Community BoardsBe Seen Where Local Customers Already Are.
A year-long position on the Community Board inside a specific local Host, with your business category protected on that board. Your professionally prepared graphic is included, and you are visible where local customers already are.
- 12-month local presence
- One specific local Host
- Protected business category
- Professional graphic included
- Where local customers already are
Example Community Board. Business names, advertisers and QR codes shown are fictional.
Local attention is hard to buy and easy to lose.
Advertising dollars get spread across search, social, mail, print and more, and staying visible in the specific local places your customers already frequent is the hardest part to sustain.
Spend is spread thin
Search, social, direct mail, print and sponsorships each ask for a slice of the budget, and each reaches people in a different moment.
Some exposure stops when the spend stops
Many channels are visible only while a campaign is running. Sustaining a steady local presence takes constant attention.
It is fragmented
Different platforms, different reports, different vendors. It is hard to know what is actually keeping your business top of mind nearby.
You want to be where your customers already go
Coffee shops, repair shops, gyms and neighborhood restaurants are where nearby households spend time, and there are few simple ways to be visible inside them.
Six Businesses. One Local Host. A Full Year of Visibility.
Every Community Board is a freestanding board with a black frame and a white dry-erase surface, installed inside a Host business. The Host uses most of the board for its own customer messages. The lower band holds up to six local advertiser positions in three columns and two rows, with a thin Community Boards footer beneath.
Example Community Board for a laundromat. Fictional businesses.
60% The Host's space
The Host's branding and dry-erase messages keep the board useful and looked at. The Host never advertises in the advertiser positions on its own board.
37% Up to six local advertisers
Six physical positions in three columns and two rows, holding up to six local advertisers, one business per protected category, each with a professionally prepared graphic. One of them is yours.
3% Community Boards
A thin footer identifies the network with Local Businesses. Stronger Together.
You are buying a protected local-business position inside a specific customer-facing Host location for 12 months.
Not a share of a bulletin board. A named location, a protected category and a full year.
Your 12-Month Community Boards Position Includes
Everything below is part of the annual price. There are no separate design fees for the standard graphic and no extra charge for category protection on your board.
Physical placement
A professionally prepared advertiser graphic in one of six positions on the selected Host's Community Board.
Category protection
One business per protected category on that individual board. Once your category is reserved, no competing business in the same category is placed on that board for the campaign term.
Creative preparation
You supply your core business assets and information. System Stream prepares the standardized graphic and provides a proof for your approval.
12 full months
Your campaign term begins only after Installation Verification, not at reservation, payment or production.
Renewal priority
Existing advertisers receive first right of refusal on their position at renewal.
Where can your business advertise right now?
No Host locations are open for reservation right now
When a Host location opens to advertisers, it will be listed here with its annual price and campaign status. Nothing can be reserved or paid for on this site yet.
Questions: CommunityBoards@SystemStream.com
Pricing you can read in ten seconds.
Every Host location is priced at one of three annual levels. You see the actual price of the location before you reserve, and the math is the same everywhere: $100 now, the rest only when the campaign proceeds.
$695 Host location
- 12-month advertiser position
- $695
- Reservation (credited to the price)
- $100
- Remaining balance if campaign proceeds
- $595
- Campaign term
- 12 months
- Campaign begins
- After Installation Verification
$795 Host location
- 12-month advertiser position
- $795
- Reservation (credited to the price)
- $100
- Remaining balance if campaign proceeds
- $695
- Campaign term
- 12 months
- Campaign begins
- After Installation Verification
$995 Host location
- 12-month advertiser position
- $995
- Reservation (credited to the price)
- $100
- Remaining balance if campaign proceeds
- $895
- Campaign term
- 12 months
- Campaign begins
- After Installation Verification
Why pricing varies by Host location
Each Host location is evaluated as advertising inventory and priced at $695, $795 or $995 per position per year, so pricing reflects the location and not your business category. The reservation, the balance timing and the 12-month term work the same way at every price.
A Cost-Efficient Addition to Your Local Advertising Mix
Local businesses reach customers through search, social media, direct mail, sponsorships, print, outdoor advertising and other channels. Community Boards is another option: a fixed-price, year-long physical presence at a specific local Host.
Community Boards is a System Stream initiative. System Stream's broader work is built around helping organizations use their dollars more efficiently. We bring that same cost-conscious mindset to local advertising.
Where local advertising dollars go
- Search / Google AdsReaches people who are actively searching for what you offer.
- Social media advertisingReaches people through the feeds they already use.
- Direct mailReaches households and businesses at their mailing address.
- Print / local publicationsReaches readers of local newspapers, magazines and guides.
- Sponsorships / eventsAssociates your business with local teams, causes and gatherings.
- Outdoor advertisingReaches people passing a sign, billboard or transit placement.
- Community BoardsOne protected category position on the Community Board inside a specific local Host, at a fixed annual price, for 12 months after Installation Verification.
These channels serve different purposes and are not interchangeable. Community Boards does not claim to perform better than any of them, and nothing here is presented as what a business like yours usually spends.
One fixed annual price, three ways to read it
| Per year | Per month | Per week |
|---|---|---|
| $695 | $57.92 | $13.37 |
| $795 | $66.25 | $15.29 |
| $995 | $82.92 | $19.13 |
Monthly and weekly figures are the annual price divided by 12 and by 52, shown only to make the fixed annual price easy to compare with budgets you already track. Reservation, balance timing and the 12-month term are unchanged.
- Community Boards does not have to replace search, social media, direct mail or another channel that already works for your business.
- Think of it as another way to diversify your local advertising mix and maintain visibility at a specific local Host for a fixed annual investment.
Local Advertising Budget Calculator
See how a Community Boards position could fit within what you already spend on advertising.
Okay, how does buying a position work?
A specific Host, your protected category, $100 to reserve, and a 12-month campaign that starts only once the board is installed and verified.
- Step 1Choose a specific HostA named local business and location, with its annual price shown up front.
- Step 2Check your categoryOne business per protected category on that board. See whether yours is open.
- Step 3$100 reserves itCredited toward the annual price. Refundable before campaign commitment.
- Step 4The campaign formsUp to approximately 90 days. The balance is due only when the campaign proceeds.
- Step 5Creative and productionYour graphic is prepared, proofed and approved. The board is produced.
- Step 6Your 12 months beginOnly after the board is installed and verified at the Host.
$695 / $795 / $995 per year, set per Host location$100 reserves your category, credited to the priceBalance due only when the campaign proceeds
Why the initial reservation is only $100.
A board is produced only after enough local advertisers commit to a location, so $100 locks your category while that campaign forms, without paying for a campaign that is not confirmed yet.
- $100 reserves your advertiser category and position at the selected Host location.
- It is credited toward the annual price. It is not an extra fee.
- Until the board is ordered into production, amounts you have paid remain refundable to you, or transferable to another opportunity you approve, under the program terms.
- If System Stream cannot proceed with the campaign, the reservation is refunded.
- Every Host has final approval over the advertisers on the board inside its own business. If a Host declines your business before production, you may take a refund or choose to transfer the reservation to another available Host. We never move you to another Host without your agreement.
- Once the board is ordered into production, the $100 and any balance you have paid become nonrefundable if you choose to cancel. If Community Boards or the Host cannot deliver your placement, your replacement, credit and refund remedies still apply.
reserves your category and is credited toward your annual price
Before your board is ordered into production
Cancel any time and what you have paid is refundable.
If the campaign cannot proceed
System Stream refunds your reservation. If the Host declines your business before production, you choose a refund or a transfer to another available Host. We never move you without your agreement.
Once your board is ordered into production
Your $100 and any balance paid are nonrefundable if you choose to cancel. If we cannot deliver your placement, your replacement, credit and refund remedies still apply.
What happens after you reserve
From reservation to a live 12-month campaign, in the order it actually happens.
Reserve your category
Secure an available position at a specific Host location for $100.
We form the local campaign
System Stream coordinates advertiser participation and Host review for that location.
Campaign confirmed
When the campaign reaches the level required to proceed, System Stream notifies advertisers and requests remaining balances.
Creative and production
Advertiser graphics are prepared, proofed and approved. The board is produced once balances are paid and proofs approved.
Installation Verification
The Community Board is delivered, installed at the Host location and verified.
Your 12 months begin
Only then does your campaign term start.
The campaign formation window is up to approximately 90 days. Timing can vary, and the campaign proceeds only when participation and economics support production. If the campaign cannot proceed, your reservation is refunded.
Protect your category.
Only one business per protected category can advertise on any one Community Board.
If an insurance agency reserves the Insurance category at a specific Host, no other insurance agency can reserve that category on that board for the campaign term.
Category protection applies to the individual Community Board you reserve. It does not automatically create exclusivity across a neighborhood, city, region, Host chain or the entire Community Boards network.
Community Boards starts from a broad list of local-business categories. Most eligible local businesses can generally advertise at a Host unless that category is already reserved on the board, conflicts with the Host’s own business or requires Community Boards review.
What you see when you check your category at a location
- InsuranceInsurance is available at this Host.Available
- Real EstateReal Estate is already reserved at this location.Reserved
- Coffee Shops & CafésConflicts with the Host's business and is not available on this board.Unavailable
- BakeriesRequires Community Boards review before it can be reserved.Under Review
Category reservations are subject to Community Boards review and the approval of the Host whose board you choose. Adjacent or ambiguous categories may require Community Boards review.
More than a position on a board.
Your Community Boards position is designed to connect your business with customers on the physical board and through the growing Community Boards network.
These network features are being developed as part of the Community Boards launch experience. The Advertiser Profile is available in this test build; QR and notification capabilities are not live yet.
As the network grows
What you buy today is the physical Community Boards position and the protections described on this page.
Questions advertisers ask
What exactly am I buying?
A protected local-business position on the Community Board at a specific Host location for 12 months. It includes one of six advertiser positions, category protection on that board, a professionally prepared graphic with proof approval, a 12-month term beginning at Installation Verification and first right of refusal at renewal.
Why does pricing vary by Host location?
Each Host location is evaluated as inventory, and annual pricing is set per location at $695, $795 or $995. You always see the actual price of the specific location before you reserve.
What does the $100 reservation do?
It reserves your category and position at that Host location while the local campaign forms, and it is credited toward your annual price. Until the board is ordered into production, what you have paid stays refundable or transferable under the program terms.
What happens if the campaign does not form?
If System Stream cannot proceed with the campaign at that location, your $100 reservation is refunded.
When is the remaining balance due?
When System Stream confirms the campaign will proceed, we request the remaining balance. It must be paid before production. Requesting the balance does not by itself make anything nonrefundable: the $100 and any balance become nonrefundable if you choose to cancel only once the board is ordered into production.
When does my 12-month term begin?
Only after Installation Verification, when the Community Board has been delivered, installed at the Host location and verified. The term never starts at reservation, payment, campaign formation or production.
Can a competitor advertise on the same board?
No. Only one business per protected category can advertise on any one Community Board. Once your category is reserved at a Host, no competing business in that category is placed on that board for the campaign term. Protection applies to that individual board, not to a neighborhood, city, region, Host chain or the network. Adjacent or ambiguous categories may require Community Boards review.
Which business categories can advertise?
Most eligible local businesses. Community Boards starts from a broad category list rather than a short list per Host. A category is generally available at a specific Host unless it is already reserved on that board, conflicts with the Host’s own business or requires Community Boards review. If your category is not listed, choose Other and we will confirm the right category with you.
Does the Host approve advertisers?
Yes. Each Host has final approval over the advertisers that appear on the board inside its own business, so your position needs that Host's approval as well as Community Boards eligibility and review. A Host's decision covers only its own board; it does not affect your eligibility elsewhere in the network, and it cannot override category protection. If a Host declines your business before production, you may take a refund or choose to transfer your reservation to another available Host.
Do I need to design my own ad?
No. Basic graphic preparation is included. You supply your core business assets and information, System Stream prepares the standardized graphic, and you approve a proof before production. Reasonable initial corrections are included.
What happens if campaign formation takes longer than expected?
The campaign formation window is up to approximately 90 days. Timing can vary, and the campaign proceeds only when participation and economics support production. Your reservation remains refundable until System Stream confirms the campaign will proceed and requests the remaining balance.
Can I advertise at more than one Host?
Yes. Each Host location is reserved separately, with its own price, category availability and campaign, subject to availability, category protection, Community Boards eligibility and that Host's approval.
What if there is no Host location where I want to advertise?
Join the Community Boards network for free and tell us where you want to advertise. Your Advertiser Profile shows Community Boards where local businesses want opportunities, and it is not a reservation and collects no payment. Matching and notification are part of the launch roadmap. As that capability comes online, registered advertisers will be able to receive notifications when matching Host opportunities become available.
What happens at renewal?
Existing advertisers receive first right of refusal on their position. If you renew, payment renews under the then-current approved terms and your creative can be refreshed. If you decline, the position may be offered to another business.
Can Community Boards guarantee leads or results?
No. Community Boards does not guarantee foot traffic, impressions, leads, sales or return on investment, and it does not publish audience estimates for any location. What you do receive is a year-long presence at a specific Host after Installation Verification, your business category protected on that board, professionally prepared creative and participation in the Community Boards network.
Is the digital marketplace already live?
No. The broader consumer-facing marketplace is on the roadmap. Your Advertiser Profile and the Host, advertiser and network QR codes on every board are part of the Community Boards launch experience and are being developed; the profile you can create today is available in this test build. Local discovery, offers, richer profiles and expanded engagement reporting come later as the network grows. What you buy today is the physical Community Boards position and the protections described on this page.
Pick the location your customers already visit.
Check your category, compare available Host locations, see the price, and reserve your category for $100. The balance is due only when the campaign proceeds, and your 12 months begin after Installation Verification.
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