Newsletter Spring 2012

Please follow the link below to view an electronic version of our latest newsletter and as I mentioned last week a hard copy will be delivered to you during this week.
 
Can I also remind you that should any of you want any Union Jack bunting or flags to celebrate the jubilee and/or the Olympics then “Kitchen and Things” are offering a 20% discount to any Bid4Bury member
 
Newsletter Spring 2012
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury

Whitsun Fayre (3rd & 4th June)

Please find here a copy of the flyer that we will be using to advertise and promote the above event and as you can see on the reverse side are details of our new Food and Drink festival in August.
 
What we all need to do now is make as many people as possible aware of these events so we can generate interest and get increased numbers of people into the town centre. This will then hopefully lead to additional business for yourselves as well as people having a greater awareness of all that Bury has to offer and will encourage people to revisit the town.
 
To achieve this greater awareness we, at Bid4Bury,  can use all of our marketing and media connections but we also need our members to do their bit too !!
 
I would be grateful if you could hand out copies of the flyer to your customers during the run up to the Whitsun Fayre (if you can do this please let me know and we will drop off copies to you) but also for those of you who have  a customer database with e mail addresses could you please forward to them  this attachment so they can see what we have planned
 
This year the Whitsun Fayre  falls on the Jubilee weekend and there will no doubt be other events/attractions happening over this weekend in and around Bury, so we need to do all we can to persuade people to come into town on either or both of these days
 
The business benefits of hosting these events needs to be maximised by yourselves and your assistance in really widening the awareness of the event will go some way to achieving this so your support in this regard is necessary and appreciated
 
Best wishes
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury

Newsletter and promoting the ourburystedmunds brand

We will shortly be publishing our 5th newsletter which will be available on our website and I will circulate a pdf version to you all in due course. In the next week I will arrange the delivery of a hard copy to your business so you can see all that BID4Bury have been doing on your behalf and the things we have planned for the next few weeks
 
I am currently in discussions with the Council about displaying, at key locations in the town such as in or near to car parks, visual reminders of our brand, website and phone app. At the moment if people choose to plan their visit to the town, our various media platforms allow them to do so and to make the most of their time here but if a visitor is in the town they will probably be completely unaware of these facilities.
 
I fear that my “discussions” with the Council over this issue may not result in any quick decisions and therefore we run the risk of during the peak tourism period not maximising all that we have to offer the visitor in the town and very importantly they won’t have access to all the information about your businesses.
 
Therefore myself and the BID4Bury Board of Directors feel we all need to do something in the interim to further promote the brand to the public.
 
“Well what can I do?”, I hear you ask, well you can display in a prominent position an outward facing window a sticker so passers by start to see and become even more familiar with the ourburystedmunds brand. We have also got stickers that can be displayed within your business premises. One of each of these stickers will be within your newsletter  that is delivered next week and I hope you are able to display both
 
I do appreciate that national companies may have strict guidelines in regards of what can and can’t be  displayed within the windows of their business premises so initially we will deliver these stickers to our independent members but should any national business want either or both of the stickers then please let me know and we will drop whatever you require to you
 
The brand, the website and the app have all been created to ensure there is a focus on promoting and marketing the town as a whole but they have also been created to enable you to promote your business and benefit from all we are doing on your behalf. This  is YOUR brand and your marketing and promotional facilities and you may wish to consider whether you are making the most of these opportunities that are all complimentary services you gain by being a Bid4Bury member
 
We have also produced some car window stickers which we would be very happy to provide, free of charge, to any business who wishes to display them in their company vehicles or for display in the vehicles of colleagues, staff, friends or family. If you want some just let me know
 
I am very mindful that the current trading environment is very challenging and in the short term is unlikely to get any better so we all need to work together as a “Bid4Bury” team to try and see our way through this period and we can all benefit by more people being aware of our town and our brand and the trade off for this is will hopefully be additional visitors to the town over the coming months and more business for yourselves
 
We, at Bid4Bury, are doing all we can to promote the town and our businesses through a variety of ways and we now need your support in promoting the ourburystedmunds brand by displaying these stickers in your businesses
 
Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing the stickers displayed in the near future
 
Best wishes and have an enjoyable and hopefully profitable weekend
 
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury

 Three opportunities for our members

Any chance of this weather improving?  I don’t know who has decided that June and July will be scorching but the thought of this is keeping me going!
 
1)      In September there are going to be some business awards presented at a gala evening which is being organised by the Bury Free Press.
We are sponsoring one of the awards which will focus upon the delivery of great customer service by individual employees (further details to follow).
 
To give you and your staff a head start why not consider the attached customer service courses that are being run at the College in the next couple of weeks. Details of how to do this are on the attached document
     
 
2)      One of our members Ling Cook insurers are offering some discounted policies for B4B members outlined below is the promotion offered by Richard Weller at Ling Cook
 
“Insurance Brokers Ling Cook are pleased to be able to support the Bid4Bury initiative and would like to offer other members a special 10% discount on new insurance policies arranged during the next 3 months. This is a genuine offer and the discount will be applied to already competitive premiums available from a selection of major insurers. This offer will be subject to the following conditions:-
 
·Available to businesses located within the IP33 1 and IP33 3 post code areas.
·Restricted to Office Combined Insurance, Shop, Tradesman’s Liability (Public and/or Employers Liability) and Professional Indemnity insurances.
·Subject to insurer acceptance and underwriting criteria.
·Closing date 1st August 2012
For further details and or a quotation please contact Ling Cook insurance Services on 01284 722600 quoting the Bid4Bury promotion.
 
Ling Cook Insurance Services is a trading name of Gibbs Denley Insurance Services Ltd and is part of the Gibbs Denley Group.
 
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority"
 
 
3)     The third opportunity will be with you shortly via another e mail!
 
 
Also in the next week or so you will all be receiving details of the considerable enhancements that will be available to you, via our website, further demonstrating all the benefits that are available exclusively to Bid4Bury members
 
Best wishes
 
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury

FREE Low Energy Seminar

Friday 25 May - 3pm-5pm

Milburn Centre, Anglian Lane
Bury St Edmunds

You are invited to a FREE Low Energy Seminar to mark the launch of West Suffolk College's new energy and training centre.

Discover the potential return on investment from various renewable technologies.

Find out how your business could benefit from the Feed in Tariff and the Renewable Heat Incentive subsidies

Learn about The Green Deal

Ascertain how low energy technologies can reduce your energy costs

Find out about training and qualifications to suit your business needs including the latest renewable courses available

All attendees will be offered a FREE energy audit for their business and 12 hours of support to reduce energy costs.

Click here for full agenda and to register

Town Centre reserach project

You may recall me informing you that in partnership with Action for Market Towns we are carrying out a research project to identify what more can be done to make Bury an even more popular place to live, work or visit.
 
A fortnight ago I invited you all to complete an online survey created for our businesses and the link to this was here. I am pleased that some of you have already completed this very quick survey but there is still time for you to register your thoughts in order to influence the future of the town centre.
 
From today we are also launching an online survey for the public to complete. Like the business survey it should take literally only a couple of minutes to complete but for us to get the most out of the research project we need as many responses as possible
 
Therefore please can I ask you to encourage your family, friends and customers to complete the survey so we can get an accurate picture of what people like in the town, what they don’t and what they would like to see.
 
All of this will hopefully lead to Bury being an ideal place to run a business from and therefore the outcome of this research should directly benefit yourselves
 
The online link to this survey is here
 
Many thanks
 
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury

Its A Knockout! - Hardwick Heath 22nd July

The College, Hospital and the Borough Council are combining to stage the above event to raise money for Sports Rwanda and for the Hospital
 
Although the event takes place outside of the town centre this is an opportunity for our businesses to promote themselves and this can be done in a couple of ways.
 
Firstly a business can enter a team into the competition and get some high profile advertising through that or secondly there is the opportunity to have a stall on the heath to sell or advertise their company or of course you can do both.
 
To find out more please visit the website  www.buryknockout.com  or contact Ben Smith via email at Ben.Smith@stedsbc.gov.uk  for more details

FREE Customer service workshops in preparation for the Olympics

I just wanted to update you on a couple of developments myself and the Bury Tourist Group have been working on. The Tourist Group own the very successful visit bury st edmunds website that I know some of you are already featured on and gain business from. We have arrived at an agreement whereby all of our food and drink businesses will have their “ourburystedmunds” listing page automatically transferred to the vsitbury website, in addition the visitbury site will create a new tab entitled something similar to “treat yourself” and some of our “well being” businesses will be featured here.  It is hoped that this development will have been completed within a couple of weeks or so
 
The visitburystedmunds website is a tourism site that covers more than just the town centre and is always very high up on google searches for bury st Edmunds and visit bury st Edmunds so this facility for our businesses in the above categories is well worth having at no additional cost.
 
The Tourism Group also intend to create an events page (for “one off” events) and an offers/promotion page that will be available for our businesses to utilise in due course. There is of course some duplication here in regards of services we provide but I am firmly of the view that by virtue of this agreement most of our businesses will now be featured on two high quality and regularly accessed websites, a sort of BOGOF!!
 
In addition the Tourism Group have also managed to gain access to some FREE customer service training which is detailed below. Now although the motivation for these events are the Olympics I suspect there will be some very transferable information and knowledge provided that you might want to take advantage of.
 
Bid4Bury are a member of the Tourism group and therefore by default so are all of our businesses. Therefore if any of you are interested in taking up this offer please contact Lisa Bebbington at the College for further details and to book a place. Her email address is ; lisa.bebbington@wsc.ac.uk
 
Best wishes
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury

The Vintage Jubilee Fete on Tuesday 5th June

Please see below details of the Vintage Jubilee Fete on Tuesday 5th June that one of our members, the Tourist Information Centre is organising.
 
This follows on form the Whitsun Fayre on 3rd and 4th June and complete the Jubilee weekend events in the town centre
 
If you want to become involved please contact Sharon direct on the e mail address below
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury

Organisations invited to Vintage Jubilee Fete
 
The fun and feel of the 1950s are being recreated at a free Vintage Jubilee Fete in the Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds, from midday to 5pm on Tuesday 5 June.
 
The event is being held to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and local businesses and community groups are being invited to add to the festivities.
 
Sharon Fairweather, Tourism Officer for St Edmundsbury Borough Council says,
“I would love to hear from any businesses or groups who were around in the 1950s and have memorabilia they would like to share, or who are keen to put on a display, or be involved in some way.”
 
In particular Sharon is inviting local organisations to put up Tug-of-War teams of six to eight people a side. She says,
 
“There will be loads of participation, with fun competitions like the Bonniest Baby, the Knobbliest Knees (gentlemen), the Loveliest Legs, (ladies) and a traditional children's fancy dress (all homemade costumes). There will also be music and dancing with Texas Tommy and Esther demonstrating the jive and teaching the audience. We are hoping for some strong sides for the Tug-of War. It is a serious business and we are looking for ladies’ and men’s sides
 
Please contact Sharon Fairweather at the Tourist Information Centre, Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1XB, ON 01284 757093 or email sharon.fairweather@stedsbc.gov.uk

15 new voluntary members of Bid4Bury

I am delighted to announce that we now have 15 businesses who have chosen to become a member of Bid4Bury. These businesses are
Auntie Pams Sweet Shop, Bliss Hair, Bloomfields, Body and Mind, C&B Beautiful,  Cabana , Chamber of Commerce, Crystal Merchant,
Halcyon Days, Jacobs Allen, M2M, Michael Birnie, Printing.com, Sheridans  and most recently Bury Language School
 
The BLS has around 1000 foreign students visit the school, during the Spring and Summer as well as more mature students at other times of the year
 
I think these students are predominantly an untapped resource in regards of the majority of our businesses. I know that some of you are working in partnership with the school but I believe many of you are missing a real opportunity here. The majority of the students come here for a week and as well as having lessons have quite a bit of down time particularly between Monday and Friday. They predominantly come from Europe but also the Far East and the school is targeting Brazilian and Eastern European students too.
 
When they visit the town they tend to go to shops and restaurants they recognise i.e. multi national and international companies but therefore they are missing out on all the unique brands and products on offer in the town
 
BLS provide a “welcome pack” to all students and we will be providing maps, pens and key rings to promote the ourburystedmunds brand and encouraging students to download our app.
 
Should any of you want to bring to the attention of the students your products or services by means of flyers or vouchers then Usha Millar at BLS is the person to contact and here is her email address;  marketing@blsenglish.co.uk and she would me happy to include details within the welcome pack
 
Maybe boosting numbers at the cinema(s) on a weekday afternoon by offering a foreign student rate might be worth considering or those of you with gift shops might want to encourage them to take something home for their parents or some encouragement for them to have a drink and  bite to eat at your premises might be beneficial but in any case I will leave this with yourselves to contact Usha should you so wish
 
Mark Cordell
Chief Executive
Bid4Bury