A reader asked me about outside food trucks invading a town of about 2,500 people. It’s a good question, and I’m glad to have a chance to share it with you. I am having a hard time in our small town with food trucks wanting to set up for a couple days of the week? I…
Some marketing tools are good. Others are great. Typically a great marketing tool is having others talking about your business. Not paid ads but your own brand ambassadors telling your story. What makes it effective? It is part of our nature to trust other people. That is why reviews on your home page or posted…
How to Wow the Big Town Farmer’s Markets, even if you’re not a farmer Guest Post by H. E. James Small town businesses like yours can often be limited in audience and market. Depending on how isolated your community is, it can be difficult to do business outside the community without simply going online. E-commerce…
Practically all of the guest blogs I write for Small Business Survival focus on tips to enhance the management or operational aspects of your business. This post, however, goes down a new road. I would love your thoughts on what you consider acceptable ratings, both as a consumer and as a business owner, when viewing customer…
Julie from the U.P. of Michigan has a question that I thought you all would also be interested in: We are looking to collect data from travelers to our area this summer season. In particular, we are interested in WHERE our tourists are coming from, so zip code would be really helpful. A lot…
How do your customers feel about the opportunity to access your company online? This may be to find information, search for products or services, make a purchase, ask a question, discuss a problem, find more information, get store hours, or determine where you are located. Have you ever thought about this question? Or perhaps you…
…but I was busy serving the people who are innovating in rural places today. That’s not actually true. I did read your article. And I shook my head through the whole thing. And I set aside being busy long enough to write down a few thoughts in response. You went with the “this town is…
Businesses in small towns don’t work together very well. That was one of the top findings in our Survey of Rural Challenges. Survey answers included a lot of examples of this inability to cooperate: “Many of our merchants won’t participate in group promos.” “Businesses don’t cooperate with each other!” “The ‘competiveness’ of small town…
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