The Small Business Saturday Grant Program Guide. Program operated by the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, sponsored by Columbia Credit Union

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1 Welcome The Small Business Saturday Grant Program Guide Program operated by the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, sponsored by Columbia Credit Union Quick tips and ideas guide to maximize the month-long promotional campaign within your business!

2 Overview The Small Business Saturday Grant Program is twofold. First, it s a hashtag contest to determine the recipients of the Chamber s two $2,000 Small Business grants; and second, it s a month-long marketing framework to pick-and-choose from to drive Small Business awareness during the month of November. Small Business Saturday is a dedicated shopping day for our small businesses, on November 25th this year. The Small Business Saturday Grant program provides GVCC members with DIY promotional tools that include three logos: The Small Business Saturday Grant logo The Shop Local logo The Hashtag Contest Logo And the following collateral (in digital and hard copy formats): Hashtag Contest Counter Cards 8.5x11 Hashtag Contest Poster Buttons Social Media Graphics To win one of the two $2,000 Small Business Saturday Grants, businesses must: Be a GVCC member in good standing with a paid membership. Have 15 full time employees (FTE) or less. Post between Nov 1 25th 2017 with posts set to public that include our contest hashtag: #GVCCgrant2017. Our hashtag contest creates social media advocates throughout southwest Washington on behalf of small businesses. Each post about your business IS an entry to win the grant.

3 Program Elements During the month of November the GVCC invites Small Businesses (defined at 15 FTE or less) to enroll in our Small Business Saturday Grant Program! All GVCC members can enroll at no additional cost by ing Chandra Chase, the GVCC s Program and Communications Director, at cchase@vancouverusa.com. This program is made possible by the partnership with Columbia Credit Union. The Chamber s Small Business Saturday Grant Program has four parts to be aware of: Part # 1 - THE PUBLICITY The Chamber will promote the Small Business Grant Saturday program through: Over $4,000 in advertisements in the Columbian and VBJ. Advertisements on Vancouverusa.com website. Promotion through community partners. Promotion via poster, postcards, buttons, and other signage. In press releases to media outlets. On Social Media via the hashtag contest #GVCCgrant2017. Part #2 - #GVCCgrant2017 The Chamber s hashtag for the two $2,000 grants will be #GVCCgrant2017 and the contest officially runs November 1 25th which is Small Business Saturday in We re hosting a dedicated tagboard to collect all social media posts with #GVCCgrant2017 (post must be set to public). Free counter cards for businesses to communicate contest with customers/employees (+ free buttons). We re encouraging the community to share stories of local businesses and employers regarding customers and employees. You ll see mini commercials all over the social media landscape to promote local small businesses. Part #3 - Two $2,000 Business Grants, $4,000 in total grant funds available The hashtag contest #GVCCgrant2017 will end with the committee (made of three Chamber staff and two sponsor staff) selecting from a list of 20 finalists. We are looking for: Heartfelt public posts about local businesses from November 1st - November 25th. To win you must be officially enrolled in the GVCC s Small Business Saturday Grant program. You must have a paid GVCC Membership in good standing. Have 15 FTE or less in your business, company, or nonprofit. Posts must include the GVCC contest hashtag: #GVCCgrant2017 Part #4 - DIY COLLATERAL The Chamber will send you an FTP file of multiple Small Business Saturday Grant Program graphics for you to use on: Your business enewsletter, signature, website to increase awareness that you re a local small business and competing for the Small Business Saturday Grant. Three different logo suites to post on your channels, blogs, website to promote yourselves and involvement with the Chamber s program/contest. Social media FB event headers/infosnaps to post on social media.

4 The DIY Collateral The Small Business Saturday Grant Program, sponsored by Columbia Credit Union, comes with a wide variety of graphics for participating members to use. There are three different program logos. One basic Small Business Saturday Grant Program logo (left) is available in a variety of sizes. There is also a Shop Local logo that can help you heavily promote shopping local this holiday season. This dateless version is in place for businesses that are not open on Saturdays. The final logo is a hashtag contest logo. This will help spread the word that you are competing for the Grant in November. The #GVCCgrant2017 logo is the most extensive logo set for members to use. There will be a number of graphics, logos, infosnaps, and facebook headers for members to use to promote the hashtag contest - which can land them one of two $2,000 Small Business Saturday Grant prizes.

5 Counter Cards

6 8.5x11 poster

7 2016 Hashtag Finalists

8 2016 Hashtag Finalists

9 2016 Hashtag Finalists