There’s a movement afoot throughout the United States encouraging consumers to return to locally sourced and locally made products purchased through small-town vendors — and it’s a movement the Courier is proud to join.
The Liberty County Board of Commissioners recently spoke about the need to keep local sales tax revenues from slipping — which could affect delivery of integral services such as emergency management and recreational programming — and the chamber of commerce is focusing its efforts this year on urging shoppers to spend their dollars within the county.
Mark Griffin, publisher of the Courier and its sister publications the Bryan County News and The Frontline, said that now more than ever is a time when buyers should consider buying locally first.
“This helps support local businesses that need support during these tough economic times,” he said. “It also keeps dollars circulating in the local community where they ‘turn over’ again and again.”
But the benefits of circulating our money rather than sending it 40 miles away are far greater than sustaining our government; it’s about sustaining our community’s economy, which drives our property values and enhances our quality of life.
In other words: the better your neighbor’s business performs, the more likely your business is to strengthen, and the greater chance our residents will have sustained livelihoods.
That’s why the Courier recently launched its “Choose Liberty” advertising program, which offers businesses and organizations a chance to give their brands prominent placement in four of Morris Newspaper Company of Hinesville’s properties and respective websites.
Retail advertising manager Susan Nelson said she’s excited about the initiative, which is a first for the Courier.
“It’s important to us to buy local, invest in your county here, and we’re just trying to make it a countywide initiative,” she said. “It’s like a membership.”
It includes three tiers of service that provide varying amounts of print advertising, online business profiles, online banner ads, and inclusion in the Courier’s daily email newsletters. Pay is on a flat fee per month.
The Courier’s aim is to highlight area businesses through a variety of digital and print channels targeted to the area’s wide assortment of consumers.
Program participants will receive access to four print products: the Coastal Courier, the Bryan County News, The Frontline and the Pennysaver.
Giving partners the flexibility to choose when and where their advertisements run also allows them to tailor their audiences over three counties, the civilian and military sectors and to subscribers as well as non-subscribers.  
There also is an incentive for signing a six-month service contract: companies will receive six-month banner ad placement on the property’s sites.
Participants will receive stickers that mark their workplaces as “Choose Liberty” participants.
The stickers will feature a QR code that takes smart phone users to a mobile database of participating businesses, which is especially helpful in orienting newcomers to the area’s commercial resources.
“We try to encompass a little of each one of those, with print, with the online, with the email, because not everybody gets their information the same way,” Nelson said. “We try to make sure that we’re incorporating everything within these packages to make sure that our advertisers have a chance to reach everyone and let people know that you’re here to serve them.”