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The Treasure Hunt Economy: exciting retail experience for small towns

By Small Biz Survival 2 Comments

Becky McCray and Jason Duff smile for the camera

Guest Post by Jason Duff, Small Nation I’ve been noticing something interesting happening across the small towns we work in, and I don’t think it’s temporary. In a time where inflation is still pinching wallets, customers aren’t just spending less, they’re shopping differently. They’re hunting. Not just for cheap, but for value, uniqueness, and the […]

April 10, 2026 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, shop local Tagged With: effective marketing, experience economy, guest post, marketing, retail, rural

Small town marketing secret: Have something to invite people to

By Becky McCray

Two musicians play guitar while seated on the sidewalk outside a brick storefront during a community event, with pedestrians stopped to listen and watch

People need a compelling reason to leave their homes and come experience your business with you. This feels like a very heavy lift. . You’re supposed to be exciting enough to pull people away from their phones, their families and the comfort of online shopping. You’re competing with everything else demanding their attention. Here’s the […]

February 24, 2026 Filed Under: big company, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, shop local, trends Tagged With: community development, effective marketing, entrepreneurship, marketing, non-retail, retail, service businesses, shop indie local, shop small, small business success

Use your loyalty card as your business card

By Becky McCray

A loyalty card from Millie Coffee

At the LaunchRuralOK Small Business Resource event in Alva, I overheard the owner of Millie Coffee from Fairview, Oklahoma, talking to a service provider she wanted to work with. She  apologized for not having business cards with her, then handed over her shop’s loyalty card instead. I looked over my shoulder and said out loud, […]

December 15, 2025 Filed Under: customer service, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural Tagged With: customer service, marketing, non-retail, retail, rural business, service businesses, small towns

Create customer experiences online like Open the Shop With Me videos, and in person, like Silent Book Club

By Becky McCray

A screenshot of the Common Ground Coffee and Market Instagram feed, showing four images, a group of people with valentine hearts, a group of staff members, one person facing the camera for an explainer video, and one video with text that says "open the shop with me"

When Kathleen Minogue of Crowdfund Better mentioned Common Ground Coffee and Market to me, I found their Instagram feed was full of stealable ideas for small business social media marketing. We first talked about how they let customers know about changes to their hours. They’re in Boise, Idaho, which I realize is not a small […]

March 23, 2025 Filed Under: community, customer service, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, trends Tagged With: branding, building a business, effective marketing, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, small business, small business success

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