CrossFit Excursion Breaks Ground on New Building Site; Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Customer Base; Columbia Students and Locals Team Up to Build Resilience in Johnstown, PA

Week of: November 18, 2019

CrossFit Excursion Breaks Ground on New Building Site

JARI would like to congratulate JP and Kara Skelley, owners of CrossFit Excursion, on their official Groundbreaking Ceremony for their new building location. The business will be moving from Washington Street to 60 Walnut Street and will put up a new 4,000 sq. ft. building. The new location will allow more space for lessons and expand their classes and services.

Click here for the full Tribune-Democrat article.

From left to right: Joy Skelley, John Skelley, Kara Skelley, Leo Skelley, JP Skelley

From left to right: Jeff Cramer, 1st Summit Bank; Michele Clapper, JARI; John Skelley; JP Skelley, Owner; Kara Skelley, Owner; Joy Skelley; Frank Janakovic, City of Johnstown Mayor; Tom Chernisky, Cambria County Commissioner

Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Customer Base

Lauren Thompson

TA Advisor

A simple way to make sure your small business succeeds is to get the word out and market your business. As with design, this can come at a cost but not all marketing needs to break the bank. Check out a few of these free or inexpensive ways to help market your business.

Customer Referral Programs: Word-of-mouth marketing is a very powerful way to market your business. A good way to boost this marketing would be a referral program. Offering something to your existing customers for referring new customers can work to get new people in the door and show appreciation to your current database.
Holding Online Contests: Holding a contest for a free product or complimentary service is a good way to boost social media presence or collect data (emails) while also spreading the word about your business.
Host an Event: Depending on the business, it may be good to hold an event or open house to attract new customers and educate them about your business at the same time. Posting flyers about the event is a good source of advertising for your business and it could potentially add value to your customers.

These are just a few marketing tips to boost your business. For a full list of 28 more marketing ideas check out this Fundera article.

Columbia Students and Locals Team Up to Build Resilience in Johnstown, PA

Ryan Kieta

Vision2025 Consultant

Last week, The Earth Institute published a summary of last month's Resilience Accelerator, which was a collaborative urban planning studio organized between Vision2025 and Columbia University's Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes.

Several events were coordinated as part of the Accelerator, including a public lecture of renowned landscape architect, Kate Orff, about riverfront planning, a convening of the Johnstown Interagency Taskforce - 40 public agencies that meet semi-annually to align investments in the community; and an announcement of the cumulative financial impact of Vision2025 since 2015.

Read the article here.