Notes From A Local Business: One Maidstone
One Maidstone is an integral part of the local town, supporting many local businesses. Funded by town centre traders, to serve town centre traders, they carry out services such as Ambassador patrols seven days a week, and a radio security network, as well as live monitoring the town centre’s CCTV cameras.
All businesses nationwide or local start somewhere. When & where did your journey begin?
Unlike most businesses, ours was voted into existence! Town centre businesses went to ballot in October 2018, and voted for the formation of the One Maidstone Business Improvement District, to serve an initial 5 year term, in the interests of the traders we represent. We are a non-profit organisation that serves to improve economic conditions in Maidstone town centre, encourage footfall, hold events and promote businesses.
Can you tell us more about your products/services and how you've built your brand?
Whilst we differ from many businesses in the sense that we aren’t selling a physical product, we are in some ways selling our town centre, and businesses as a collective group, making it an attractive destination for visitors and workers. It’s also important for us to promote the work that we carry out as One Maidstone and to form a strong brand for the BID, in order for town centre businesses, and the public, to visually see and understand the work of a Business Improvement District, and to quantify and advertise our projects.
What are your core values as a business and how do you try to implement them each day?
Our purpose is to improve the trading environment of our town centre – everything we do is aimed at delivering against the objectives and priorities of the businesses themselves and working to address anything that may compromise the vitality of the town centre. Each project we undertake is measured against how helpful and important it is to town centre businesses – their core values are our core values.
Brand and image is so important across all businesses in all sectors. We are very familiar with One Maidstone, what products/services have you used from Absolute Creative Print and how have you found them to benefit your business?
Our largest project so far with Absolute Creative Print has been the creation of the One Maidstone town centre magazine, which is produced 4 times a year, with 15k being distributed to businesses and homes free of charge. The importance of this magazine has been huge for the BID, as it’s a tangible way to show businesses what we are working on, whilst promoting town centre services and shops and raising awareness of their brands, and ours, to members of the public who can read it for free. ACP have been instrumental in getting this ready for us, often producing the magazine just before or during lockdowns, so that we have still been able to deliver, which we hugely appreciate – it’s been well received that we have still been able to print and deliver the magazine whilst the town has been functioning in a limited capacity, as it helps promote how lockdown is affecting our businesses and helps them promote their wares even while closed – and also gives people something to read until things re-open! It’s also important to us that ACP is itself a town centre businesses, producing our materials to promote the town centre.
How do you advertise your business & services/products?
We promote the work of the One Maidstone BID, as well as news and stories from town centre businesses, using social media, the One Maidstone town centre magazine, newsletters and physical drops of information, posters, leaflets, press coverage and via our website, www.onemaidstone.com We are in a unique position as a business as we need to advertise both ourselves, as One Maidstone, and our clients, the town centre stores.
Is there anything about your business that you feel is unique and helps you stand apart from others?
Although there are around 300 Business Improvement Districts in the UK, each one is unique to its location, and One Maidstone is dedicated just to our own family of businesses and the offer that they extend to their customers and people using the town. Maidstone town centre has a high volume of independent businesses, which informs our work and the way we promote ourselves, and them.
Is growing and scaling your business on your agenda?
We hope to be successful at the next ballot and continue to deliver new and exciting projects into a second term. Each year of our operation we are adding more services and offerings to our BID levy members, and awareness of who we are and what we do is continually growing. We hope to add even more events, campaigns and ideas to our business outlook, and make Maidstone town centre a vibrant and enticing location for shopping and working.
With ever changing technology, such as, new social media platforms there's always something 'new' to do! Do you see this as important for your business?
Yes, digital platforms such as social media, and the online version of our website are vital in spreading the word about One Maidstone and our town centre, especially during the Covid crisis, In the winter of 2020, when we were unable to hold a live Christmas lights switch on, we produced a socially distanced concert film, available to watch online for free, on the same night as the event would have taken place. It has now been seen around 7k times, and has informed our view on how we can utilise video and streaming to good effect even when ‘normality’ returns. And this year we’ll be embracing new technology even further with a light themed Christmas season. However, we still place a lot of value of printed materials such as those provided by ACP - we find that we get a high response rate when we deliver physical letters and magazines to our BID members and to the public.
And finally, what does supporting local businesses mean to you?
Supporting local business is the lifeblood of what we do, essential, critical and our business plan distilled to one sentence! If town centre businesses would like to know how we can support and promote them, please visit our website, onemaidstone.com, follow us on Instagram or Twitter: @onemaidstone, or email sarah-jane.adams@onemaidstone.com
