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Trusted Tips & Resources

TRUSTED DIRECTORIES ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP WITH FIX IT UP!

S & E TRUSTED ONLINE DIRECTORIES INC & FIX IT UP -JOINT  MEDIA RELEASE

For Release - January 26th, 2021 at 10 am SASKATOON, SK  

TRUSTED DIRECTORIES ANNOUNCE A PARTNERSHIP WITH FIX IT UP! 

S & E Trusted Online Directories is a multi-award-winning Saskatchewan marketing company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Founded in 2011 by local award-winning entrepreneur Sara Wheelwright, it has a local online directory division, that includes Trustedsaskatoon.com and a, Trustedregina.com. In addition, there is a full-service marketing agency, . Our company focus is supporting local businesses operated with integrity as a priority. 


FIX IT UP is owned by Brad Fekula and Dwayne Melcher. Brad has over a decade of marketing expertise at Cubbon Advertising, primarily dealing with Saskatchewan businesses. Dwayne is the owner of Melcher Media, a previously Trusted Regina website company and a highly respected Saskatchewan tech agency specializing in software and virtual reality (VR) development.  The Fix It Up software allows consumers a convenient and reliable way to save time and money when looking for a local quote. The FIX IT UP quote software was created by the developers at Melcher Media to revolutionize the way quotes are provided. 

SASKATCHEWAN TECH COLLABORATING TO CREATE ADDITIONAL VALUE FOR SMALL SASK BUSINESSES
 

In 2020 Trusted and FIX IT Up entered into a mutually beneficial legal partnership agreement with the view to providing more support to local businesses in Saskatchewan.  On the surface the 2 companies may seem to be in competition as local web-based directories; but in fact, on closer inspection, it became obvious that they instead complement each other's activities. They share a common goal, to provide the best solutions and advertising value to their clients in the Saskatchewan services industry. 


The Trusted Directories partner with a select and restricted number of locally owned businesses. These businesses fall into 40 specific categories and most are based in and around  Saskatoon and Regina. These businesses are mostly service providers, and to become partners they must meet a unique set of standards, pass a Trusted qualification process, and sign a contract to commit to upholding specific standards of service ‘ The Trusted Guarantees’.  Trusted then promotes the partners individually and as part of the ‘Trusted Community’. Essentially, we sell the Trusted Partners as our only ‘product‘ to the local marketplace via a comprehensive marketing campaign - including, but not limited to,  billboards, radio, social media, CPC campaigns, event marketing, sponsorship, and more. This gives the partners significant exposure in their local marketplace, drives quality leads, and helps their SEO. Trusted also contributes time and money to help the partner's community support efforts, and the Trusted community holds each other accountable as a group of like-minded, quality-driven, locally owned businesses. 


FIX IT UP directories on the other hand, primarily provides a comprehensive quoting platform for local service providers in over 220+ categories. A detailed and industry-specific online quoting system saves service providers significant time. In addition, building such a platform/feature on their own websites would be a significant cost that most service providers would not invest in. FIX IT UP businesses pay a very small lead fee, which they only pay if they are selected for a job they quote. The benefit for consumers and corporations is that they can provide all their information in one easy-to-use platform and await quotes from local service providers.  This is a managed process and also saves consumers time shopping around and the frustration of businesses not getting back to enquiries in a timely manner. 

The Trusted/FIX IT UP partnership involves the following elements:

1. Integration of the FIX IT UP quote software into the Trusted Directories clouded database platform. 

This means that Trusted Partners will be able to receive detailed quotes from local consumers who want a Trusted local service provider. This saves the consumer time and as the partners have to respond in a timely fashion customers are not left ‘ hanging ‘ waiting for a reply. In addition, they can request a quote at their convenience as our platform is open for business 24/ 7!


A bonus for the Trusted partners, is that the quote link and landing page is unique to each business. This means they will not be competing with other businesses in their category that are signed up as a FIX IT UP provider.

See a listing example here: https://www.trustedsaskatoon.com/listing.aspx?lid=334 



2. Trusted Saskatoon & Regina Partners who are listed on Fix It Up will be highlighted as Trusted on Fix It Up.


This differentiates Trusted Partners and recognizes the steps they have taken to invest in their integrity.
It also shines a spotlight on their consistently high standards of quality work and customer service and gives them an advantage in the selection process.



3. FIX IT UP operates on a ‘ typical online directory model’.
They aim to sign up as many businesses as possible and charge a very small fee per lead.  After staffing and development costs this does not allow for much capital to invest in local marketing to drive consumers to use the platform, especially when it comes to mass media like print, broadcast or billboard.  


The Trusted Directories model is different, they charge more for an annual fee and severely restrict the number of businesses in each category to offer much more individual promotion, marketing value, and personalized service for their partners. They appreciate the quality of the FIX IT UP quoting software and in return for integration they are committed to promoting the feature and their FIX IT UP Partnership as part of their ongoing marketing strategy in the cities they serv. 


The owners of Trusted and FIX IT UP believe that local businesses like themselves should actively seek out collaboration opportunities in order to become more successful. We appreciate each other’s strengths, and we are proud to enter into a partnership as two established and recognized leaders in the Saskatchewan marketing industry. A community whose tech sector collaborates is a valuable asset to the province and we believe is crucial for the success of Sask tech as a whole. 


Support local and we all win!

Trusted Regina team announces the Regina organization to receive our $500 donation but wait, there's more..

The Trusted Regina Directory team and all of the the Trusted Regina businesses we partner with are based in Regina and we all care about the Regina community! 

The Trusted team wanted to join in the amazing spirit of giving that we saw happening this year in the Queen City. Individuals we were inspired by were those like Niall O'Hanlon from the Fat Badger that motivated hundreds to give to the soon to be arriving Syrian refugees, showing the true heart of the majority!    THIS MAKE OUR HEARTS SING and gave us the motivation to do something !! 

SO....On December 14th  we posted on the Trusted Regina Facebook page, asking for the Regina public to nominate their personal favorite Regina based non profit organization. We also wanted to know WHY they were nominated. We committed to choose 1 of the nominated organizations to receive a $500 cheque on December 23rd from the Trusted Regina team.   


Regina, you have done yourself proud!! We are absolutely over joyed that so many of you shared your favorite charity, group and places that are out there in our community making a difference every day of the year! 

Some of these are well established Regina organizations that have been around for many years, some are true grass roots initiatives of everyday people coming together to affect positive change in our community and we salute them ALL!  

Many of them we have donated items and money to in the last 4 years we have been in business, those include:

Others we had never heard of & we really appreciated getting to know more about them and what they do!! Thank you everyone who took the time to share their favourite!!  

We regret that there can only be 1 recipient of the $500 donation - we really wish we could afford to give a cheque to every single one, as all are so deserving,  but we are just a small local business and we just can not afford that at this time.   

DRUMROLLLLLLLLLL............

We have decided to give our donation to an organization that we haven't helped before, one that we know offers a service to the most vulnerable in their hours of desperate need. 
An organization who's mission it is 'To build a community where respect, equality and freedom create an environment where violence against women and children does not exist. '  .

Our 2016 recipient is SOFIA House Regina.  

 We know that the holiday season is a time when family & relationship tensions can strain to break point and we want to do what we can to help this amazing Regina organization this year. 



BUT WAIT ...there's more...

We may not be able to stroke a $500 cheque for all the organizations and groups that were nominated on the Facebook post we did...but we can do something for each of them!   

Keep checking in to our Facebook page between now and Christmas Eve, so you will be able to keep up with the activities of the Trusted Regina Elves - See the 3 of them in this delightful video INSPIRED  BY and it is  A  PERSONAL SALUTE TO REGINA CAT RESCUE - who was the most nominated of all the Regina organizations this year! 

We look forward to making your kittys purrrrrr with our gift!  



WE are going to do our best to help each and every one of the organizations, groups and people YOU nominated and appreciate so much! We cannot promise $500 gifts, but we do care,  and we know that what we are going to do will help ...so thank you all for the list of all these amazing Regina people and organizations who are definitely on the NICE LIST this year!!!!

PLEASE NOTE:

These gifts we give do not just come from the Trusted Regina team, they are from and on behalf of the Trusted Regina community - That means they are from EACH and EVERY Trusted Regina businesses you will find listed on the TrustedRegina Directory! 

Please SUPPORT them and thank THEM for being awesome! 



In life it's not the actions of 1 or 2 that make the most difference, it's the actions of many and ONLY TOGETHER ARE WE TRUSTED! Thank you for INSPIRING US 

Trusted Regina receives a negative Google review from Trevor

The Trusted Regina directory team really care about the opinions and thoughts of YOU, the Regina public. WE work for you by finding the best locally accountable Regina businesses and promoting them as a community. We do this so you can find trustworthy companies really easily. We are just like you, and we have been burned in the past from disreputable companies who over promised and undelivered, in fact the founder Sara was ripped off and this prompted her to start Trusted!! ( read the story here)  

The internet has really been a game changer for consumers and for businesses. On the positive side it means we can research companies and products much easier BEFORE we contact them, saving us time.....but what if you read reviews that are bias, misinformed or simply not the truth??  We have supported Trusted partners through this process and tried to guide them in how to deal with this sometimes devastating process, it’s something that most local businesses really do fear.

This time it is our turn.....Trevor took the time to leave a review for The Trusted Regina team today, so we wanted to make something positive out of a ‘ negative situation ‘ for the Trusted team. Read his review and our founder Sara Wheelwright’s response  below.    
We truly thank Trevor for allowing us an opportunity to speak about what we do , and hopefully explain that we are indeed the REAL DEAL, also this allows us the opportunity to  use our experience to highlight one of the biggest things local and big businesses are having to deal with!  Words are powerful and we all have a voice online, please be informed, be nice and be wise in how you use that voice. 


Response from Sara 

 Trevor- firstly thanks for sharing your thoughts with us and giving our team a chance to explain to you who we, what we do and why we are set up the way we are. 
Firstly a business does't pay to be Trusted - they qualify to be Trusted after passing a strict verification process ( pass or fail) and signing an annual contract to uphold a specific standard and set of guarantees. We welcome feedback and you can contact us by phone, email or on our many social media pages . We are a local team with offices in Regina and Saskatoon. 


We are not a ' review company ' you are correct - they are 10 a penny all over the web, most reviews online are not verified in any way. In addition evidence and data clearly proves that up to 40% of all reviews are false . Also, we know that many people who review businesses negatively are not interested in solving issues , but just use these review sites to complain. This can really effect local businesses who would otherwise have worked hard to rectify any wrongs they may have done! No one is perfect are they? 

At Trusted - we are unique- the testimonials you see displayed on the feature listings are from real people that we spoke to personally as part of the verification process- we contact 25 previous clients and survey them in person and over the phone. 

( See an example below)