Guest Post By Neal Rohrbach I’m sure you’ve been to a trade show in the big city with big time vendors and corporate representatives handing out cool “freebies” with their logo on them. The “big dogs” certainly aren’t the only ones who can have a cool item or gadget to pass out to potential customers….
Hometown boy Phil Gerbyshak shares his thoughts on personal branding in small towns. Shot at SOBCon ’09. New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
Marci Penner, executive director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, has lots of ideas of how to solve the volunteer shortage. She’s looking at all new ways to involve and engage people in small towns, with the WeKan volunteer program! Apologies for the dark video. It’s really dark in that barn! Marci also has a…
Dave Ivan of Michigan State University Extension rocked the house at the Michigan Small Town and Rural Development Conference with his “Can Small Towns Be Cool?” presentation. He showered us with ideas and examples gathered from 250 community visits, a literature review and the Michigan “Cool Cities Initiative” survey of young professionals. He grouped his…
As you work to promote your small town, you’re looking for your special qualities. Marci Penner, executive director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, walks us through the eight rural culture elements. Using this framework, any town of any size can answer the question, “what is there to see or do here?” Read more about the…
The old definition of success for rural counties was growth. But growth frequently means more problems, high land prices, loss of shared values, etc. So if you are growing, you aren’t happy. If you aren’t growing, you’re stagnating, so you’re not happy either. So no one is happy. But the new definition of success may…
More rural and small town folks are getting on Twitter. As I get to speak to more and more groups about it, I think we need a special guide to link you up with some friendly faces on Twitter and some resources to help you get started. Like a bus full of friends to show…
From Jack Shultz Boomtown Institute April 21, 2009 Take Charge of Your Community Within the past couple of weeks, we have received two great stories from community leaders telling about the positive things happening in their hometowns. Each involves a powerful Can Do Spirit. Estherville, IA You spoke at our chamber banquet in Estherville, Iowa…
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