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Name that mascot!

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Greenville’s latest innovative company, Locally Epic, recently added a new team member to help spread the word of great deals around town.

The company’s  newest addition is big, blue and in the shape of a phone! Locally Epic’s new mascot will be helping Greenville locals and tourists all over the community. His main goals are getting the public involved with shopping local and benefiting homegrown businesses while helping people save money.

Although Locally Epic’s mascot is ready to venture into the community and help people save big, he still lacks a name. Any suggestions on what the big, blue phone’s name should be can be submitted Locally Epic’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/LocallyEpic)or Instagram pages (instagram.com/locallyepicgvl). The contest will run through Friday, June 15 at noon.

“Going out into the community with our new mascot will really help put our name out there even more,” said Chase Michaels, CEO and founder of Locally Epic. “Seeing a big, blue phone walking downtown will hopefully spark people’s interests.”

The app, which can be downloaded here or found on iTunes or GooglePlay has over 45 total categories. Out of the total businesses involved, 30 of them are restaurants and stores, while others include job offers, non-profits, schools and more. More than 100 local businesses have signed on to promote their products and services on the Locally Epic platform.

About Locally Epic:

Locally Epic is the next generation of real-time location-based marketing technology for businesses and consumers. Locally Epic leverages time, space and message deployment with real-time aspects of engagement, implementation, customer loyalty and consumer acquisition metrics. Learn more at www.locallyepic.com.

 

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Ready to Hop In

GREENVILLE, S.C. –  Getting around the picturesque downtown Greenville is about to get easier.

Locally Epic is partnering with Rogers EV and Star EV to use an electric LSV vehicle that will pick up passengers along the Main Street area wiith room to hold up to five passengers.

“Transportation is a hot topic in our community right now,” explained Dave Ropes, Locally Epic’s chief marketing officer.  “Locally Epic is providing the perfect answer to streamlining pedestrian traffic and elevating local advertising opportunities.”

The “Hop-In” service will begin their six-month running season on May 10, a perfect coordination with the late spring and early summer events that draw people to enjoy downtown Greenville. The service will run daily from 11 a.m. to dusk. The tip only service is on a first come, first served basis.  For businesses and individuals looking to support the service, sponsorship details can be found online at www.hopingreenville.com.

“Hop-In rides are unique and easy to use,” said Chase Michaels, Locally Epic founder and CEO. “We want to support the community with a relaxing, fun and memorable travel experience from place to place. These vehicles will fit that description perfectly.”

“Anything that enhances the visit to the person coming to Greenville we support,” said Michele Minor, CIO at Locally Epic. “Whether it’s being able to easily get from one end of the town to the other, I think is an asset.”

The Hop-In services is powered by Locally Epic, using vehicles built by Star EV, which is located in Greenville County, and sells vehicles throughout the United States and internationally. Rogers EV, a division of Rogers Stereo, recently joined Star EV as the Authorized Dealer of golf carts, commercial vehicles, Personal Transportation Vehicles (PTVs) and Street Legal Vehicles (LSVs)

“We are excited to be part of this project to help create transportation solutions in Greenville,” said Michael Alexander, Senior Vice President at Star EV.

About Locally Epic:

Locally Epic is the next generation of real-time location-based marketing technology for businesses and consumers. Locally Epic leverages time, space and message deployment with real-time aspects of engagement, implementation, customer loyalty and consumer acquisition metrics. Learn more at www.locallyepic.com.

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A beautiful day to shop local

Waking up is not easy for most people on the weekday. Thankfully, there is GVLToday, which makes the waking up process a little more easy. This five-day-a-week email blast has information to help you get through the day.

Of course, they gave us a nice shout out this morning, which helped put a spring in our step.

locally epic greenville

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Upstate Business Journal article on Shop Local Saturday

Locally Epic is launching the Upstate Shop Local Saturday campaign to support locally owned and operated businesses and grow Greenville’s economy every fourth Saturday of the month. The Shop Local Saturday for this month will be March 24.

Offering location-based marketing technology for businesses and consumers, the Locally Epic app connects people with promotions and offers throughout the week to ensure they find the best deals on Shop Local Saturday each month.

“We want people to just go and buy local,” said Chase Michaels, the CEO and founder of Locally Epic. “The impact on our local economy can be huge if people do this.”

Out of every dollar spent locally in the Upstate, 75 cents stay here to build Greenville’s economy. This growth occurs at a much slower rate when buying online or at a big-box store.

Keep reading more here.

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GSA Biz checks in with us about our new digs at Endeavour

Always fun to see a media story on the weekend. Check out this piece on our HQ in downtown Greenville (where we can walk to so many Locally Epic establishments)

From the story:

“Being a part of Endeavor has definitely helped us up our game and has given us access to great business minds right down the hall,” said Michaels. “The entire Endeavor team has been such an asset to Locally Epic. Once you experience the level of service they deliver, there is no doubt you will want to call Endeavor home for your company.”

 

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More media attention

We are excited about speaking at TedX in a few weeks, but we are even more excited how much the media is giving us notice.

Here is a story in UpstateBiz.

Here is a story from GSA Business Journal.

And here is a story from the TedX site. We really liked this line from that piece:

Being in business is just not enough to compete in today”s retail environment, consumers want better buying experiences and a relationship with the businesses they are customers of. He believes Main Street is where we should spend our money not Wall Street!

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Chase Michaels to speak at TedX

GREENVILLE, S.C. –  Chase Michaels, the CEO and founder of Locally Epic, will be sharing his story of how one company can help change an entire economy as part of TEDx Greenville 2018.

Patterned after the hugely popular global TED conference, TEDxGreenville continues to gain momentum year after year. Ever since its launch in 2010 as the first TEDx event in South Carolina, the conference has provided a platform to showcase Greenville’s leading thinkers and doers from all backgrounds.

Michaels’ company Locally Epic uses a mobile platform to connect users with local offers and promotions from nearby businesses in real time. This encourages shoppers to spend their money at locally owned businesses and allows those businesses to better reach potential customers.

At the conference in April, Michaels will be talking about the impact of shopping with Locally Owned businesses as opposed to online or big box stores. He feels that doing business with Main Street not Wall Street will help sustain and grow our local economy.

“‘Shop local’ has been a part of Greenville’s mantra for almost two decades – ever since rapid growth really started hitting here,” Michaels said. “Money that is made in the locally economy should be spent with locally owned businesses. We all need to be stewards of where we live.”

When Michaels takes the stage at TEDxGreenville, expect a dynamic explanation of the value of small businesses on job growth, events and programs, tourism, local personality, and more. Michaels is passionate about making sure the Greenville economy benefits from the businesses starting and staying here.

“All it takes is a little research,” he explained. “If everyone living in the upstate would pivot $20 a week for 52 weeks (a year) to a locally owned business instead of at a big box store or online, we would boost the upstate economy by $300 million dollars a year.”

TEDxGreenville 2018 will be held on April 6, 2018 at the Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre in downtown Greenville. Get tickets here.

About Locally Epic:

Locally Epic is the next generation of real-time location-based marketing technology for businesses and consumers. Locally Epic leverages time, space and message deployment with real-time aspects of engagement, implementation, customer loyalty and consumer acquisition metrics. Learn more at www.locallyepic.com.

 

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Brickyard asks us a bunch of questions

Greenville is a growing community, and we love it for that. There is an amazing entrepreneur spirit here. It is almost contagious, but in a good way.  So, we were honored when the BrickYard, the new blog/newsletter that is focusing on the Upstate,  wanted to  do piece on Chase Michaels and Locally Epic.

They asked him the “Least Asked Questions” that entrepreneurs get. Of course, Chase gave some great answers. You can read it here.