Saturday, January 16, 2010

Focus Groups at the Chelsea Library

Thank You to everyone who participated in the focus groups at the Library this past week!

The Library provided a great setting in the McKune room. (Special thanks to Bill Harmer and the library staff for excellent service.) Thank you Pat Cleary for investing huge amounts of personal time to make this happen. Take a day off... you deserve the rest.

An excellent mix of people participated. A wide variety of topics were discussed. Participants from downtown, South town, the senior comunities, real estate,non profits,the new kitchen group, the Arts,many historical people, banks and more.
Hank Weber conducted the focus groups and will be reporting his results next week and we will start our next phase .
It was fantastic to see so MANY people who have a great passion for Chelsea and the wonderful community that we already enjoy. Participants freely discussed a variety of open ended questions and had the opportunity to provide input and ideas. The focus groups were intended to have discussion but not to come to any conclusions. Mr. Weber specifically asked that no one champion any one cause during the focus groups.

Participants spoke freely and Mr. Weber made sure that everyone got a chance to talk. This provided a lively discussion at the focus groups. There was some discussion of repeating the same process but focus on the residential community. It was also suggested that we repeat the process at least yearly. Every effort was made to include segments of every obvious group but there was not enough time (or a good enough list) to include everyone.

Participants identified Chelsea's strengths and discussed why we should spend money marketing Chelsea. Creating a way to measure the success of the marketing program that is put together was one key discussion. Close Proximity to a Ann Arbor, Jackson, Detroit-even Chicago and further was discussed. Our two recreation areas-Waterloo and Pinckney are a HUGE reason for people to come to our community.
Participants were asked to discuss the biggest challenge their business faces this year. 99% of participants had spent at least $100 shopping in Chelsea this holiday season. Shopping locally is a huge element of any marketing plan that will be developed. One general theme was Customer Service and its importance in all Chelsea businesses. It was suggested that many local people are unaware of the variety of products and services available in Chelsea.
Drawing in out of town shoppers for day and overnight visits was discussed. Tracking visitors by zip code or some other method was discussed. Cooperation among different business groups to combine a large number of marketing efforts into a cohesive package was an exciting discussion. Making sure that customers received the high level of friendly service that is expected in Chelsea was a hot topic as well.

Now . How do we keep the momentum going? Involvement.

We have commitment from the City, the DDA, the Chamber, the business community and key residents. We all need to put aside our personal and business needs and focus on creating a great marketing plan for ALL of Chelsea.
The next steps will be decided after hashing out Hank Weber's focus group information.
A long term and sustainable effort will be generated that will have great opportunities for community members and businesses.
We have a GREAT community. We have many qualities as a community that are unique to Chelsea . This offers a rich pool of resources that will require a great deal creativity to effectively tap.

The best is yet to come.

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