An online advertising campaign ran by Clare Local Enterprise Office in association with The Clare Echo has been hailed as a major success.

Click for Clare led to the creation of an online business directory sharing the details of over one hundred businesses in the county and promoting shopping locally in the run-up to Christmas.

Website users were connected with businesses operating shopping websites in Clare during COVID-19 restrictions. The campaign ran during the months of November, December and early January to maximise local spend for the Christmas period.

Managing Director and Editor of The Clare Echo, Stuart Holly explained, “The aim of Click For Clare was to drive local website traffic to Clare businesses with an online store. The Click For Clare campaign achieved this by capturing more than 62,000 online page views on www.clareecho.ie during its two-month run. This included web users visiting The Clare Echo’s business directory along with articles which put the spotlight on local businesses involved in the campaign. The campaign also reached a print audience of in the region of 45,000 readers”.

Speaking at a meeting of the Economic Development SPC, Head of Enterprise at Local Enterprise Office Clare, Padraic McElwee admitted that Click for Clare “surpassed our expectations” as it resulted in “a very significant increase in people buying local”.

He stated that the visibility of online profiles of the businesses witnessed during the campaign wouldn’t be seen in a normal year. “We are hopeful that it flowed through to businesses and kept them going”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) queried if Click for Clare would be extended. “It was pretty successful, we need to bolster spending locally,” he remarked.

McElwee confirmed that Clare LEO intend for Click for Clare to continue. “It is our intention to revisit that”. A decision is expected to be made when further information on a roadmap for reopening businesses becomes known.