In December, La Jolla Village Merchant Association vetted how best to bring business to La Jolla Village.
\nIn January, the merchant group approved a “game plan” for accomplishing that.
\nOn Dec. 12, La Jolla\u2019s business improvement district broke into interactive small groups to brainstorm ideas in several strategic areas: organization, economic vitality and merchant development, design and ambience, and promotion, marketing and publicity.
\n“We need to create a better experience for our customers when they come to the Village,” pointed out LJVMA executive director Jodi Rudick. “It\u2019s about heads in beds, and feet on the street.”
\nRudick noted everything LJVMA does in strategic planning has to favorably answer the question, “Does this idea bring business to the Village?”
\n“If we focus on that \u2013 we\u2019ll be successful,” Rudick said.
\nOn Jan. 9, LJVMA president Brett Murphy unveiled the final 2019 Strategic Plan Initiatives list which included:
\n\u2022 Creating a shop local discount program;
\n\u2022 Developing a media kit\/rate card;
\n\u2022 Recruit student interns\/volunteers;
\n\u2022 Develop an associate member category;
\n\u2022 Develop a parking plan with creative solutions;
\n\u2022 Host education workshops;
\n\u2022 Increase and promote merchant resources on the website;
\n\u2022 Upgrade design amenities (benches, flowers, trash cans, etc.);
\n\u2022 Improve lighting;
\n\u2022 Improve storefronts;
\n\u2022 Promote monthly events;
\n\u2022 Host partnership with third parties;
\n\u2022 Collaborate with other civic groups;
\n\u2022 Write up a marketing plan;
\n\u2022 Correct negative misconceptions about La Jolla.
\nCurrent LJVMA president Brett Murphy noted consistency is a prime concern.
\n“We need to consider feedback we got from the tourism authority in planning great events people will want to come out to,” he said. “We need to be consistent. If we have an event every Friday night, it can\u2019t be pie in the sky. It needs to be consistent, so everybody knows what\u2019s happening.”
\nGrant Wright of (W)right on Communications noted branding was a key component of promotion.
\n“Branding is what people say about you when you leave the room,” Wright quipped adding, “If you try to be everything for everybody \u2013 you end up being nothing for nobody.”
\nWright, who\u2019s PR firm handles destination marketing for places like Yosemite, pointed out it\u2019s important to be selective about what segment of the market is being targeted. He also cautioned that, “A slogan is not a brand.”
\n“There really is no brand for La Jolla anymore,” Wright contended, adding, “La Jolla needs to refine, define and polish its brand.”
\nLJVMA vice president Don Parks said there is a need for “removing negative connotations about parking.”
\nLJVMA board member and hotelier Laurnie Durisoe suggested existing valet parking could be built upon to help people realize parking exists throughout the Village in both above- and below-ground lots. “It\u2019s a true Village now because the merchants are helping themselves and getting to know their neighbors,” Durisoe noted.
\nLJVMA board member Robert Mackey suggested reactivating Friday night wine-dine gallery shopping, as well as creating new events.
\n“We could have wellness events in Scripps Park and other places drawing wellness people into the Village,” Mackey said adding it\u2019s important to work harder to tie Village merchants into existing successful events like the classic-car Concours D\u2019Elegance, the La Jolla Half Marathon and the La Jolla Art and Wine Festival.\u00a0
\n“Local merchants could possibly decorate their windows, stay open later or do other promotions to tie-in to a big event,” Mackey said.
\nMackey also recommended reviving summertime Concerts in Scripps Park, a successful live music event previously held on Sundays during the summertime that was previously discontinued due to sponsorship issues.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In December, La Jolla Village Merchant Association vetted how best to bring business to La Jolla Village. In January, the merchant group approved a “game plan” for accomplishing that. On Dec. 12, La Jolla\u2019s business improvement district broke into interactive small groups to brainstorm ideas in several strategic areas: organization, economic vitality and merchant development, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":256420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Village Merchant Association holds meetings on strategic planning","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}