When small local businesses talk to each other great things happen.

As many of you will be aware I am a great fan of networking in retailing. Let me give you two great ideas from the south west of Australia.

Let’s start with the Margaret River tourist board who are working with retailers on “The Cash Cow”. This is focused on the town of Cowaramup. The tourist board has developed a quiz based around the cow and a cow map. 85 life size cows designed by 100 artists have been scattered around the south west.

This based on a similar marketing campaign I have seen in Barcelona, Chicago and Toronto, but the first time I have seen it spread across a region and involving a quiz to engage the customer. Plus if you answer the questions you enter a $1,000 prize draw. Cows have turned up in a hardware store amongst other stores. If you are interested in finding out more about this great networking opportunity go to http://www.margaretriver.com/pages/cash-cow-quiz/ .

The other great idea comes from the district of Peel in the south west of Australia. They have developed the “Peel Passport”. The cover looks like an Australian passport, however inside there are vouchers from local retailers. This is another great way of engaging the customer.

It is difficult to generate new business traffic on your own, but get a group of retailers together and great things can happen.

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