You’ve been hearing a lot about the need to keep your small town store open during the evenings. Your chamber of commerce is putting on more evening events. The new fitness place up the block is open late. Everyone seems to be trying to get people downtown during later hours, but when you’ve tried opening for…
One small town retail issue is dealing with customers who compare your prices to the prices with other far-away locations. A smart way to head that off is to create comparisons between different products within your store. Sometimes customers compare your price on a single item with that item in a different store or online….
The visibility of your business may seem insignificant, but it is a key factor to the success of many enterprises. Being visible comes in many ways. Today we hear a great deal about your online visibility. Plus, you have visibility, in a sense, when people know your name and that you exist. Yet the visibility…
Making a product is easy. Well, it’s easy when you compare it to setting your prices. Here is one straightforward way to figure prices for what you produce: Materials + labor + fixed costs per unit + capital costs + profit = Wholesale Wholesale x 2 = Retail Then, treat that as a starting point,…
A small business lost their chance because they didn’t get specific. I was looking for shampoo in bar form. (It’s great for travel.) I did some research on my own, and I talked with friends online to get their recommendations. A friend on Twitter introduced me to a small soap maker. I asked the…
What if you cut out an entire group of potential customers? You just might succeed. Graham Reid from Charleville Bush Caravan Park in Australia has been telling me about their business’s success with allowing non-smokers only. It’s the kind of niche idea that many rural businesses could adapt. There are a few parks that ban…
Many small businesses collect email addresses from their customers, but they never do anything with them. That’s a missed opportunity. Other small businesses have built their entire presence on Facebook, so they have no control over who does or does not get their messages. Email remains a tool that you control. You decide when…
During a break at an event last year, a small town yoga studio owner and I talked about her marketing. She knows that if people come to one class, they usually like it and return. She asked if she should make that first class free to get them in the door. I said no,…
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