‘Shop Here This Year’, delivered by the City of Edinburgh Council under ‘Forever Edinburgh’, has adapted the campaign in the wake of the global pandemic to ensure continued support for businesses across the city who have been impacted by the pandemic.
The campaign continues to shine citizens a spotlight on 11 neighbourhoods and town centres across the Capital and the businesses that bring them to life, showcasing the independent retailers, eateries, and personal shopping experiences that make them great places to visit.
The next phase of the campaign sees three virtual workshops hosted by local influencers. The new series has been created to support businesses in making the most of their digital marketing platforms in continuing to promote their businesses to existing and new customers. Taking place on Zoom throughout the coming months, these workshops will each target a different sector of Edinburgh’s diverse and vibrant retail scene: Lifestyle, Fashion & Interiors, Food & Drink and Attractions, Heritage & Tours.
The workshops will focus on developing key skills that will empower business to grow and maximise their digital presence, following, and engagement. Each workshop will be tailored to specific sectors and will cover essential digital marketing skills; how to increase brand awareness, take impactful imagery, build a following and share engaging copy. Although aimed at certain types of business, be they food, lifestyle or attraction focused, businesses from across Edinburgh’s varied retail sectors are encouraged to sign up to one, or all three workshops, in accordance with relevance and their own availability.
To kick things off Gemma Armit of Everything Edinburgh and Two Scots Abroad will host the first influencer workshop aimed at businesses with links to Attractions, Heritage & Tours, on Tuesday 15 June from 5.30pm. Then on Tuesday 29 June, again from 5.30pm, Emma Bathgate of Vegan Edinburgh will host her own workshop focused on Food&Drink retailers. Finally, at 5.30pm on Tuesday 6 July, Lauren Dall of The Luxe List will host the third and final workshop focused Lifestyle, Fashion & Interiors.
Workshops are FREE to attend and open to all Edinburgh businesses. To sign up businesses should register via Eventbrite, links below:
- Attractions, Heritage & Tours with Gemma Armit of Everything Edinburgh – https://bit.ly/33ZtfdN
- Food & Drink with Emma Bathgate of Vegan Edinburgh – https://bit.ly/3yrzRPV
- Fashion, Lifestyle & Interiors with Lauren Dall of The Luxe List – https://bit.ly/3ua8HtS
A new local business champion network, created by the Councils Business Growth and Inclusion Team, has been instrumental in shaping the campaign. The network includes a range of businesses from all 11 neighbourhoods and include: Cove, Action Porty, Fabhatrix, Reddoor Gallery, Walker Slater, Leith Police Box, Cranachan and Crowdie, Scottish Textiles, Ragamuffin, 181 Deli, Bakery Andante, Specsavers, Herbie of Edinburgh, Seakist and Leith, Stockbridge and Grassmarket Outdoor Markets.
The Business Champion Network, said: “We are delighted to be involved in the ‘Shop Here This Year’ campaign, which allows local businesses like ours to engage with Edinburgh’s citizens in a way that has never been more important.
“The past 12 months have been hard on everyone and while we are excited at the prospect of things slowly opening up, we need to explore avenues that are open to us in the meantime.”
“Not only will these workshops give Edinburgh businesses an opportunity to develop vital skills needed to help promote our businesses via social media and connect to shoppers, they will also enable us to engage with other businesses in our area, building a the sense of community and hopefully providing us with a network of support that will continue long into the future.”
Councillor Kate Campbell, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener at City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Edinburgh’s local business community is incredibly important to everyone living in and around the city. Our town centres are diverse and vibrant, all offering something different from the very best in local food and drink, delicious coffees to elegant cocktails. We have so many shops offering locally made products, crafts, art, fashion, books and pretty much anything else you can imagine.
“By bringing these businesses together with digital marketing professionals who have had a front row seat to the struggles that retail and hospitality businesses are going through, we can create a community of support on the road to recovery.
“This campaign is run by ‘Forever Edinburgh’, the city’s visitor marketing brand, and works alongside its newest promotional activity of the Capital – The Story Never Ends. We hope these new skills will also help businesses build and tell their audiences more about their stories – be it their origins, about their products and suppliers or their customers experiences – and get involved by using the hashtag #ForeverEdinburgh. It’s another great opportunity to help both residents and visitors rediscover all the amazing unique experiences our Capital has to offer.”
The campaign continues s to engage with the local communities across the city and encourages people to share their Edinburgh shopping moments using #ShopHereThisYear and #ForeverEdinburgh on social media. Of course, while restrictions remain in place, those taking part are encouraged to do so in a Covid compliant way.
In addition to regular meetings with neighbourhood champions, the team have also prepared a digital toolkit for businesses looking to get involved. This can be found here. (bit.ly/shopherethisyear)
