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Another billboard view

Writer says billboards can be one of the factors that helps sustain our local community.
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Mom and pop business owners in Smithers are struggling due to

the declining population in Smithers and the Northwest;

Smithers transitioning from a resource-based town to a service/retirement town with a decline in big wage-earning consumers;

increasing local taxes and regulations raising small business owners’ costs;

major competition from big box stores and bigger service centers down the highway as well as increasing online purchasing from stores like Amazon;

Smithers competing with Terrace for new residents who are moving to the Northwest for retirement or for family members to live closer to a mine or construction job;

Smithers municipal bylaws regulating size, type, and location of business signage; and

Main Street businesses not getting exposure to Highway 16 traffic.

For Mom and pop to sustain their businesses in this changing and difficult environment they MUST maintain market share and increase revenues. Therefore, they must market like never before and find new customers.

How does one get maximum marketing exposure and find new customers? Billboards on Highway 16 get more hits per day from passing traffic (the new potential customer) than any website in northern B.C. Highway traffic is increasing through Smithers. Billboards advertise that Smithers is indeed a service center. Services bring people to Smithers. The indirect message is, “STOP HERE for services. Check out this town for being a potential place to live as there are a good variety of services here.”

We need a Town of Smithers billboard that directly says, “Consider living here.”

Another positive aspect of having billboards includes the creation of jobs designing, constructing and maintaining billboards which supports the local economy.

The consequences of not attracting new customers and residents are

businesses closing and local services not being available;

fewer local job opportunities;

a further decline in population which leads to a reduction in government services like hospital upgrades, municipal services, recreation facilities, etc; and

a dying town (a trend for North American small towns).

In summary, billboards can be one of the factors that helps sustain our local community. Perhaps the physical view cannot be changed, but maybe the minds of billboard critics.

All community members should be promoting and marketing Smithers and its services.

Harold Reedy

Retired and living near Billboard Alley