Today we’d like to introduce you to Kacie Bryant.
Hi Kacie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The journey of LOCAL started back in 2017. Kacie and Tara had a mission of connecting the businesses in Clarksville with the local community by telling their stories through a page on Facebook and Instagram. Originally known as Clarksville Marketplace, popularity for the page quickly increased and the fun began. For the first several years, the girls and their team shared behind the scenes photos and videos of hundreds of businesses, all completely free.
When Facebook came out with their new feature (Facebook Marketplace) people started confusing the two, posting used furniture and toys on the Clarksville Marketplace page. This inspired a rebrand and the company pivoted to LOCAL Clarksville.
As the platform grew and turned into a full time job to maintain, Kacie decided to turn it into a business so the growth could be sustained.
In the first several years, LOCAL Clarksville coordinated many Mingle events for business owners with attendance as high as 150. They also played a big role in several large vendor events and festivals.
After seeing the impact LOCAL Clarksville had with the community, Kacie decided to create a plan for expanding into other cities. In 2024 a new website and app launched with the ability for any business in any state to add their listing into the directory. The LOCAL In My City website now has over 8,000 small business listings in almost all 50 states.
We have a big vision and a mission to turn LOCAL into a global shop LOCAL movement but we can’t do it without you!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Running a business always comes with challenges. There have been a lot of ups and downs trying to figure out the best systems and build our team. I am also a mom and a wife and my family always comes first. We haven’t grown as quickly as I would like because in this season of life, I pick baseball games over networking events but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Our goal is to provide a community of support around small businesses but sometimes they stand in their own way. The hardest part about what we do is to help other small business owners get out of their bubble and see how everything is connected. We can use LOCAL to win together.
We’ve been impressed with LOCAL In My City , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We started as an online directory and social media pages that highlight locally owned businesses. As we grew, we realized that businesses needed much more so we expanded our services to provide a wide range of resources and services. Before, we could get 10,000 views on a business post but they needed help learning how to convert those views into customers. Now we provide that back end support also, from creating offers to building websites and funnels to branding.
We specialize in only working with Small Businesses. Most marketing, advertising, or business organizations say they help small business but they actually cater to what brings in money… the larger businesses. There is a big gap here that is not easy to fill, but it is much needed.
For businesses, we want to be a trusted resource no matter what stage they are in.
For the community, we want to provide a community that rallies around our friends, family and neighbors with a unified mission of supporting local businesses.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
In Clarksville, we are in the process of launching a small business resource center and workspace called the LOCAL CoLAB. The grand opening is June 12th and the address is 124 10th street close to downtown. Here we will have food trucks on rotation for a dependable lunch destination, workshops and networking events, co-working space, a conference room and more. The first 30 businesses to sigh up for a legacy membership get locked-in pricing and lots of other perks.
We work with CMCSS and have 3 senior interns
My mom also works with me, the team knows her as ‘mom’ and the businesses love to see her come in their store.
LOCAL CoLAB – https://thelocalcolab.com
LOCAL Business Website – https://localinmycity.biz
LOCAL Directory for the Community – https://www.localinmycity.com (there is also an app in the app and play store)
Pricing:
- Discovery Session to learn more – $0
- One time post on our socials – $247
- Business selfie to get an audit of how your business is performing online – $447
- Event Promotion – $449
- Legacy memberships for the CoLab starting at $77/mo
Contact Info:
- Website: https://localinmycity.com
- Instagram: @localclarksville @localpennyrile @locallyownedboro
- Facebook: @localclarksville @localpennyrile @locallyownedmurfreesboro
- Other: localinmycity.biz | thelocalcolab.com
