Downtown is under construction.
But your business doesn’t have to slow down.
Get a full year of expert advertising – for free- as part of a new community-powered advertising program.
Your business is the heartbeat of downtown – but construction is making it harder to be seen.
We’ve talked to dozens of Main Street business owners like you. You’re hopeful about the future, but the present is hard. Traffic is down. Customers are confused. Advertising and marketing feels out of reach.
We hear you. That’s why we created this program — to keep our downtown vibrant right now, not just when the dust settles.
High-Impact Advertising across Richland Source platforms – for 12 full months
Program participants will receive the following benefits:
Individual
💻 50,000 monthly ad impressions (aka ad views) across Richland Source promoting their business
📣 Opportunity to promote a deal or offer in a monthly “Downtown Deals” article
🌟 Mini business feature in 1 of the “Downtown Deals” articles
🎙️ Podcast shoutouts on Better Together podcast, published weekly
General
📩 Featured in “Shop Downtown” newsletter ads to 36,000+ email subscribers
🗞️ Bi-weekly construction updates in collaboration with DMI, published to Richland Source to keep the community informed
📱 Promotion for readers to sign up for text/email updates from DMI on the Main Street Project
All at no cost to you. Seriously.
How it Works
You focus on your business. We’ll handle the advertising and marketing.
📝 Apply today – the application takes less than 5 minutes to complete. Spots are limited, so don’t wait!
✅ We create your ads – display, email, podcast, newsletter – all done for you – for a FULL year.
🛍️ Customers come back – stay visible and keep people coming through your doors, so your business is stronger than ever when the Main Street project is complete.
Are you in? 🤷 Let’s find out.
You qualify if:
✅ Your business is between 1st & 6th and Adams & Mulberry in Mansfield
✅ You’re locally owned and operated
✅ Your 2024 revenue is under $1 million
Spots are limited and are first come, first served.
This isn’t a grant. It’s a community effort.
This program is made possible by a collaboration between Richland Source and 5 community businesses committed to being good neighbors to our downtown businesses.
Presenting Sponsors
Supporting Sponsors
What’s The Catch?
There isn’t one. But there is a deadline 📆
There’s no cost to participate. No invoices. No marketing experience required. We just need a little info from you.
Important Dates
- Applications are open now and due by August 17th.
- We will notify accepted businesses starting the week of August 18th.
- Program kick off call for all participants August 21st.
- Advertising will go live the first week in September.
Apply to the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Advertising Program Today
Disclaimer: Submitting does not guarantee acceptance. You’ll hear back on the status of your application the week of August 18th.
FAQ
Yes. Thanks to generous sponsors, you won’t pay a dime.
No. Our team handles everything from design to delivery. We want this to be as light lift for everyone involved as possible. You’ll be asked to complete short forms for ad designs and the monthly deals articles.
Yes. You’ll have say in what you want your ad to be about, and you’ll have input before anything goes live on the site.
In general this is a first come first served process. However, in the event of an overwhelming response we will give highest priority to early applications received from Main Street businesses most impacted by the construction and work our way outwards until all spots are filled.
Starting in September, we will begin publishing a monthly article series called the Downtown Deals. The goal is to highlight 1-2 of the program businesses through a mini feature (approx 150 words showcasing your business and what you do). At the bottom of the articles we will include a “downtown deals” section where every participating business can promote a special offer or discount for that month. This might be a general “x% off when you buy more than y” or maybe a buy 1 get 1 50% etc. You get to pick your offer, and it’s totally optional to participate in the monthly article.
Our intent is to showcase to readers the awesome businesses and give them more reason to come downtown to shop/dine/play.
We are committed to doing 100% of the work, but the reality is we will need your participation to make your advertising impactful for your business.
Program participants will be expected to:
– collaborate with our team on ad designs (providing branding files like logos, colors etc. as well as general design themes)
-provide a monthly special/offer/deal that can be promoted in the Downtown Deals article (this is optional but strongly encouraged)
– respond to emails/voicemails from our team within 1-2 business days (we are not going to chase you down)
– complete a brief quarterly report on the performance of your business (we promise this will be light weight and will help us track the impact of this program)
– attend a 30-minute virtual kick off call for the program on August 21st at 2:30 pm (invites will be sent upon program acceptance to the email on the application)
Downtown is worth showing up for – and so is your business
Let us help you stay top-of-mind while Mansfield transforms. Apply today and join your neighbors in a stronger tomorrow.