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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Sign says, "Almost everyone welcome!"
    community | entrepreneurship | marketing | mistakes | rural

    Want more public attendance at your events? Make sure your signs include this specific phrase

    ByBecky McCray February 18, 2019February 17, 2019

      You do some events that are open to the public, right? Here’s the tip to get more locals to attend. When you hold an event that is open to the public, put up a sign that says, “Open to everyone! Come on in!” Of course you know it’s open to the public, and of…

    Read More Want more public attendance at your events? Make sure your signs include this specific phraseContinue

  • Know your customer: Who’s asking them questions?
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | social media

    Know your customer: Who’s asking them questions?

    ByBecky McCray February 11, 2019February 24, 2019

      You know I’m a big fan of answering customer questions. That’s been part of my marketing advice for 10 years now. Should I blog for my small business? Yes, answer customer questions Talk less about you, more about them Top small business blogging questions answered But there’s a deeper layer to serving your customers….

    Read More Know your customer: Who’s asking them questions?Continue

  • Woman posing with a piece of pie at her cafe
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | shop local | social media

    How restaurants can market each other in small towns

    ByBecky McCray February 4, 2019January 13, 2019

      I loved this restaurant marketing idea from the Texas Downtown Association: Collaborative Marketing for Local Restaurants In order to compete with new chain restaurants, a group of Longview restaurateurs decided to band together to form a local marketing collective to help encourage people to “Chews Longview”. The marketing campaign urges people to support local…

    Read More How restaurants can market each other in small townsContinue

  • SEO for voice search is different for rural small business
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | tech

    SEO for voice search is different for rural small business

    ByBecky McCray January 28, 2019January 28, 2019

      For years, we’ve all worked on SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, to get our names out there and associated with specific words and phrases we knew our customers would type into a search engine to find us. Now that customers are saying their searches out loud, how does that change things? Today’s voice searches…

    Read More SEO for voice search is different for rural small businessContinue

  • What’s the Secret Ingredient to a Winning Team
    community | rural

    What’s the Secret Ingredient to a Winning Team

    ByPaula Jensen January 26, 2019January 6, 2019

    Guest post by Paula Jensen The Langford Area High School boys’ basketball team made it to the State B tournament for the fifth time in the past six years. As I travel across South Dakota for my job people ask me, “How can Langford (being such a small school) continue producing winning teams year-after-year?” My…

    Read More What’s the Secret Ingredient to a Winning TeamContinue

  • empty lots
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural

    What businesses would work in a small town with empty land

    ByBecky McCray January 21, 2019January 6, 2019

      A small town official wrote in to ask me what business would work on empty land. This town had acquired an old industrial site with 30 acres of empty land in the middle of town. They’d like to build a city within a city, maybe a mix of residential and commercial. To get there,…

    Read More What businesses would work in a small town with empty landContinue

  • women using laptops
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural | tech | trends | workforce

    Two 2019 small business trends that are good for small towns

    ByBecky McCray January 14, 2019May 26, 2022

      Brother released their small business trends for 2019, and two struck me as particularly good for small towns and rural businesses. Remote workforces will continue to rise Brother says: “2018 was a pivotal year for remote working and as we head into 2019 that is not going to slow down. Good talent is becoming…

    Read More Two 2019 small business trends that are good for small townsContinue

  • Solving the rural Brain Drain at Career Day
    economic development | rural | workforce | youth

    Solving the rural Brain Drain at Career Day

    BySmall Biz Survival January 7, 2019August 7, 2025

    Guest post by Jimi Coplen  Executive Director, Development Corporation of Haskell, Texas In rural America, we know the “Brain Drain” is a real issue. We do a great job educating our kids, teaching them good work ethic, and turning them into amazing adults. Then, they leave for college, never to be seen again. Employers are left…

    Read More Solving the rural Brain Drain at Career DayContinue

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