Angelo Manfredi received a message out of the blue.
It was from a stranger, Christian Hoquis — would Manfredi be interested in showcasing his gym, Sweat Equity Fitness, on a new platform?
The online platform is called Rally the Locals. It’s grown since Hoquis’ initial quest of pitching his idea to one entrepreneur after the next.
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Chris Hoquis, founder of Rally The Locals, an online platform for marketing local businesses.
Last year, roughly 100 companies joined Sweat Equity Fitness on Rally the Locals, which Hoquis likens to an enhanced Winnipeg business directory involving storytelling.
Hoquis plans to keep growing the list.
“We’re trying to really… get people to know the actual people behind the businesses,” he said.
He and a team created the website and brand roughly three years ago; it picked up steam in 2023.
In 2021, Hoquis had just ended Saber Blitz, a business he founded that facilitated online courses. He’s regularly juggling several balls — a full-time job, a start-up, teaching.
Currently, he’s a product manager, a teacher with the University of Winnipeg’s project management diploma program and a leader of Rally the Locals.
The business graduate saw the damage the COVID-19 pandemic caused small companies. He’d also been inspired by The Social Network, a 2010 movie on the creation of Facebook.
“I just thought, ‘There’s got to be something that we can do to help these local businesses,’” Hoquis, 36, said.
He recruited a number of professionals — software developers, graphic designers — as he sought to build an organization highlighting local businesses.
Rally the Locals was still a vision when Hoquis approached businesses in Toronto to join the initiative. He asked companies in Toronto before trying Winnipeg — he had connections through student groups at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) after attending a conference at the post-secondary, he said.
He found his idea had legs; next came asking Winnipeg entrepreneurs to join his platform.
“I just decided to reach out to the local network and start asking businesses, ‘Hey, I want to know your story,’” he recalled.
He contacted the owners of the gym and salsa studio he attended. Sweat Equity Fitness, a different gym, was among the first to sign on with Rally the Locals.
The marketing organization launched in Winnipeg in February of 2022.
Rally the Locals doesn’t charge — it interviews local entrepreneurs and creates profiles containing videos and business information in its online directory. It also posts about various businesses on its social media pages.
“I thought it was good in nature, a very generous idea,” said Manfredi from Sweat Equity Fitness.
The gym owner underscored that he doesn’t sign on to everything. Rally the Locals seemed different, and it’s held up, Manfredi said.
He asks new members how they learned about Sweat Equity Fitness. Several have cited Rally the Locals, according to Manfredi.
Shane Masters, co-owner of Angel’s Share Cocktail Co., also adopted Rally the Locals early.
“What was immediately apparent was (the) vendor-first approach, where promoting vendors on the platform was truly (the) focus,” said Masters, who went to university with Hoquis.
“I knew it would be a no brainer for us to hop on board.”
Rally the Locals has grown through word of mouth, Hoquis relayed. That, and the team’s ability to build accounts more and more efficiently.
There isn’t a charge to make an account, but that could change, Hoquis stated. It’s not the company’s main focus — it hopes to attract 1,000 businesses to the platform over the coming years.
Currently, Rally the Locals is paid for marketing projects that are commissioned by businesses, such as website creation, social media management and strategy consulting. Prices vary per project, Hoquis said.
Rally the Locals also hosted its first markets last year. A Latin-centred one in December drew roughly 300 people, according to Hoquis.
More markets are in the works for 2024, he said. They may focus on cultural representation.
“I think it’s a great initiative that they’re doing,” SeoRhin Yoo, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses’ policy analyst for the Prairies and the North, said of Rally the Locals’ website.
Expenses are piling on small businesses; marketing and advertising are often “the last thing on mind” for many local companies, Yoo added.
A recent CFIB survey found nearly half of Manitoba small businesses aren’t seeing as much revenue as they were pre-pandemic, she noted.
Meantime, three-quarters have pandemic-related debt.
Small businesses typically have a disadvantage in marketing when compared to large chains, noted Subbu Sivaramakrishnan, a University of Manitoba marketing professor.
Bigger companies have marketing budgets. Smaller operations often rely on social media and word of mouth, Sivaramakrishnan said.
“They tend to use what in the marketing world they call ‘all you can afford’ for a budgeting method,” he explained.
Small businesses may also lack marketing expertise and manpower, he continued. Rally the Locals seems to be a helpful marketing agency, Sivaramakrishnan said.
“The narrative should be… know local,” Hoquis stated. “The more you know about local businesses… the more you connect with them, the more intuitive it is to actually want to support them and shop.”
He hopes to grow Rally the Locals’ marketing and event arms this year. The organization plans to launch a portal for local businesses to connect, and to help with social media, though Hoquis didn’t provide a date.
Gabrielle Piché
Reporter
Gabby is a big fan of people, writing and learning. She graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in the spring of 2020.
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