Congrats, Finalists! Here's How to Make it to the Finish Line

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Alignable National Main Street Mentors Search

Congratulations! You've made it to the Finals! 

You’ve made it to the final round in our first Main Street Mentors Search. This is an incredible feat!

You’ve been honored by your local and Alignable network peers for being a leader who’s helping other businesses and your community to recover from the past year or more. That’s a big deal! We’re so excited for you.

For our final round, we’ve created a playbook to help you win, becoming your town’s Alignable 2021 Main Street Mentor, as well as one of two national titles.

That’s right, there are more ways to win -- the highest vote earners across the U.S. and Canada will be named National Main Street Mentors (in addition to earning their local titles). Those two winners -- one from each country -- will win lifetime Alignable Premium Memberships worth nearly $11,000 each!

Beyond celebrating everyone who’s helping their communities recover, this stage of the competition is a great way for you to get your business name out there, network with people you haven’t connected with in the past, and stay top of mind among supporters in your community and beyond.

Final Round: How Will Winners Be Determined?

The finalists with the highest number of votes in each community will walk away with their local Main Street Mentor badge. Ties will be broken by looking at contenders’ total number of testimonials, as well.

For the national contest, the same rules apply, but these winners will have the highest totals among all finalists in their country. (Want to know more about the rules? Go here).

Best of luck! We’re all rooting for you.

Your Marketing Toolkit

Here’s everything you need to help amplify your finalist status, while also encouraging more supporters to lend you a hand as you march to victory in your town (and maybe your country, too!).

But before we dive into the toolkit, here are some quick updates for you: 

  • The voting button on your profile is no longer there, as we’re consolidating all voting on your local leaderboards and a national leaderboard. 
  • The best way to find your local leaderboard is to start with the universal link we provide in the examples you’ll see below, but then modify it to reflect your city/town and state or province. (Don’t worry, it’s easy!). 
  • Here’s the universal link: https://www.alignable.com/my_town/votes. All you need to do is: replace the “my_town” section with your town’s name and your state or provincial abbreviation, and please make sure there are dashes between each one. 
  • Here are two examples: 
    • If you want to send people to the San Antonio, TX page, you would make the URL: https://www.alignable.com/san-antonio-tx/votes
    • Similarly, if I want to members to vote on the Calgary, AB page, You’d follow the same simple rule: https://www.alignable.com/calgary-ab/votes
    • So when you are adding links to the social media posts, the emails, and the press release below, please make sure to add your URL where the universal link is sitting as a placeholder, so everyone ends up in the right place!
  • When you get to your local leaderboard, don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a voting button in your section. Rest assured, our engineers make that visible to everyone except you, because everyone else in the network can vote for you. (To make our competition fair, you can’t vote for your own business).
  • The national leaderboards have been released now, as well. Here is where you can go to find them -- look to see if you're on them yet, and, if so, where you rank.
  • For the U.S., use this link: www.alignable.com/national-votes/united-states
  • If you're in Canada, here's your national leaderboard: www.alignable.com/national-votes/canada
  • A lot can change in local and national competitions overnight, so be sure to generate as many votes and testimonials for your local and national competitions. You have the potential to win both!


If you have any questions, please reach out to chuck@alignable.com. 

Now, let’s start marketing your new status as a finalist!


Marketing Calendar
Social Media Shareables
Email Marketing Ideas
Personal Press Kit


Marketing Calendar

Not only are we providing examples of marketing materials you can adapt, we wanted to give you a fun calendar that suggests key dates to keep in mind on your (rather rapid) journey to the finish line.

Week 1

(August 1st - 7th)

  • August 4: Round 2 kicks off
  • August 5: Send email announcements to your contacts
  • August 5: Fill out your press release & forward it to local & industry media, as well as related groups
  • August 6: Share event post to local communities & your profile on Alignable

Week 2

(August 8th - 14th)

Week 3

(August 15th - 21st)

Week 4

(August 22nd - 28th)

  • August 23: Send 'last call email' to your contacts who haven’t had a chance to vote for you yet 
  • August 24: Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT


Social Media Shareables

Let’s start with some examples of social shareables you could use, but please personalize to let your personality shine. And remember to add the hashtag, #onemainstreet, to each post, so that Alignable’s social media team can find you and share your post across our entire network! (We want to give you as much buzz as we can).

Finalists’ Announcement:

 🏆 Just learned I’m a finalist for (Town) in @Alignable’s Main Street Mentors Search! Sending big shout-outs to my awesome supporters: (add their tags, too). And if you haven’t voted yet, I’d love your support in the next round: https://www.alignable.com/my_town/votes. Thanks again! #onemainstreet


Later In The Competition: 

🔥 Things are heating up for (Town)’s Main Street Mentor. I’m facing terrific contenders & could use your help. The deadline’s 8/24, so if you’re an @Alignable member, please vote here: https://www.alignable.com/my_town/votes. Special thanks to you awesome folks in advance! #onemainstreet


Feel free to use an image of our contest banner (below) or just a great photo of yourself in front of your favorite stores.

Main Street Mentors Search Contest Banner

Email Marketing Ideas

As a local business pro, you likely have your own winning email style, so please modify these examples to match your brand.

Just copy, personalize and paste into your email.

To peers who haven’t voted for you yet:

Subject: (Contact’s first name), I need your vote!

Email Copy:
Dear (Contact’s First Name),

Thanks to great people like you in my network and community, I’m in the finals for (Town)’s Main Street Mentors Search! (I know, how fun is that?).

I know you’re busy, but I’d love to ask a quick favor -- a vote to keep me in the running for this awesome contest.

If you’re an Alignable member, you just need to go here & click my vote button: https://www.alignable.com/my_town/votes.

If you’re not a member yet, you can join for free here: www.alignable.com, & vote.

Thanks in advance & please let me know how I can help you, too!

 All my best,
(Your First Name)

To peers who have voted for you:

Subject: Thanks so much for your support!

Email Copy:
Dear (Supporter’s First Name),

You were so awesome to vote for me in Alignable’s National Main Street Mentors Search. I wanted to let you know that, thanks to you, I’m in the finals for (Town)!

 I really appreciate your support and please let me know what I can do to help you. Thanks again!

 All my best,
(Your First Name)

 P.S. -- If you want to track my progress in this fun competition, see my leaderboard here: https://www.alignable.com/my_town/votes.

Toward the end of Round 2:

Subject: ⏰ Last Call, Voting Ends Tomorrow
Email Copy:
Dear (Contact’s First Name),

Excitement is building in Alignable’s Main Street Mentors Search. In fact, there’s only one day left, so when you have a moment, if you could show your support with a quick vote, that would be awesome.

Here’s the link: https://www.alignable.com/my_town/votes.

Thanks in advance for your help. I owe you one!

 Best,
(Your First Name)

Special Note: You can use similar copy to create your own Alignable promotion or send direct messages to members of your network. All promotions should have a photo, either one of you at a favorite business or our contest banner.

Personal Press Kit

Your local media, Chamber of Commerce, and other industry organizations can generate support for you, too. So, we created a press release you can personalize for all of them. 

press release icon

Just download, fill in the blanks & send your news out. Simple as that.

download template button


Wrapping Everything Up 

We join your peers in applauding your dedication to small businesses in your local community. Thanks again for everything you do! We hope these materials and suggestions will serve you well as you move ahead in this friendly competition. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to chuck@alignable.com. 

Wishing you all the very best of luck!