Avoca IA Main Street Success Story: Saving Time and Enhancing Communication with Locable

Avoca's Initial Needs

Avoca Main Street was initially drawn to Locable by the promise of saving time and enhancing communication through a Community Calendar.

“Initially I was attracted by the idea of saving time with publishing my Main Street Weekly, so the Community Calendar was a big attraction,” Amber Mohr, Executive Director of Avoca Main Street explained. “We also lacked a website independent of a static page hosted on the City’s site. Having a website feels like we have much better communication and resources available to us now.”

Unexpected Discoveries & Time Savers

Participation is always a concern and, while 100% participation isn't realistic, the combination of free, high-value, and fast tends to be attractive to local businesses.

We also help communities by engaging their key community partners to jump-start the process and we consolidate multiple tools so efforts are streamlined. 

“I’ve been impressed how our customers and vendors have quickly adapted to using Forms on our blogs when we have a new program to enroll. I assumed I’d still get texts, messages, phone calls for such enrollment, but the forms have gotten lots of use.”

Evolution of the Calendar

The shift in calendar management has changed Amber’s perception. Instead of feeling responsible for including all events, she now provides a platform for businesses to include their own.

“My perception is that I provide resources so businesses in the district can include their events, vs. me making sure I was on top of and including all events. I also feel like this allows businesses to share "sales" or other types of events that might have some exclusivity about them. Our calendar policy before was only to advertise nonprofit or no-cost events, and this system opens up new possibilities without us feeling like we are compromising our nonprofit mission."

Community Feedback

During a Community Coffee Talk at the local coffee shop, Amber spoke with 15 business owners. Most had claimed their Locable accounts but wanted a walk-through of the features.

“We did a Community Coffee Talk at our downtown coffee shop and talked to 15 business owners. Most had claimed their Locable account but wanted a walk-through of the features. One was even outside our district but was excited about how [Locable] pairs well with Google.” Amber noted. "All were receptive, and none griped too much about 'one more thing' to upload for customer reach."

Parting Thoughts

For other small to mid-size communities considering Locable, Amber has some advice: “It is worth the investment. Once you are past [the initial setup], the investment is equal to or less than maintaining your other social media posts.”

Avoca Main Street’s partnership with Locable has transformed their event management and community communication. The unexpected discoveries and the positive feedback from the community highlight the unique value Locable provides to local communities