How can local food businesses work together to attract more diners? Here’s one practical idea. Photo M&M Cafe, Monticello, Wisconsin. Photo by Becky McCray

I loved this restaurant marketing idea from the Texas Downtown Association:

Collaborative Marketing for Local Restaurants
In order to compete with new chain restaurants, a group of Longview restaurateurs decided to band together to form a local marketing collective to help encourage people to “Chews Longview”. The marketing campaign urges people to support local businesses that give the community its unique flavor.

Now, Longview, Texas, is a small city at 80,000+ population, but I think smaller towns could adapt this idea.

You don’t have to do a fancy group website. This kind of promotion is perfect for a social media campaign. A simple hashtag is enough to start. Even one local person could start taking pictures and posting positive comments online with a message of “chews local.”

Get more collaborative marketing ideas, for service and retail businesses

In the just-released video from SaveYour.Town, Deb Brown and I share more cooperative and collaborative marketing ideas that any business can use to better reach local customers. It doesn’t take a formal organization or big funding. Anyone can put them into practice right away. Learn more about Cooperation Creates More Customers here.