What If $500 Could Buy a Year of Local Attention?
AI image by Local Pigeon.
Most Hastings businesses already spend a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred there trying to “stay visible”:
a boosted Facebook post that disappears in 48 hours
a print ad that runs once and lands in the recycling
a radio spot that’s heard, then forgotten, with no way to track it
It adds up fast—and it’s hard to point to real results.
Soundbites is our answer to that problem.
For $500 per year, local organizations get a simple voice-first channel that’s built for Hastings, not for a big social platform’s algorithm.
Our goal is straightforward:
Give you a realistic shot at 5–10x the value you’d get from spending the same $500 on traditional local advertising.
Here’s how.
What You Get With a Soundbites Annual Subscription
For $500/year, your organization gets:
A daily GEO/AEO-optimized Soundbite
A 30-second voice update you can record from your phone. It’s tuned so people can find you when they search locally—by neighborhood, topic, or need.A shot at the “Local 10” every day
Our daily list of standout Soundbites. If your update resonates, it can be featured where locals go to see “What’s happening in Hastings today?”A customizable call-to-action (CTA) button on every Soundbite
As you can see in the screenshot above, you choose the label and link:“Book an Appointment”
“See Today’s Menu”
“Buy Tickets”
“Donate Now”
Your Soundbite doesn’t just inform—it sends people exactly where you want them to go.
Full control over what’s public
From your dashboard you can:Publish or hide any Soundbite
Edit titles and descriptions
Clean up names, fix spelling, and keep everything on-brand
Coming soon (already in development)
A GEO/AEO-optimized daily Local 10 page: your city’s “Top 10” stories, tuned for search.
Soundbite notifications to your followers’ phones: when you post, your subscribers can get a ping—right away.
You don’t need to be a “social media person.”
You just need 30 seconds and a phone.
Why This Can Outperform a $500 Ad Buy
Here’s what $500 often looks like in traditional local marketing:
A short run of boosted posts on Facebook/Instagram:
a spike of impressions that quickly falls off, with links throttled by the algorithm.A print ad or mailer:
one-time exposure, no way to edit it after it’s printed, little tracking.A few weeks of radio spots:
some name recognition, but most listeners are driving and can’t act immediately.
All of those can be useful. But they’re bursty and hard to measure.
Now compare that to a year of Soundbites:
You can speak to your customers whenever something changes—hours, specials, road construction, events, cancellations, new arrivals.
Each Soundbite:
lives on a searchable, local page
carries your custom CTA button
can surface in the daily Local 10
When notifications roll out, your update doesn’t just sit on a page—it arrives in your followers’ pockets.
Instead of one short campaign, you get an always-on local channel you control.
That’s where the 5–10x ROI potential comes from:
More touchpoints across the year
Better timing (you can post in the moment, not wait for the next ad cycle)
Clearer paths to action (your CTA button on every Soundbite)
We can’t guarantee a specific number for every business—no one honestly can—but our whole system is designed so that $500 here can work harder than $500 scattered across one-off ads.
Why This Isn’t “Just Facebook, But Voice”
We hear this a lot at first:
“Can’t I just post this on Facebook?”
Here’s the difference, in plain language:
Big social platforms are built to keep people on their platform.
External links and off-platform actions are often deprioritized.Soundbites is built to send people to you.
Your CTA can point to your site, your booking link, your fundraiser, your menu, or your ticket page. We want them to leave our site and go to your world.Big platforms mix your message into a global feed.
Our focus is one place: Hastings, Minnesota.
When your customers search for what’s happening nearby—or follow your Soundbites directly—your voice is easy to find and ready to act on.
Who This Is For
Soundbites works especially well for:
Restaurants, bars, and cafés
Daily specials, live music, weather contingencies, holiday hours.Auto shops and service businesses
Seasonal reminders, new services, promotions, quick “what we’re working on this week” notes.Nonprofits, schools, and faith communities
Event reminders, volunteer needs, important community updates.City and civic organizations
Construction updates, public meetings, safety notices, seasonal announcements.
If your community benefits from knowing what’s happening this week, Soundbites is for you.
Mindmap by Local Pigeon.
How to Use This as a Decision-Maker
We designed this so a manager can forward a single link to an owner and they can see:
What they get for $500/year
How it fits alongside what they already do
Why it’s likely to outperform one more print ad or one more short-run campaign
If you’re the person signing the check, here are the questions to ask yourself:
“What did our last $500 in local advertising actually do for us?”
“Do we have a simple, reliable way to talk to our customers weekly—without starting from scratch every time?”
“Would a clear, local voice channel with a clickable CTA on every message be worth trying for a year?”
If the answer to #3 is “yes,” Soundbites is built for you.
What I’d Recommend for New Subscribers
For potential subscribers:
Start with one simple goal: “We’ll leave at least one helpful Soundbite per week.”
Pick a consistent CTA for the first month (“Call Us,” “Book Online,” “See Today’s Menu”) so you can measure what happens.
As the Local 10 and notifications roll out, treat them as bonus reach on top of the steady drumbeat you’re already creating.
FAQ: Soundbites for Hastings Businesses
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You get a full year of access to Soundbites for your organization: a dashboard where you can record, edit, and publish 30-second voice updates, customize your call-to-action button (linking to your website, menu, booking page, etc.), hide or unpublish older Soundbites, and a daily chance to appear in the Local 10. As we roll out the GEO/AEO-optimized Local 10 page and Soundbite notifications, your existing subscription will include those features.
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You don’t have to post daily. Many organizations see value with just one helpful update per week—seasonal reminders, specials, events, or “here’s what’s new this week.” The more consistently you use it, the more chances you have to reach new listeners, show up in Local 10, and drive clicks on your CTA button.
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Facebook and Instagram are great, but they’re designed to keep people on their platforms. Links and off-site actions often get less reach. Soundbites is built for Hastings, MN and built to send people to you—to your website, your booking link, your fundraiser, your menu, or your event page. Every Soundbite lives on a local page that’s tuned for search and comes with a clear call-to-action you control.
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No. Your Soundbites are real human voices, recorded by you or your team by calling a local number or using our tools. We may use automated transcription as a draft text, but you always have the ability to edit titles and descriptions in your dashboard. You keep final control over how everything reads and sounds.
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Soundbites works especially well for:
Restaurants, cafés, breweries
Auto shops and service businesses
Nonprofits, schools, and faith communities
Local events and venues
If your customers benefit from knowing “what’s happening this week,” Soundbites can help.
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Inside your dashboard you’ll be able to see which Soundbites are published and which CTA buttons you’re using. Over time, you can watch:
Increases in website visits or calls after specific Soundbites
Engagement when you appear in the Local 10
Customer feedback (“I heard your update on HastingsNow.com”)
Our goal is that your $500 here works harder than your last $500 in scattered local ads.
