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Small Biz Survival

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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Book review: Celebrity CEO by Ramon Ray
    entrepreneurship | marketing

    Book review: Celebrity CEO by Ramon Ray

    ByBecky McCray May 6, 2019April 29, 2019

    The Celebrity CEO by Ramon Ray Summary: Community building in a way small town entrepreneurs can identify with. Good section on tools, and lots of timeless techniques.  The title sounds a bit grandiose to small town ears, but the way Ramon Ray talks about building community will sound very familiar. You are the face of…

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  • women using laptops
    customer service | entrepreneurship | marketing | mistakes | rural

    The secret to effective follow up: What NOT to say

    ByBecky McCray April 15, 2019April 11, 2019

    You probably know better than to follow up with someone like this: “Just following up!” You realize that doesn’t really help either of you. But you still might be making this mistake: “Did you do that thing you said you were going to do?” That feels like it’s helping, but from the customer perspective, it’s…

    Read More The secret to effective follow up: What NOT to sayContinue

  • Know your customers: What do they want to be good at?
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural

    Know your customers: What do they want to be good at?

    ByBecky McCray March 25, 2019March 23, 2019

      A few weeks ago, we talked about knowing your customers in order to help them answer questions they get asked. This week, get to know your customers better by thinking through what they want to be good at. What do your customers want to be good at? You help customers all the time. The…

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  • marketing | rural | Small Biz 100 | success

    Balance Your Marketing Presence

    ByGlenn Muske February 28, 2018February 26, 2018

    To many business owners, marketing feels like a numbers game. Too little and no one knows you exist. Too much and your potential customer feels bombarded. So business owners are forced to look for balance in their marketing. Yet balance is not something that can be readily achieved. It begins with knowing your customer base….

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  • marketing | Small Biz 100 | social media | success

    The TRUTH About No-Cost Marketing

    ByGlenn Muske February 21, 2018February 20, 2018

    You’ve seen the stories, “Build Your Business with No-Cost Marketing.” This headline has been used many times, most recently when talking about social media. We want such things to be true. Yet, we also know the reality – there is a cost to everything. It may not be a cost in dollars, but instead, it…

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  • marketing | Small Biz 100 | success

    Marketing Requires Balance

    ByGlenn Muske January 31, 2018January 24, 2018

    As you review articles for help with your small-business marketing, you may notice that many of them focus on a single strategy or method. The reality is that a good marketing plan has balance. Often today the strategy is online marketing or, getting more specific, social media marketing. Video marketing is also quite popular. These…

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  • marketing | rural | Small Biz 100 | success

    Getting Your Marketing Message Seen

    ByGlenn Muske December 13, 2017December 6, 2017

    The numbers are daunting. Every 60 seconds, 347,000 tweets are shared. 510,000 Facebook comments are made. 5,100 Instagram photos are liked. 48 hours of video are uploaded on YouTube. Now add information we get from other online information sources such as email, blogs and websites. Then there is what might be called the traditional sources…

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  • rural | shop local | Small Biz 100 | success

    Keep Doing Things That Worked

    ByGlenn Muske December 6, 2017December 6, 2017

    Small Business Saturday has come and gone. What worked? What did you do? And what do you wish you would have done? Now is the time to answer those questions. Yes, I know that for many of you it is also the holiday shopping season and you have just run the gauntlet of getting the…

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