At the Revitalize WA conference I sat in on a session by Scott Day with Urban Development Services, on Fifty Ideas for Retailers That Cost Less than $50. People are not buying the same way they did three years ago. People are thinking and buying “inexpensive” far more often. Scott recommended a few tactics to…
I’m speaking at the Oklahoma Governor’s Conference on Small Business, on October 14, 2011. The conference theme is Igniting Small Business Leaders. Incendiary, but good! My topic is “The Social Network: Marketing Strategies for Today.” If you dropped in from the conference, welcome! You’re in the right place for a copy of the slides and some resource…
Small town businesses and tourism groups are using Twitter for marketing and building community. One of the problems with that can be the limited reach. Twylah is one tool to reach more people, even those who don’t use or maybe don’t even like Twitter. Normal people view a Twitter page as something of a foreign…
What if your town council, your chamber of commerce, and your school board sat down together for a public meeting just to compare calendars? What if these leaders started talking about possible cooperation, shared projects, or mutual goals? What if more local boards and leaders began to participate, aligning their own goals and efforts with…
One of the Napkin Dad’s artworks(c) Marty Coleman, shared from Flickr “I have had a LOT of failures and catastrophes in my life; schools I got kicked out of, a failed marriage, rejection in the art and academic world and physical disasters just to name a few. If I had not had those ‘failures’ and…
Today, Sept 20, 2011, around 140 people from small towns in 18 states and 3 countries will gather in Hutchinson, Kansas, to share ideas, and another 3,000 or so will tune in via live stream online. 2010 140 Conference Small Town, Jeff Pulver and Becky McCray. Photo by Jerry Hirsch It’s the 140 Characters Conference,…
Yes. Use them anyway. While QR Codes will disappear from popular use at some point, the idea of a link from the offline world to the online world won’t change. Whether the next technology is near field communications (NFC) or something we don’t even see yet, you can and will adapt. Believe in the idea of…
Have a byway, driving tour or walking tour? There is one thing you can add to your signs to improve how your visitors see it. What’s missing? The “MORE” link. Here’s what I mean. Add the QR Code and short URL that takes visitors online for more information. And be sure to taken them directly to…
Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.
We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.
Meet our authors on the About page.
Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.
Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.
We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.
Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers