Showcase Video Shoot at The Solar Store

We visited with Katharine Kent at The Solar Store yesterday to shoot - what we call - a Showcase Video. Our goal is to create a 1 - 2 mins video of our exhibitors every 90 days and then publish it throughout the web. This way, local businesses can stay up-to-date on a particular business or industry with fresh and relevent video content.

We were amazed by Katharine's accomplishments and experience. She is a Tucson native who loves the sunshine - for many reasons. Katharine has multiple engineering degrees and founded one of AZ's first solar energy businesses, The Solar Store. She's also an avid skier whose ambition is to ski on every continent in the world.

Katharine's staff is professional, friendly and expert at what they do.

We should publish her Showcase Video within the next 2 weeks - so stay tuned to learn more about solar energy and The Solar Store.

Email Marketing - Making A Foe Your Friend

Email marketing has been around for many years now. Everybody wants to use it and to use it well. Everybody wants readers to open their emails and act in some way, shape or form. The fact is the email delivery is cheap and easy,but like most things - cheap and easy, it is not lasting unless the message is relevant, interesting and compelling.

So, while the delivery of email may be inexpensive, making email marketing effective is not. It takes time, talent and content. The latter are obstacles for most businesses. This is why we created a cross-company managed email marketing service.

Yesterday we launched our managed service that enables local home & garden businesses to affordably and effectively use email marketing in their business. What's unique about our approach is that we encourage each business' subscribers to join the My Local Home Show email list and, in return, we encourage our subscribers to join the business' email list.

The idea is to make My Local Home Show the one source for news, tips, events and promotions across the local home & garden industry. People can also subscribe to emails from their favorite businesses for more timely and detailed information.

This is the power of community based marketing - where people with common interests can compete, collaborate and succeed. Email marketing levels the playing field for businesses because it is very inexpensive and can be very effective, if done properly.

As part of the community, individual businesses can expand the scope of their topics for their customers beyond their own business into complementary areas of interest. This approach opens the door for co-marketing activities to increase sales and customer loyalty.

Our first newsletter will be released next week and feature Handyman Connection and The Solar Store.

Meeting with Jim Beard of Family Air

One of the best parts of my job is getting to meet interesting small business owners. There's a certain spirit of independence and personal responsibility that is unique to them. Unlike many people who work behind the name and values of companies, small business owners are the company. The values of their business are their values.

Jim Beard of Family Air has just joined My Local Home Show and I find his energy and passion to be extraordinary. Personal integrity, accountability and customer service are the cornerstones of his being and his company. His company is "Energy Star" certified so consumers can trust his business to find ways to save them money on energy use and peace of mind when it comes to standing behind the work.

Jim tells me that his home show display has 2 cooling units with each on their own meter. He simply runs both units at the same time so people can see the difference in the turns of the meters. It's like watching money flowing quickly from one and not the other. It's amazing how much technology has advanced to save energy over the past few years.

I'm hoping to learn more about entergy savings from Jim so I can share it with Tucson homeowners through My Local Home Show.

Ready For The Show

Yesterday was filled with last minute opportunities and challenges as we prepared for the AZ State Home Show at the Tucson Convention Center. We secured an area of 60 ft x 20 ft for ourselves and other businesses including: Southwest Iron Works; Sidewinder Custom Pools and Hot Tubs; Smart Water Systems; Atlas Protection Services; AZ Pool Restoration; and Handyman Connection.

We got the green light to hang one of our billboard banners above our area. It's 47 ft long and 15 ft tall. There was scramble to collect it and materials to hang it. But we got it done and it is impressive.

As usual, one must be willing to do extraordinary things when opportunities present themselves to make progress.

Taking a Step towards a Healty New Year

We are participating this coming weekend's Health & Fitness Festival at the El Con Mall. It's from 9 to 6 on Saturday, the 7th and 11 to 4 on Sunday, the 8th.

There will be free Zumba and Yoga classes and local entertainment. There will even be a Farmers Market with fresh local produce.

Stop by the My Local Home Show booth and pick up a free Club Card so you can Buy Like The Pros - at or near contractor pricing, from participating local home and garden businesses.

Our 1st Year As A Community of Local Home & Garden Businesses

2010 marks our first year as a company, My Local Home Show, and our community of hundreds of local Tucson Home & Garden businesses where consumers can Do More for Their Homes and Get More for Their Money.

The concept is simple - bring together like minded local businesses owners providing home related products and services to consumers and together create new efficiencies in marketing, advertising, sales and service. Use these efficiencies to increase  individual competitive advantage in the marketplace and savings that can increase profitability and or be passed along to consumers to stimulate sales.

In our first year, we've run over 1,000 commercials and ad in print, radio and TV. We've grown our membership to 300 local home and garden businesses. We've evolved from the simple concept of an online Home & Garden Show to a company that enables nearly any sized business to be able to afford multi-media marketing & advertising and modern web technology.

As typical in the life of a startup company, many days have revealed mistakes and errors while other days have produced great opportunity and frienships.

Support from people and companies such as Tony Johnson at California Design Center/ Studio C Interiors and Steve Nottingham at Off The Wall Furniture Solutions and Jackie & Larry Rylance at Sidewinder Custom Pools & Hot Tubs - has been some of our best rewards during this year.

Here's to the end of a great year and many thanks to those who made it possible.

AZ State Home Show

Mark your Calendar!

The AZ State Home Show will be in town January 7th, 8th, & 9th!

Follow MyLocalHomeShow on twitter and watch for your chance to win FREE tickets!

Starting Tuesday December 28th My Local Home Show will be giving away 2 free tickets every hour starting at 9 am! Watch for the tweet to call and be the first person to call in to WIN...!

The AZ State Home Show is the first Home & Garden Show of the year. It is held at the Tucson Convention Center starting Friday, January 7th and goes through Sunday, January 9th. For hours, directions and more information be sure to check out American Home Shows.

Come and see hundreds of great exhibitors like Southwest Iron Works Custom Security Screen Doors, Handyman Connection, Atlas Protection Services, Sidewinder Custom Pools and Hot Tubs, Garage Floor Coatings and many, many more.

My Local Home Show will be giving away prizes and to the first 1,000 customers an exclusive My Local Home Show Club Card.

This Club Card has a retail value of $59 and will guarantee you the best deals with over 20 participating local home and garden businesses. For more information check out the My Local Home Show Club Card Program.

We hope to see everyone there! Don't miss out on this fun filled event!