East Atlanta Business Association (EABA) — Follow-Up Sequence

Target: East Atlanta Business Association (EABA) — eastatlantabiz.com — the volunteer merchant/business association for the East Atlanta Village commercial district; an Atlanta Main Street district

Contact: Chelsea Sommers, Main Street Coordinator (primary) — hello@eastatlantabiz.com · 614.209.7265 · IG @EastAtlantaBiz

Channel(s): Email (primary); Instagram DM for the shorter touches

Source first-touch: registry/leads/drafts/east-atlanta-ba-interview-request.md

Generated: 2026-09-19 (night-shift)

Assumes: no reply to the first touch (interview/partnership request)

Register: volunteer, grant-funded merchant association; storytelling that serves the promotion pillar and the district's funders, not a commercial sell

Cadence

|-------|--------|---------|------------------|

| 2 | D+12 | Email | Free one-page "EAV Member Stories" series concept (Appendix A) |

| 3 | D+20 | Email (or DM) | Honest L5P proof point: a volunteer org doesn't need a production budget to start |

| 4 | D+28 | Email | EAV-O-Ween / Strut timing: turn the one-day crowd into return customers |

| 5 | D+36 | Email (or DM) | Door-open close, no ask |

Touch 1 — The invisible design work (D+5)

Subject: the work you do that nobody photographs

Chelsea —

The part of Main Street work I keep coming back to is the stuff nobody photographs. Street-pole banners, rideshare drop-offs, the cohesive look the Village has now. That's the design pillar doing its job so quietly you walk under it every day without noticing.

Your funders are paying for that pillar, and they want proof the district's actually getting better. A directory page can't show it. A 60-second cut of a member, in their place, saying one true thing, can.

Same work, just made visible. If there's a business you'd point the camera at first, that's where I'd start.

~100 words. Delivers a concrete angle drawn from EABA's own Main Street work (the street-pole banners, rideshare drop-offs, cohesive branding — all from the first-touch draft) and ties it to the funder reality (AMS cohort, the Georgia Main Street accreditation EABA is pursuing). Names no business; "you pick it" carries over from the first touch without re-offering the free shoot.

Touch 2 — Free asset: the one-page concept (D+12)

Subject: a one-pager your board could hand to a member

Chelsea —

I put together a one-page concept for an EAV Member Stories series. It's written so you could hand it to a member at a general meeting and call it a benefit, or drop it in front of the board when promotion comes up.

It's below, the whole thing, no strings. If the "one story a month" rhythm reads like something that'd serve the district and its funders, that's the part I'd want to build with you.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

The one-pager is Appendix A below. Self-contained, ready to paste into an email or drop into a PDF/Google Doc. The "general meeting" and "promotion" references are EABA-specific (monthly 3rd-Tuesday general meetings, the promotion pillar), not a copy of the Midtown/CAP one-pager framing.

Touch 3 — The L5P proof point, honest (D+20)

Subject: what the Little Five Points series is teaching me about volunteer orgs

Chelsea —

I'm putting a short interview series together over in Little Five Points right now, and I'll be straight about where it stands: early. No finished episodes yet.

What I keep noticing is specific to volunteer shops like EABA. You don't need a production budget to start this. The stories are already sitting in the district. It's just a matter of pointing a camera at them.

When the first L5P cuts land I'll send you one, so you can judge it instead of taking my word.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~90 words. Claims only what's true on disk: the L5P series is "putting together," no episodes, no metrics. The "you don't need a production budget" line is aimed at a volunteer, grant-funded org — distinct from Midtown's "what opens the door" and CAP's "district org is the multiplier" angles.

Touch 4 — Event-timing hook (D+28)

Subject: the crowd comes for the event, the businesses are the reason it works

Chelsea —

One timing note, then I'll get out of your way. EAV-O-Ween and the Strut are the two days the district fills up with people who don't live here. The crowd's huge, the recap goes up, then everyone waits a year to do it again.

The part that gets missed is the businesses the crowd walks past on the way to the event. A visitor comes for one day and leaves knowing the neighborhood threw a good party, not which shop's worth coming back for. A 60-second member story is what turns that one-day crowd into return customers.

If the fall calendar's already locked, no problem. The stories keep either way.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~105 words. Uses EABA's own anchor events (EAV-O-Ween, the Strut 5k) as the seasonal hook but does not assert specific dates. The "one-day crowd into return customers" angle is distinct from Midtown's "library for the next reel" framing — it's a conversion story, not a storage story.

Touch 5 — Door-open close (D+36)

Subject: leaving the door open

Chelsea —

I've sent a few notes over the last month and won't keep them coming if the timing's off. A volunteer board's got enough on it.

The offer stands as it was. If EABA ever wants its members on camera, I'm around. And when the Little Five Points series is actually finished, I'll send you a link anyway. It's the honest version of what I've been describing.

— Brandyn
Ghost Coast Video · ghostcoast.video

~70 words. No ask, no recap, no guilt. "A volunteer board's got enough on it" lands the volunteer register one last time. Closes on the honest forward promise (the L5P link), which doubles as a reason to keep the thread.

Flags — read before sending

1. Channel. Email to hello@eastatlantabiz.com (routed to Chelsea Sommers) is primary. The shorter touches (3 and 5) can go as Instagram DM to @EastAtlantaBiz if Brandyn prefers. Pick one channel per touch; don't double-send.

2. Verify Chelsea Sommers is still Main Street Coordinator before Touch 1. The Contact page publishes her name + direct phone (614.209.7265), but the site is a volunteer-run Wild Apricot build with a ©2020 footer on the board roster, so the role may have rotated. If she's moved on, Armando Celentano (Film Liaison, film@eastatlantabiz.com) is the fallback — he's already adjacent to film in the district.

3. Touch 1 names no business. If Brandyn knows a specific member worth leading with, he can name it; otherwise keep "you pick it."

4. Touch 3 must stay at "early / putting together / no finished episodes." Do not upgrade to filmed episodes or results until that's actually true. This is the touch most at risk of overclaiming.

5. Event names. EAV-O-Ween and the Strut 5k come from EABA's own programming (first-touch draft + main-street-groups map). Confirm the current season's names/dates before sending; swap in whichever is actually on the calendar this fall.

6. Don't imply Argosy, 529, Banshee, or The EARL are GCV clients. They're cold prospects in targets.md (D4/C10/C11/C9). The one honest warm thread is Armando Celentano of Argosy chairing EABA's Film Liaison — reference that only as a fact, never as a client relationship.

7. Stop the moment they reply. This is a conversation, not a drip. Any response restarts as a real thread and the remaining touches get dropped.

Appendix A — "EAV Member Stories" one-page concept

The deliverable for Touch 2. Self-contained; paste into an email or drop into a PDF/Google Doc.

EAV Member Stories — a series concept for the East Atlanta Business Association

What it is. A short video feature, one member business at a time. A sit-down with the person who runs it, in their place, then a 60-second cut they can post anywhere.

Why it fits the Main Street work. EABA runs on four pillars: design, organization, promotion, economic vitality. Promotion is the one that's hardest to show on paper. A member-story series is that pillar made visible. It's also the kind of evidence a funder wants to see — the AMS cohort and a Georgia Main Street accreditation review read spreadsheets all day. Faces beat numbers.

Story starters, straight from the district.

The Madison Theater restoration, told by whoever's been closest to it
The Shop EAV gift-card program, from a member's point of view
The 300+ people who gave input to the EAV Main Street visioning, and what actually got built
One shop, one person, one true thing about why they're here

What a member gets.

A 60-second cut they own, sized for their own socials
A longer version for their site or a meeting
A reason to stay a member, and a reason to tell the next business to join

What EABA gets.

Retention and recruitment: members stay when they feel seen, and prospects watch a neighbor on camera and want in
Funder-facing proof: the promotion pillar, shown instead of described
A footage library ready for EAV-O-Ween and the Strut

How it runs. One business a month, shot in place, no production footprint on the member. The district picks the business. The story comes out of whatever they actually care about. No staff time, no production budget to get started.

Where to start. The first one is on Ghost Coast Video. After that, the rhythm gets figured out together.

Notes for Brandyn

Appendix A is ready to deploy as a one-page PDF or Google Doc for Touch 2. The "story starters" section is the part that makes it EABA-specific rather than a generic main-street one-pager.
Strongest touch if only one gets sent: Touch 1 (the invisible design work → funder evidence angle). Touch 4 (EAV-O-Ween/Strut timing) is the close second because it's tied to what's actually on EABA's event calendar.
Downstream asks stay held until a real conversation, per the first-touch draft: paid recurring series, EAV-O-Ween / Whispers of History / Shmooze-A-Palooza event coverage, Madison Theater restoration and branding milestone storytelling, member-business intros, and the film/Film-Liaison angle. None of these appear as asks in this sequence.
No fabricated clients, metrics, or member names anywhere. The only org named is EABA itself; the L5P reference is held at "putting together."