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Create customer experiences online like Open the Shop With Me videos, and in person, like Silent Book Club

By Becky McCray

A screenshot of the Common Ground Coffee and Market Instagram feed, showing four images, a group of people with valentine hearts, a group of staff members, one person facing the camera for an explainer video, and one video with text that says "open the shop with me"

When Kathleen Minogue of Crowdfund Better mentioned Common Ground Coffee and Market to me, I found their Instagram feed was full of stealable ideas for small business social media marketing. We first talked about how they let customers know about changes to their hours. They’re in Boise, Idaho, which I realize is not a small […]

March 23, 2025 Filed Under: community, customer service, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, trends Tagged With: branding, building a business, effective marketing, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, small business, small business success

Survey of Rural Challenges 2015 – 2025 results

By Becky McCray

10 Years of Rural Insights. What small town people see as their biggest challenges and what topics they most want help with. Survey of Rural Challenges, report written by Becky McCray and Deb Brown. Challenges, assets, actions

Download the PDF report Executive Summary The Survey of Rural Challenges asks rural people to share their ground-level insight into the challenges they face and the assets they can use. This report analyzes over 2200 responses from communities across the US and Canada from 2015 to 2024. The responses show what’s changing and what isn’t […]

February 3, 2025 Filed Under: announcement, community, economic development, entrepreneurship, resources, rural, success, Survey of Rural Challenges, trends, workforce, youth Tagged With: community development, economic development, Rural surveys and polls, rural trends, Survey of Rural Challenges

Boost your co-working space with social hours

By Becky McCray

A plain brick building in a small downtown has a window decal that says “Caldwell Workspace: create, connect, work your way” Next door is an ornate brick building from the late 1800s.

When I visited Caldwell, Kansas, the manager of the co-working site said they had filled their private offices, but struggled to attract day users. People who work from home like working from home. They don’t want a full time office, so they said they don’t want to use the coworking space. How can the coworking […]

December 5, 2024 Filed Under: community, economic development, entrepreneurship, rural Tagged With: coworking, remote work, rural, small business, small town, zoom towns

Make a “What to do in…” Pinterest Board

By Becky McCray

A Pinterest board showing local businesses and attractions in Crows Nest Pass, Alberta, Canada.

— How many times have you heard it? Someone lamenting, “There’s nothing to do here!” Worse yet, hearing someone tell visitors that. “What is there to do around here?” “Nothing, really. I don’t know.” Enough with that. Let’s give people an easy way to answer, and let’s do it the Idea Friendly way. Make a […]

September 11, 2024 Filed Under: community, economic development, marketing, rural, tools, tourism Tagged With: community development, effective marketing, experience economy, pinterest, rural

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