Remember the yoga instructor who is going to do a video for her business? She told me that once people come to one class, they usually come back. So how can she get more people to make it to the first class? By cutting down the hurdles that stand between them and the first class….
Even in small towns, hotels and motels have to cope with online reviews. Sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google Local let every traveler become an instant expert. And small town hotel owners are left wondering how to respond. (Don’t see the video? Click through to What do we do about a negative review.) You already…
Small town businesses sometimes struggle for the right words to describe themselves. At a conference lunch table, the yoga instructor was trying to explain to the middle-aged guy from the economic development group what a yoga class is like. At first it made sense, but when she got to the part about breathing into the…
The small town business owner today has lots of new channels available to use in getting their marketing message out. Yet that very factor, since many of these channels are using online media tools, makes business owners nervous on which channel to use and how to use it effectively. The reality is that the choice…
My neighbors in Ponca City, Oklahoma, have a famous local barbecue sauce, Head Country. This is the kind of thing that lots of economic development and tourism agencies have long given out in full size bottles to special guests and at booths at travel shows, etc. The problem is, how they heck do people get this stuff…
Sheila Scarborough was touring around small towns in Alberta, Canada. The person driving her around said, “Actually, I have a picture of Winston Churchill when he visited here during the war.” He pulled out his phone and showed her and told the story. (I’ll put the story at the end of the post.) He had…
QR codes continue to expand in popularity, but most still suffer from fatal mistakes. Here’s one that get close, at least with its description. This is a retail package that includes barbecue accessories including a bag of wood chips. Some customers who use gas grills may not be sure how to use those special wood…
You get what you measure. That is, anything you actually go to the trouble to keep records on, you will pay more attention to and likely improve. If you make yourself write down everything you eat, you’ll find yourself feeling accountable. You’ll actually eat less or eat better things so you won’t be embarrassed to…
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