Fueling Our Local Economy: How Trenton Pop-Up Market Drives Entrepreneurship In Trenton, NJ
- Akeya Fortson-Brown
- Jun 27, 2024
- 1 min read
The Hustle Lab, Isles, and the Downtown Neighborhood Preservation Program teamed up to create an six-part event series based in Downtown Trenton, NJ to accomplish the following goals:
🏆 Make use of underutilized commercial spaces in Downtown Trenton
🏆 Provide business expansion opportunities to local entrepreneurs and businesses
🏆 Create meaningful and memorable connections between Trenton businesses and residents
To bring this vision to life, The Hustle Lab created and executed a 360 marketing campaign including outdoor signs, social media marketing, postal mail marketing, email marketing, advertising, print marketing, local partnerships, press management, branded merchandise, and more.
Please use the expandable sections below to explore the different aspects of the event and its results.
Background
Isles is a community development and environmental organization based in Trenton, NJ with a mission to foster self-reliant families and sustainable communities through its community revitalization, wealth-building, educational, and healthy living programs. To find out more about Isles and its services, please visit www.isles.org
The Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) is a five-year grant from the NJ Department of Community Affairs designed to generate visible, tangible change in the Downtown Neighborhood driven by local residents and business owners. Downtown Trenton is one of 40 sites for the Neighborhood Preservation Program statewide. To find out more information about NPP, please visit www.nppdowntowntrenton.org
The Hustle Lab is a digital marketing agency owned by Trenton-native and local entrepreneur, Akeya Fortson-Brown. The Hustle Lab offers graphic design, website design, app design, digital marketing, and experiential/event marketing support to organizations via both online and in-person services. To find out more information about The Hustle Lab, please visit www.thehustlelabllc.com.
Powered by the funds provided by the Downtown Trenton Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP), Isles retained The Hustle Lab’s experiential & event marketing services to plan and execute an event that satisfies organizational goals while also creating a lasting, measurable impact on the greater Trenton community.
Challenges
Figure 1. Photo credits: Michael Mancuso
In 2021, Isles designed and distributed a survey to collect the thoughts and perspectives of both Downtown Trenton residents and visitors about the state of the downtown neighborhood. The key findings from this survey were summarized in the NPP Implementation Plan: 2022 - 2026. The key findings of this report and the results of market research conducted by The Hustle Lab revealed three driving challenges that impact the vibrancy of, opportunities within, and activity in Downtown Trenton.
Challenge 1: There are not enough events, activities, entertainment options, and/or unique businesses available on nights and weekends to drive people to Downtown Trenton
Challenge 2: With limited access to funding, training, and/or business growth opportunities, local entrepreneurs struggle to penetrate the local market and develop sustainable businesses in the local economy.
Challenge 3: Many of Downtown Trenton’s spaces and properties remain vacant or underutilized, which negatively impacts the appearance, functionality, and sentiment of the neighborhood.
Solution
Figure 2. Customer shopping with Alglo Vera during the winter/fall season of Trenton Pop-Up Market
To address the challenges outlined above, The Hustle Lab and Isles collaborated to create a pop-up market event concept called Trenton Pop-Up Market.
The Trenton Pop-Up Market is a series of pop-up shops designed to deliver a multi-faceted approach to tackling the challenges aforementioned. The Hustle Lab curated a multi-day event series that includes the following components:
Branded Experience
Digital Marketing & Engagement
Print Marketing
Local Partnerships
Merchandising
Out-of-Home Marketing
Press Relations
Social Media Marketing
Social Responsibility
Outcomes
In June 2024, Trenton Pop-Up Market successfully completed its pilot season. A complete season included six market dates during the fall/winter season (November - December 2023) and six market dates during the spring/summer season (May - June 2024). Below are the results of our first complete installation of the program.
Branded Experience
The Hustle Lab created and established a name, visual identity, and reputation for the project.
Digital Marketing & Engagement
The Hustle Lab created and established branded digital marketing platforms to engage with project stakeholders and participants including a website, email list, and online vendor feedback form.
Key Findings
Website
Website insights demonstrate that the top three traffic sources are direct (53%), social media (32.8%), and web search (9.54%).
Website insights also demonstrate that the top three revenue-generating traffic sources are direct (56.3%), web search (19.4%), and social (14.6%).
Online Vendor Feedback Form
In 2023, out of twelve (12) responses, 83% of survey respondents mentioned that they were “very likely” to recommend Trenton Pop-Up Market to someone else.
In 2024, out of ten (10) responses, 80% of survey respondents mentioned that they were “very likely” to recommend Trenton Pop-Up Market to someone else.
Please see Appendix A to see the testimonials
Print Marketing
Figure 3. Flyer hanging in Slamming Brew on Warren St in Trenton, NJ
The Hustle Lab’s team took to the streets to hand out/hang flyers in over 25 locations throughout Trenton, NJ and in select areas of Ewing, NJ. In addition, we were also able to deliver flyers via local mail routes using the USPS EDDM program.
Key Findings
In 2023, we were able to deliver flyers directly to the mailboxes of over 760 Trenton residents.
In 2024, we were able to deliver flyers directly to the mailboxes of over 950 Trenton residents.
In 2024, 2.9% of the fifty-nine (59) registered vendors found out about the opportunity from flyers distributed via grassroots marketing tactics (street canvassing, etc.).
Local Partnerships
Figure 4. Qiana Jackson from Thick and Fabulous Online Baddie Boutique using outdoor tents provided by Trenton Downtown Association (TDA)
Trenton Pop-Up Market created and maintained several partnerships with local organizations to deepen the impact and meaning of the event. During our pilot season, we partnered with the following organizations
BlackFruitz Chocolates
Flykickz
1 Million Cups Trenton
Princeton Federal Credit Union
Trenton Community A-Team
Trenton Downtown Association (TDA)
Out-of-Home Marketing
Figure 5. Billboards posted on I-129 N
The Hustle Lab designed and published a billboard to promote the project. Billboards were located on Parkside Ave and I-129 N.
Key Findings
8.8% of vendors found out about the opportunity from our billboards
Merchandising
Figure 6. Mockup for branded shopping totes
The Hustle Lab designed and printed branded merchandise, including shopping totes, t-shirts, and hats to improve brand recognition, recallability, and reputation.
Press Relations
Figure 7. Graphic designed by The Hustle Lab to announce press feature
The Hustle Lab drafted a press release and successfully published it in two locally-based publications and two event calendars.
Press & Media
Trenton Journal - Trenton Pop-Up Market Returns To Support Local Creatives and Entrepreneurs
Trenton Daily - Trenton Pop-Up Market Returns To Support Local Entrepreneurs and Creatives
Trenton Daily - Shop Savvy at Trenton Pop-Up Market
Event Calendars
Social Media Marketing
The Hustle Lab created, implemented, and monitored a social media marketing strategy using Instagram and Facebook including branded graphics, user-generated content, video content, and more.
Key Findings
Social Media
Social media insights revealed that over 90% of Facebook followers and over 67% of Instagram followers are women.
Social media insights also revealed that the largest majority of our Facebook followers are between the ages of 45 and 54 (30%), while the largest majority of our Instagram followers are between the ages of 25 and 34 (24.6%).
See Appendix B for a preview of social media posts
Social Responsibility
Trenton Pop-Up Market created and manages several initiatives to support the greater Trenton community by providing vendors, many of which are Trenton residents, with material resources to explore and expand business growth. This is delivered through the following programs:
Book Giveaway - one book related to entrepreneurship, finance, and/or business is provided to each participating vendor at each market event
Trenton Entrepreneur Fund - a financial resource allowing participating vendors to submit an Amazon purchase request for materials and supplies worth up to $250.
Key Findings
Fall/Winter 2023
Trenton Pop-Up Market generated $1,820 in funding to support the Trenton Entrepreneur Fund via collecting fees. With a dollar-for-dollar match from Isles, the winter/fall season of Trenton Pop-Up Market generated $3,628.40 total to support our community initiative.
We distributed six (6) titles to our vendors via our book giveaway including:
Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson
Mind Your Business: A Workbook to Grow Your Creative into A Full-Time Gig by Ilana Griffo
Stop Overthinking: 23 Techniques To Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present by Nick Trenton
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months by Michael Lennington and Brian P. Moran
Spring/Summer 2024
Trenton Pop-Up Market generated $1,407 in funding via collecting vendor fees. With a dollar-for-dollar match from Isles, the spring/summer season of Trenton Pop-Up Market generated $2,814 total in funding to support our community initiative.
We distributed six (6) titles to vendors via our book giveaway including:
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Accounting for Small Business Owners by Tycho Press
Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz
Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
Budget Planner by Taja
To Do List Notepad by Of A Happy Kind
Figure 8. Photo of hip hop artist and producer Brotha Ash (R)
Trenton Pop-Up Market also supported the local economy by purchasing from local businesses and hiring local creatives including:
Businesses
Skil-Lit Cafe - restaurant in Downtown Trenton, NJ
Creatives
Brotha Ash - Hip Hop producer and artist from Willingboro, NJ
Gabriel - R&B artist from Trenton, NJ
Kyle Smith - self-taught videographer from Ewing, NJ
Shutter God - self-taught videographer from Ewing, NJ
Visuals by DNL - 16-year-old self-taught videographer from Trenton, NJ
Testimonials
“Internal communications and follow-ups were great.” - Anonymous
“Introduced and exposed local businesses to a bigger market.” - Anonymous
“Akeya was very attentive to everyone’s needs from setup to pack up. I loved how the Pop-Up felt warm and inviting to everyone attending and within the community.” - Anonymous
“I think you guys did a great job at finding versatile and quality vendors. The space is very well-lit, spacious, and offers ample parking. The music selection was beautiful and it had a great atmosphere.” - Rikkii
“I liked that there were refreshments and live entertainment for the shoppers.” - Ebony
“You guys did well and provided light snacks and vendor gifts that can be utilized for our businesses. This is great!” - Shanere
“Everything! Done correctly. For the next few days, it will be great that all vendors help to promote the event!” - Glamis
“Clean space with great music and friendly people! The refreshments and swag bags for vendors were a thoughtful touch.” - Christina
“The environment was great, the location was easily accessible. The staff made sure vendors felt welcomed and they really did a great job of making it feel like it wasn’t just another pop-up shop.” - Kyle
“The weather wasn't the best but I enjoyed myself as a vendor. I loved the Free Bags table, it was great for the shoppers. One of my customers mentioned that to me” - Latasha
Social Proof
To read and/or download the full report, please click here.
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