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Six years ago?
We started going in 2011; six years later, it’s great to see that Cash Mobs are still going on.
Originally, I wanted to make sure that Cash Mobs were completely decentralized, that people could do them whenever they wanted for their own communities. Then…I let them slide.
I think we’re going to have to do more work to bring them back. Keep your eyes on this space.
Norway, Maine
Good post from Norway, Maine!
Webster Cash Mobs Video
Happy Monday – check out this video of Webster Cash Mobs!
Franklin, NC
By Matt Bateman
Franklin, NC is a small town in western North Carolina, with a population of approximately 3,500 citizens. Within Franklin lies a solid core of concerned individuals that want to help support locally owned & operated businesses, as well as the overall well-being of our community. We call our movement “Venture Local Franklin (VLF).” VLF is an effort that was started to move Franklin forward and to help us lead within our region. We are both action-based and outcome-focused when it comes to getting things done. We have several goals and initiatives in motion at any given time. However, one in particular has been both dynamic & gratifying for the entire community to witness. We call it, “Ca$h Mob Franklin!”
Ca$h Mob Franklin! has hosted 8 very successful cash mobs throughout our small, locally owned business community. From gift shops, lunch counters, and outdoor outfitters, to hardware, electronic, and health food stores, Ca$h Mob Franklin! is making the rounds.
How we do it:
Nomination of Ca$h Mobs
After our very first cash mob, we had all participants nominate a local business by writing business names down onto a piece of paper. We then tossed all of the nominations into a bucket. We have the owner of the current business that is being mobbed pull (blindly) from the nomination bucket. Poof! We have our next cash mob victim. This has worked really well, but tweaks are being made to get an equal ratio of nominations to mobsters. Some of our mobsters get caught up in meeting new folks and exploring the business, while forgetting to nominate.
Promotion of Ca$h Mobs
We utilize Facebook, Twitter, email and our website to push the our message out into our local community and beyond. Staying in front of our audience has been the leading force in our success. We create active FB event pages for each cash mob and post on them frequently. A few of our nominated businesses have truly embraced this movement and created promotion of their own in the form of flyers, word of mouth, and their own social media outlets. This works really well and elevates the Cash Mob within the community.
Pay it forward
As part of our Cash Mob initiative, we require that each business pay it forward by selecting a local non-profit or charity to donate to. It can be a percentage of the cash mob sales or donation of time/resources. We really leave this up to the business owner to decide. Several non-profits have benefited from this portion of our Cash Mobs, and it’s something that we’re very proud of.
The calm before the storm
We meet up 15 minutes before each scheduled mob. We meet at a central location that’s closest to the business we’re about to mob. For example, with our downtown businesses, we’ve been meeting at our cool and historic, Franklin Clock Tower. This works well for us for so many reasons. First, we’re a large group standing together and that immediately draws attention. Grabbing passerby’s attention is always a good thing. Second, I always pass around a clipboard asking folks to “sign in” to let us know they were there. I also ask for email addresses to add to our growing lists for our e-news. This ensures that we’re always promoting to a growing audience for each new Cash Mob. Next, I make announcements and go over the “rules.” Like I mentioned before, VLF is involved in other initiatives, so I take a few minutes to talk about what’s new. Then I go over our rules:
1. Commit to spend at least $20 cash.
2. Meet at least 3 new people.
3. Have a blast!
I always add a 4th rule, which is, “Talk about Ca$h Mob Franklin!” Finally, we take a group picture, and head towards the business with our $20 cash in hand (hooting and hollering, of course).
A few highlights I would like to share with you…
– We are averaging just under 30 mobsters per cash mob. Incredible.
– We have attracted over 225 people to our cash mobs.
– Upwards of 85% of our mobsters are spending well over the $20 commitment
– We have had a nice mixture of locals AND visitors join in on the cash mob (tourism development)
– 30% of our mobsters have been to every cash mob
– 20% of our mobsters are first time participants
With the success of Ca$h Mob Franklin!, many in the community are starting to pay attention, and rightfully so. We are making this movement happen 100% organically, and it is grassroots driven. We don’t have a budget or funding to help with promotion, etc. We don’t have a board or committee to answer to (whew, thank goodness!). Ca$h Mob Franklin! is a testament to what can happen when a core of motivated and passionate citizens come together for the common good of their community.
Connect with us
I invite you to keep up with our progress as we move Franklin NC forward in a positive direction! Here is how you can do that.
Web: www.VentureLocalFranklin.com
Note: You can register via social media or create an account via our website that will allow you to interact with us. Please do!
Note: VLF has multiple initiatives going on at any given moment. Like our page to see what we’re up to.
Note: Tweet tweet! Follow us for up-to-date info about VLF
Moving forward with the Cash Mob Movement
Happy Monday everyone!
With National Cash Mob Day 2013 behind us, it’s time to start looking forward to the future to other Cash Mob opportunities we can join efforts on a national or international scale!
Summer is near and it’s the perfect opportunity to come up with new and creative ways to keep support going for mom-and-pop businesses.
Have a couple of ideas that can help create a fresh approach to the cash mob movement.
Dish mob: Dish Mobs have been springing up since late last summer when Restaurant.com teamed up with cash mob organizer Andrew Samtoy. Like a cash mob, a dish mob is designed to get people to eat out mom-and-pop restaurants. We’ve had several dish mobs in Kansas City since November, and is one of the things that a community could use to fuel the shop local movement. You could take the dish mop concept a little further by choosing food things every month with your mob. For example, you could mob a food truck one month and maybe Bob a steak restaurant another month. Possibilities of combinations are endless.
Farmers market mob: I know there have been a few farmers market mobs, but farmers market week is August 4-10. Most farmers markets do pretty well, but in our quest to keep things local I think it would be a great idea to form a mob to go to a farmers market on a Saturday and help our local farmers. I would definitely like to see a national push during this week to create a frenzy with mobbing farmers markets.
Outdoor events Mobs: There are many mom-and-pop outdoor event places but I could use business. I like it would be great for a little creativity during the summer too. Mob at some of these locations such as family-owned swimming pools, Rec centers or sporting areas.
Those are just some of the ideas that I have. I’m curious to know what ideas you have as far as creative cash mobs. Leave your comments below!
Happy National Cash Mob Day 2013
Happy national cash mob day!
Today won’t be as big of an event as last year, but we want to start the tradition of hosting an annual cash my bank to encourage people to shop mom-and-pop businesses and to bring communities together to organize cash mobs in order to bring awareness about the importance of shopping local.
A tough economy for retail businesses over the past few years has taken its toll on mom-and-pop businesses. Mom-and-Pop stores all over our nation are shutting down, unable to compete with the large chain stores and struggling economy.
It takes a community to keep a store in business and more than ever we need to pull together as a community to ensure that future generations of people will be able to realize their entrepreneurial dreams.
At the heart of every mom and pop business is a person with a dream, and few things are sadder than realizing your life will fall short of your dreams. Each of us can make a big difference to a mom and pop business and help an entrepreneur’s dream come true.
If you’re hosting a mob today, please post your comments and let us know how your event was. If you’re documenting the event with photos or videos, please share those as well
I hope everyone has it successful mob today!
Sound off! Who’s with us on National Cash Mob Day?
National Cash Mob Day is only a few days away! We are curious to know how many cities are planning to join us on this special day.
We realize that we may not have gotten the announcement out to members of the cash mob community, but we at least wanted to lay the groundwork for making this an annual event.
Many of you are aware of the challenges mom-and-pop businesses are facing in our current economy. Many are struggling in a few businesses close their doors. We want to keep the cash mob movement strong because these events allow Encourage people to get out and support these businesses in a way that will keep them around for many years to come.
Leave your responses below, we are looking forward to hearing from you.
Things you can do to make National Cash Mob Day 2013 a success!
National Cash Mob Day is this Saturday, April 27, 2013. Most of you have already picked out the business to be ‘mobbed’ and have your events schedule, but there are some additional things you can do to make it a big success.
1. Spread the word to your local media. Contact newspaper and television stations in your area to share this event. One of the things that has helped us at the Kansas City Metro Area Cash Mob was to connect with news personalities on Facebook and LinkedIn. For several Cash Mob related events, the media contacted us rather than us reaching out to them.
2. Get the ‘target’ of the Cash Mob to share the event with their friends and fans and make sure they are promoting it too. These are the people who will form the foundation of your ‘mob’ Customers and fans of the business are already in love with the brand and want to see the brand succeed. They will be your most important ‘voice’ in spread the word about this event. If you get a viral reach with the people who are in love with the business, you are almost guaranteed a successful mob.
3. Get people to volunteer to document the event. Taking photos and video are essential to a Cash Mob because it helps promote the event and gives the mom and pop business much needed exposure. Turn to companies that specialize in photography and video and let them ‘watermark’ any photos or videos that they take for your event.
Let’s make this event a big success!
For information about the KC Cash Mob, visit our Facebook page by searching “Kansas City Metro Area Cash Mob”, following us on Twitter at @cmkansascity or contact one of our volunteers below:
Burton Kelso: burton@integralcomputerconsultants.com or (888) 256-0829
Kelly Dobyns Ziegler: kziegler@ziggyfranz.com or 913.209.9967
National Cash Mob Day 2013 is April 27, 2013
The Kansas City Metro Area Cash Mob has declared Saturday, April 27th, 2013 National Cash Mob Day. We are inviting organized Cash Mobs across the county to take part in a Cash Mob, on a National scale. We want to turn this into an annual event!
The Cash Mob movement has slowed down a little and even disappeared in many areas, but the need for people to come together and rally support for mom and pop business still exists. A tough economy for retail businesses over the past few years has taken its toll on a mom-and-pop businesses. Mom-and-Pop stores all over our nation are shutting down, unable to compete with the large chain stores and struggling economy. At the heart of every mom and pop business is a person with a dream, and few things are sadder than realizing your life will fall short of your dreams. Each of us can make a big difference to a mom and pop business and help an entrepreneur’s dream come true.
We want this event to serve as a reminder to people everywhere about the importance of shopping local and to help our mom and pop businesses survive this tough economy. Join us and organize a mob in your community for that day. It can be an all day event or more like a Flash Mob If you haven’t planned a mob in your community for a while, try to get one together for National Cash Mob Day!
Towns across the nation have seen cash mobs pop up in their communities. Businesses have welcomed Cash Mobs with open arms as they see an increase in sales during a cash mob day. While all Cash Mobs vary in size, the goal is simple; Shop and support our mom and pop businesses rather than national chains and give them more exposure to the masses. The more people who attend and frequent mom and pop businesses equals greater success in supporting our local businesses and our communities!
New mob or old, we hope you will join us on Saturday April 27, 2013 and know that other people are doing the same thing as part of this Cash Mob Community to help our mom and pop businesses in this tough economy!
For information about the Kansas City Metro Area Cash Mob, visit the Facebook page by searching “Kansas City Metro Area Cash Mob”, following us on Twitter at @cmkansascity or contact one of our volunteers below:
Burton Kelso: burton@integralcomputerconsultants.com or (888) 256-0829
Kelly Dobyns Ziegler: kziegler@ziggyfranz.com or 913.209.9967
Responses
I’m not sure who this should be addressed to – critics, organizers or attendees, or maybe everyone. But here goes.
Something skeptical people sometimes say is, “You can’t fix the economy.” That’s entirely true. I can’t fix the economy, and you can’t fix the economy, and your mayor can’t fix the economy. President Obama can’t; President Hollande can’t; Prime Minister Cameron can’t; President Hu Jintao can’t.
But what we can do is our part. When I lived in Cardiff, the Tesco I went to had a big sign that said, “Every little counts.” I was always confused by it until my dear friend Patrick explained that it meant, “every little bit counts.” He thought it was a relic of one of the Wars, and was being used to solicit donations for Tesco charities. But if you think about it, every little bit counts, and everything we do counts, and maybe we can’t solve everything, but we can solve what is in our power to solve and help the people and causes that are in our power to help, and as we improve our community businesses, our communities will improve, too.
This Saturday, we’re having a Cash Mob at Cleveland’s West Side Market. Just over 2,800 people have RSVP’d, and we got permission to use another parking lot to accommodate the mobbers. The reason: the market was closed after a stall caught fire, and all of the vendors lost out on weeks worth of earnings while the market was being cleaned. The WSM is a hub for the community; if it fell apart, or vendors closed, all of Ohio City would be affected. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a stark example of how important small businesses are to the area in which they are located. If you’re around, please stop by and help out. Do your weekly grocery shopping there. Just do something. Do your part. 🙂
Cash Mobs 