By Glenn Muske Rural and Agribusiness Enterprise Development SpecialistNorth Dakota State University Extension Service – Center for Community Vitality Today, small-business owners increasingly feel that they cannot effectively compete in marketing when facing huge marketing campaigns, thus hindering their chance at growth. Yet these small-business owners often forget the advantages they have. Glenn Muske from North…
“Twitter just hasn’t clicked for me,” a young woman told me. She works for an art gallery in a small town. She has a Twitter account to manage, but hasn’t found it useful yet. Small town art galleries arenatural community-builders. We talked a little longer, and I gave her this advice. I thought you might…
Lots of small town business people tell me they just aren’t sure how to behave on social media. They don’t know what to say, or how to act. Which is funny, because they are the perfect model. If you know how to work with customers in person,you know how to work with customers online.That’s my…
Guest Post by Lance Trebesch I’m not your typical rural businessman. Though my office may be located in the countryside these days, I actually began my career managing and growing startups in Silicon Valley. I spent more than fifteen years in the “heart of the concrete jungle,” helping companies turn their promising new businesses into…
Reader Dan Johnson, from the Main Street Mall and Perkins Pizza Factory in Perkins, Oklahoma, asked about getting noticed when you’re in the middle of the block. With a row of brick storefronts, it can be tough to stand out! When you’re one business on a long block,how can you stand out?This block is in Traverse City,…
Saw this in Norfolk County in Ontario last week, and thought you could use it, too. It’s a series of profiles of local farmers and food producers. They worked with local talent to get terrific photos and words. They also have a dedicated site for it, at NorfolkFarms.com. Once you create quality content one time, you…
As business owners, we’re bombed by marketing advice. Friends are eager to tell us what we “should” be doing. Articles are full of marketing advice we are “supposed” to follow. We know we have to do what “everyone else” is doing. So we set up blogs, but don’t post on them. We create social media…
Watching people discuss using social media/social networks for marketing, I think there is a division that isn’t being talked about. The idea of “social media marketing” is used to mean two completely different approaches to the market. This matters in business and in tourism, because your approach determines whose advice you should listen to, what…
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