FAQ's

At Felixstowe BID, our mission is to enhance the vibrancy, visibility, and success of Felixstowe’s businesses by fostering strong community engagement and attracting visitors to our town. Through strategic digital and print marketing, we showcase the variety, quality, and uniqueness of local businesses, driving awareness, customer loyalty, and footfall.

We are committed to supporting businesses with impactful social media campaigns, collaborative partnerships, and engaging storytelling that highlights the best of Felixstowe. By leveraging seasonal themes, tourism promotions, and community-driven content, we aim to create a thriving local economy where residents and visitors alike feel connected to our town and its businesses.

Our approach is dynamic, data-driven, and adaptable, ensuring continuous growth and long-term success for Felixstowe as a premier destination to live, work, shop, and explore.

This strategy aims to enhance the visibility and success of Felixstowe businesses, attract visitors, and foster community engagement through a mix of digital and non-digital marketing approaches.

Objectives 

1. Increase Awareness: Promote the variety, quality, and uniqueness of Felixstowe businesses.

2. Drive Engagement: Encourage followers to interact with posts, fostering customer loyalty and community pride.

3. Boost Footfall & Tourism: Attract more locals and visitors to shop, dine, and explore Felixstowe.

4. Support Local Businesses: Offer a platform for businesses to gain visibility and directly benefit from shared marketing efforts.

Key Channels 

1. Social Media:

• Love Felixstowe: Targeting locals and residents to drive community engagement and frequent local shopping.
• Visit Felixstowe: Designed for tourists within a 90-minute travel radius, promoting Felixstowe as a destination for day trips and holidays.

2. Print Media:

• Monthly adverts in local magazines to reach non-digital audiences, featuring themed or seasonal content.

Content Strategy 

1. Regular Posting:

• Frequency: Four posts per week per page, shared in at least three relevant groups to maximize reach.

Content Themes:

• Upcoming Events: Highlight festivals, markets, and other local happenings.
• Business Features: Showcase promotions, products, services, and achievements.
• Seasonal & Themed Posts: Focus on holidays (e.g., Valentine’s Day, Christmas) with content prepared one month in advance to build anticipation.
• Tourist Highlights: Share itineraries, attractions, and experiences to build an emotional connection with potential visitors.

2. Collaborations:

• Partner with local content creators, influencers, and news sources to amplify reach.
• Share posts from businesses that tag the BID pages to boost their visibility.

3. Competitions:

•  Introduce competitions (e.g., giveaways, photo contests) once the strategy shows consistent results.
• Encourage businesses to propose competition ideas and offer prizes, creating mutual benefits.

4. Storytelling & Emotional Engagement:

• Focus on creating posts that tell the stories of local businesses, highlight community pride, and emphasize the town’s unique charm.

Engagement Goals 

• Build customer loyalty through consistent and high-quality communication.
• Use analytics tools to monitor growth in followers, reach, engagement rates, and feedback from businesses.
• Strengthen Felixstowe’s reputation as both a vibrant local hub and an attractive tourist destination.

Operational Plan 

1. Content Creation:

• Managed by two content creators, who will visit businesses and attractions to capture videos, photos, and stories.
• Maintain a content calendar to ensure posts are timely, varied, and aligned with upcoming themes or events.
• Log all posts and shares to avoid oversharing or spamming.

2. Group Sharing:

• Identify suitable groups based on target audience and topic (e.g., local community groups, tourism-related groups).
• Avoid repetitive posting to maintain a positive reputation.

3. Print Advertising:

• Focus on category-specific or seasonal campaigns (e.g., Valentine’s Day gift ideas, seaside attractions for summer).
• Include a call-to-action encouraging readers to visit social media pages or explore the town.

4. Committee Oversight:

• Performance reviewed monthly by the committee and board of directors, with adjustments made based on analytics and business feedback.

Future Recommendations 

1. Video Content:

• Create short video reels or TikToks showcasing a day in Felixstowe, local events, or behind-the-scenes looks at businesses.

2. User-Generated Content:

• Encourage followers to share their experiences in Felixstowe using branded hashtags (e.g., #LoveFelixstowe, #VisitFelixstowe).
• Repost high-quality user-generated content to build community involvement.

3. Themed Campaigns:

• Develop multi-week campaigns around themes like Shop Local, Felixstowe Foodie Trail, or Family Fun in Felixstowe.
• Offer downloadable maps or itineraries for themed experiences.

4. Email Marketing:

• Build a subscriber list to send newsletters with updates, event details, and business highlights, complementing social media efforts.

5. Expanded Partnerships:

• Work with larger organizations, such as Suffolk tourism boards or travel bloggers, to amplify Felixstowe’s visibility to wider audiences.

6. Workshops for Businesses:

• Host workshops to help local businesses improve their own social media strategies, encouraging them to create content that aligns with BID campaigns.

7. In-Person Engagement:

• Use pop-up events or street team campaigns to promote BID initiatives directly to locals and tourists, bridging online and offline marketing efforts.

8. Analytics Improvement:

• Invest in advanced tools (e.g., Meta Business Suite, Google Analytics) to gain deeper insights into audience demographics, peak engagement times, and successful content types.