, cycling, swimming, Pilates, step aerobics, basketball, volleyball, kick boxing, and so much more. Information, call 831-758-3811 or visit www.centralcoastymca.org.

At the beginning of the 2007-08 fiscal year, the Salinas City Council outlined four areas of focus: peace, prosperity, image and outreach. Mayor Dennis Donohue has discussed these topics regularly since first being elected, and the council convened a citizens committee to strategize on how to best communicate about these topics with the wonderfully demographically varied residents of Salinas, as well as others outside our area, such as potential new residents and businesses.

In the interest of full disclosure: For a year, I chaired this Marketing & Communications (MARCOM) committee, which is composed of four subcommittees, each devoting a majority of its efforts towards either peace, prosperity, image or outreach. Today, I remain involved as a committee member, and I am honored to serve alongside approximately 10 other volunteers and a handful of city staff and council members. I don’t expect most people to know about this committee, nor should they, but I hope the most high-profile work, which was done by the peace subcommittee, has been recognized. I’m referring to the billboard campaign that teaches about the outcomes of choices our young people make when they avoid the gang lifestyle as opposed to getting caught up in it. My favorite is the college ID card juxtaposed alongside the toe tag – choose your identity, indeed. Kudos to the students at Heald College for coming up with the campaign concept and to the peace subcommittee for its cooperation with the students and for their fortitude in getting the campaign funded and produced.

The MARCOM committee also worked with staff on upgrading the city’s Web site to be much more user-friendly, technologically sound and easier to maintain. The committee agreed unanimously that as a communications outreach tool, the Web site was critical and in dire need of being upgraded quickly. The city’s Web master did a fantastic job, not only with the Web site design and programming, but also in the way she was able to address the concerns of a large committee as well as city staff and the various departments the Web site would touch. I’m impressed with how she designed a Web site for a city whose very image was and still is in flux (more about that below). If you haven’t seen the new city of Salinas Web site, please visit www.ci.salinas.ca.us. There’s more to be done as time and budget allow, so if you visit the site and think something is missing, your feedback would surely be welcomed – let your council member or the Web master know.

Many have said Salinas has an image problem, and I agree. I also think it will be impossible to get consensus on how to resolve that problem or whether it’s worth investing in solving. What detractors of investing in solving the image problem may not appreciate is the degree to which peace and prosperity rely on a positive, well-defined and broadly communicated image – and I don’t mean just picking up trash and planting flowers, although both those activities certainly help. I’m speaking of “image” in the marketing sense, and I am suggesting that Salinas needs to operate more like a business that understands the value of its brand. The city of Salinas has allowed its image to be hijacked by organized crime, and it is long overdue that we reclaim that image as an important step toward prosperity and peace.

Cities larger, more complex and more crime-riddled than Salinas have overcome their image problems, and we can, too. A very simple first step is this: Accentuate the positive. There are many, many other, more strategic and complicated steps, and this is not a suggestion that we stick our heads in the sand and ignore our crime and other problem issues. It is a very basic principle of sales and marketing that we all do on a personal level as well – we put our best image forward to attract a significant other, when we go on a job interview, to sell a product or service, and in numerous other situations. Salinas needs to do it, too, and all of us need to participate – including the media.

Certainly our current economic climate will make progress on image issues all the more challenging, but I’ve seen first-hand the dedication, enthusiasm and tireless efforts put forth by so many for our community. I’d like to see the city administration and MARCOM committee work more closely with the Chamber of Commerce and SUBA towards a joint effort to re-brand Salinas and take back our image, so we can have prosperity and peace.

I’ve always been a huge animal lover. Sometimes I prefer the company of my pets to my friends or even my husband. I know he shares my feelings on this, so he won’t be hurt by my saying so. Growing up, my parents became used to hearing, “Mom, can we keep it?” each time I stumbled upon the latest stray. Once they even said yes, and after making sure he didn’t belong to anyone, my parents allowed an adorable red tabby kitten my Mom named Nutmeg to join our family.As a teen, I thought I might want to be a veterinarian. Drs. Max Kennedy and David Stroshine of the Animal Hospital of Salinas hired me as a kennel girl. In high school, I helped care for people’s pets – feeding them, cleaning kennels, playing with the boarders and assisting the staff. It was a fantastic experience, where I learned that I didn’t have the patience to take on veterinary medicine as a career. I did continue my vet assisting during summers in college, though, which is how I ended up with my parrot, Haley, a yellow naped amazon. I spent more on that bird than I probably earned all summer, but when I went back to school, I couldn’t leave him at the vet clinic, where his prior owner had abandoned him because she couldn’t afford to pay the bills for his care. He had bonded to me, and me to him, and to my parents horror, I cashed in a CD to buy him. Haley has been with me for 19 years, and since he’s only 20, there’s a chance he’ll outlive me.

Our animal friends have been on my mind more than usual lately for a few reasons:

• A human friend loaned me the book, “Best Friends,” about the animal rescue organization being made famous on what’s fast becoming my favorite TV show, “Dog Town.”
• With the increase in foreclosures, some people have been forced to give up their pets because they themselves are displaced and struggling to survive.
• The economy has forced many people to cut back even on essentials, causing some to give up their beloved pets, and shelters and rescue organizations are taking in more and more abandoned pets.
• My own dog, Jake, who we adopted from the Salinas Animal Shelter in 2004, is getting up there in years and I’m afraid I won’t get to spend the amount of time I want with his fuzzy, gentle, loving soul.
• In his acceptance speech, president-elect Barack Obama told his daughters they would be getting a puppy to take to the White House. Lucky dog.

It’s the last item that compelled me most to write about pets. Obama’s shout-out to his daughters about the puppy put the significance of pets on the international stage. I wonder how many other families will be considering getting a puppy because Obama made mention of it. Also, because the Obamas won’t be under the same pressures and constraints most of us face in feeding our families and making sure our children receive the education, health care, emotional support and parenting necessary to thrive, the first family will have the luxury of choosing their puppy from a professional breeder, if that is their desire. I hope they’ll look first to their local animal shelter, rescue group or SPCA as they seek their new furry family member, and that they make the adoption public so others will be influenced to consider adopting a shelter pet rather than a pure breed.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no animosity to pure breeds, their breeders or their owners. But for the purpose of having a pet, rather than a show animal, working animal or breeding animal, I don’t see why a pure breed is necessary – especially with our shelters overflowing with beautiful pets.

Considering bringing a puppy or other pet into your family? Contact one of these local agencies:

This new ordinance is only the first step, though. Now that the city has gone on record with its preference to “buy local,” it’s time for businesses, nonprofits and consumers to do the same. Many businesses have instituted “sustainability” programs, and are making improvements by recycling, using environmentally friendlier operational practices, and doing business with preferred vendors who demonstrate a commitment to fair labor and human rights. I hope their programs include a “buy local” component, too.

With the economy seeming to sink lower and lower with each passing hour, I was heartened to learn that the Salinas City Council adopted a new ordinance that modifies the City Code, effectively endorsing and formalizing a “buy local” program.

Ordinance No. 2488 passed unanimously and was adopted on Sept. 9, adding Section 12-27.1 “Local Preference in Contracting For Equipment, Materials, Supplies, and Services” to the code. My own firm’s services are exempt, but nonetheless, I see this as a fantastic win-win-win for our city, our local businesses and all of us who live here.

Basically, the ordinance allows businesses, inside the Salinas city limits, the right of first refusal to amend their bid for city contracts if their previous bid (for the same contract) was within 10 percent of a non-local bid. There are other stipulations, but that’s the gist of it.

There are a few reasons this creates a win-win-win situation:

• Local businesses are provided the opportunity to win business they would have otherwise lost because their bid was too high. The City Code requires the city to award contracts to the lowest responsible bidder. This new ordinance treats a local bid, revised to match the lowest non-local bid, as the lowest responsible bid. So, local businesses gain revenue.
• Employees win because local work means local jobs. We get more work, less commute time, and we keep skilled labor in our community rather than losing good folks to towns that keep them employed.
• The city and all of us win because the sales tax stays local. I’ve always thought it was crazy to select an out-of-town business to save, let’s say for example 5 percent net, then wave bye-bye to tax dollars as they flow out of our town and into someone else’s community. Now the city won’t have to make that choice if local businesses take advantage of their rights under the ordinance. It will be nice to see the tax dollars staying put – we need ‘em.

This new ordinance is only the first step, though. Now that the city has gone on record with its preference to “buy local,” it’s time for businesses, nonprofits and consumers to do the same. Many businesses have instituted “sustainability” programs, and are making improvements by recycling, using environmentally friendlier operational practices, and doing business with preferred vendors who demonstrate a commitment to fair labor and human rights. I hope their programs include a “buy local” component, too.

I get annoyed when I hear about local companies purchasing in San Jose or San Francisco because they think the quality or service level will surpass that of our local businesses. As if those of us who work here just fell off a lettuce truck and haven’t got a clue. It’s really they who need to get a clue that paying more in the big city is more about their own ego or arrogant attitude. Granted, sometimes you just can’t find exactly what you need locally, but often it’s because you really didn’t look all that hard, and it just makes you feel more important to have done business anywhere but here.

I also hope nonprofits, that frequently seek the donations, sponsorships, and volunteer support of local businesses, will look first to those same and all local businesses for the products and services they need, rather than shopping online or out of town to get what they think is a better deal. I’ve heard too many stories about local short-sighted nonprofits buying in San Francisco, Fresno, Chicago and beyond thinking they’re getting a better deal, yet never hesitating to turn locally to ask for financial support or assistance for their programs.

And I hope consumers will build relationships with store managers and shop owners, so if they have a difficult time finding the products they want, the local stores will have an opportunity to rectify the situation and earn their business. My own family has been guilty of shopping in Monterey and Sand City when our Salinas stores are much more convenient, but don’t always carry the brands or products we prefer. Lately, if my husband complains that his favorite local store doesn’t carry the type of cheese, beer, water, bacon, or other thing he wants, I tell him to talk to the manager before he opts to drive 20 miles to get the “perfect (insert name of thing here)” in another town. I hope you’ll consider doing the same to keep business local as much as possible.