• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Understanding Marketing vs. Branding

By Glenn Muske

Branding iron

Understanding what is small business marketing and what is branding is sometimes difficult. Often the concept of branding is collapsed into having a good business name, a logo and a specific color pallet used when identifying the business Marketing, on the other hand, often is equated to advertising only. These perceptions are correct but incomplete. […]

August 17, 2016 Filed Under: marketing, rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: branding, effective marketing, entrepreneurship, management, marketing, small business

Connecting With Your Customer

By Glenn Muske

Your customers are your business. Connecting with them means success or failure. How well does your business do in terms of connecting? You won’t find many answers in this column, but you will find lots of questions you need to think about. How do you connect with your customers? I suspect many of you have […]

July 6, 2016 Filed Under: rural, Small Biz 100, success Tagged With: customer satisfaction, customer service, customers, engagement, entrepreneurship, good management practices, management, retaining customers, small business

Information Helps Your Small-Business Startup Succeed

By Glenn Muske

Starting a business is a risky adventure. One in five will not make it through the first year and less than 40 percent, and some studies show less than 20%, will still be in business five years later. So why do people try? Because being your own boss and running your own business for many […]

June 15, 2016 Filed Under: rural, Small Biz 100, success Tagged With: effective management, entrepreneurship, good management practices, management, small business, success

Online Reviews and Your Online Presence

By Glenn Muske

You are new in town. How do you find your service professionals? This includes everyone from your doctor and dentist to your plumber and electrician. Once upon a time, we would ask the people we work with and our neighbors and friends. Today we go online. At this point, I suspect some of you are […]

June 8, 2016 Filed Under: rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: effective management practices, entrepreneurship, management, marketing, online, online reviews, reviews, small business

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local"Move Your Money, bank local, invest localMulticolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

A few people shopping in an attractive retail store in refurbished downtown building.

TREND 2025: Retail’s Big Split: what small town retailers can do now

99% of the best things you can do for your town don’t require anyone’s permission

Three kids in a canoe

Get started as an outdoor outfitter without breaking the bank

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2025 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in