The Ground Floor: Franchise aims to convert votes to advertising in Iowa City

Ryan Bell sees his new business as sharing the love in Iowa City.

Through an online survey, consumers identify local businesses they like in different categories. The top vote-getters in each category then are contacted about advertising opportunities.

Locals Love Us was founded in 2004 in Sioux Falls, S.D. Bell, who hails from that area and graduated from the University of South Dakota, learned about the company in 2011 while working as a financial adviser at Cambridge Investment Services in Fairfield.

'The owner was looking around for someone to help with expansion and I raised my hand,” Bell said. 'Ultimately I had to go home and convince my wife it was a good idea to do this with two little kids at home, but she was supportive.”

Bell said the next 12 months were a whirlwind as he helped launch five markets in Louisiana and Texas as a corporate employee of Locals Love Us. He then returned to the Midwest to help start the company's first franchise in the Quad Cities.

Last year, he relocated to Iowa City to launch his own Locals Love Us franchise.

'Even during our time in Fairfield (Iowa), we knew Iowa City was more our style. We were able to choose this community from a wide range of experiences.”

Bell opened his Iowa City franchise in September with an online voting campaign. People voted for businesses they liked in 200 different categories - from air-conditioning and heating contractors to women's clothing retailers - with opportunities to win gift certificates and other prizes the more they voted.

'Someone might log in to vote simply to help their favorite pizza place, for example,” Bell said. 'If they give us more time, they can win cooler and better prizes.”

The top three to five businesses in each category were listed on the Locals Love Us website and in a free community guide that Bell distributed to Iowa City homes and businesses. They also qualified to advertise on the Locals Love Us platform and use the Locals Love Us logo in their marketing materials.

Bell said local businesses have been receptive to the model.

'The proof is in the nice 88-page guide that just went out,” he said.

Bell will launch a second voting campaign after Labor Day and announce the new rankings for Iowa City in October.

At a Glance

l Owner: Ryan Bell

l Business: Locals Love Us

l Telephone: (319) 333-4534

l Website: www.localsloveus.com/iowa-city

l Know a business in operation for more than a year that would make an interesting 'Ground Floor”? Contact michaelchevy.castranova@thegazete.com.