New Albany First's newsletter for January, 2012.

(NA First's page at Facebook is frequently updated. You are encouraged to "like" it, and to participate in the ongoing discussion.)

We hope everyone had a great and productive holiday season of 2011. A number of projects are being discussed to better serve the independent business community in 2012, including partnerships with Ivy Tech, IU Southeast, Develop New Albany and the Urban Enterprise Zone. Our "be local" seminars continue as well into the new year. We're excited about the upcoming year, the challenges it will bring and the success we hope to have in helping our independent businesses continue to thrive.

Our "be local" seminar series returns on Thursday, February 2nd starting at 7pm at Strandz and Threadz, located at 322 Vincennes Street in New Albany.

Marketing a Small Business in a Tough Economy


Join us as Allen Howie of Idealogy Marketing + Design shares insights into how a small business on a tight budget can still market effectively by focusing on the right customers, building a memorable brand, having a smart plan and looking for unusual tactics that can cost little but produce a lot.

There still are local sponsorship options for the Go Local, Grow Local 2012 AMIBA national conference to be held in Louisville in March. Contact Andy at newalbanyfirst@gmail.com for more information.

A look ahead at 2012

We'll be inventorying all local, independent businesses in the New Albany area to make it easier for businesses to network together and use each others' services. The more we can do that, the more money stays in our local economy.

Our "be local" seminar series will continue with some great topics/speakers already being lined up. These seminars are being presented, free of charge, to the public to help our current business owners, but also to encourage new ones. We were very happy to see Ryan Rogers, owner of the soon-to-open Feast BBQ, at our last seminar. That's what we hope to continue to do.

We will continue to work on partnerships with various groups. The possible projects with IUS and Ivy Tech are particularly exciting and we look forward to continuing to work hard to make them a reality.

A website should be up in a matter of days. There have been some delays, but we're excited to get it going! It will include a membership page with links to all of our business members websites. The webpage will continue to expand as time goes along.

We plan on bringing in another speaker this summer/fall. We'll have more on that in the future.

Obviously, membership recruitment is huge for us. Any help that our members can provide would be appreciated. Whether it's just a matter of telling fellow business owners about us or participating directly with the board on recruitment strategies, we'd love for you to get involved.

Thanks everyone.