Virgina “Ginks” Leiby said the Greater Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce offers a device called a pocket mobile assistant that helps its members push content to the web.
Leiby — who has been the executive director of the chamber for about five years — said it’s becoming increasingly important for local business to have an internet presence.
“I think what is really important is that if we’re truly to support our local businesses, we need to be supporting local businesses all over the country, and we can do that online if the businesses are visible to us,” Leiby said.
In order to do that though, Leiby said, the businesses need to push content to the web.
“If a contractor, for example, just finished a job and he wants to share it with the world, what great work it is, as far as marketing goes, he can take pictures and upload it to his pocket mobile assistant,” Leiby said. “Or he can send it to his chamber assistant and be able to have them put it right up there.”
The device is easy-to-use and comes with an assistant, who can help people navigate the process. Leiby said the service is now available to all of its members, not just businesses in the top echelons.
The chamber — which covers Antrim, Henniker, Washington, Deering, and Hillsborough — has about 90 members.
And while businesses fight to market themselves, Leiby said an important part of her job is marketing the town. She said one way to do that is by promoting the town’s most notable features. In Hillsborough, she said, one of the biggest draws are its stone arch masonry bridges. There used to be 12 stone bridges in Hillsborough, but now the town has five that are used for auto, bike, and foot traffic, according to a website called Hillsborough Living History Event, New Hampshire.
“If you market those things, people are going to want to go see them, take scenic tours around town things like that,” Leiby said. “And that, in turn, is going to bring more business into the town. People will stop in at a restaurant, maybe they’ll even decide to relocate here, you just don’t know how it happens.”
But other parts of the town struggle.
The chamber’s headquarters is located in the heart of Hillsborough’s downtown, tucked into a small corner of the Premier Printing & Embroidery store.
Outside the big windows, downtown Hillsborough unfolded, many of the buildings sitting vacant.
“We have a problem with this main square here,” Leiby said pointing out of the window. “The buildings, for the most part, are empty.”
She said the buildings are old and if someone decided they wanted to have a business in the downtown, it would require a huge investment.
“To get a business to invest in a building, purchase, renovate it, and get it ready for business, the cost is prohibitive,” Leiby said. “So we need to look at some other options in terms of what we do down here.”
She said the town has taken over a couple of the run-down and vacant buildings and have plans to demolish the structures and turn the space into a park.
Leiby said there have been some murmurings of a structured town planning process to take place too in order to help shape the future of the building.
She said the town has a lot of potential given its location off of the heavily traveled Route 9 that acts as the connector between Keene and Concord. Hillsborough is located in the middle of those two busy hubs.
“There’s a lot of potential here,” she said.