Marketing

Is Your Website Mobile-Friendly for Tourists?

January 2, 2010

Do you know how your website looks to travelers using mobile search to find places to visit ? Making our websites mobile friendly is a road we must travel down ourselves if we want tourists to find us easily.

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Mom and Pop Businesses Go Green

November 30, 2009

Among the many businesses going green are ‘mom and pop’ businesses that are starting up based on strong ecological beliefs and themes. The Minneapolis Daily describes a variety of business types aligning in an interesting article, ‘Businesses Join Green Movement‘. Whether businesses are searching for ways to be more sustainable, hoping to learn how to [...]

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Mom and Pop Businesses Using Twitter

May 26, 2009

Local ‘mom and pop’ businesses who are effectively using Twitter and other social media were singled out recently by blogger Grace Boyle on her blog, ‘Small Hands Big Ideas‘: “Call me a localvore (pertaining to not only food, but any local business). Coming from a small town I recognize the importance of the Mom and [...]

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Collaborative Marketing Among Seasonal Rural Businesses

May 25, 2009

Collaborative Marketing on a seasonal basis can bring success to all rural businesses involved. The Red Rooster Route is a marketing partnership of six local family farms that have banded together to create a new self-guided farm tour, offering adventures ranging from picking your own summer berries and vegetables, to learning about naturally grown foods. [...]

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Farm Visitors are Loyal Customers

March 12, 2009

In Loyalty Programs Engage Our Best Customers AgriMarketing consultant Jane Eckert discusses how farms can use special programs and coupons to reward loyal customers. Jane quotes recent survey data that finds customers who are part of loyalty programs not only buy more, but are 70% more likely to promote you through word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. You [...]

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Multiple Streams of Income in Small Towns

March 11, 2009

This past weekend, my husband and I were out for a drive on our local country back roads and passed through several nearby small towns. We were struck by the signage on many stores, where we saw not one business, but listings of multiple services and businesses within the same four walls. Our feeling was [...]

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Coupons, e-Coupons and More

March 10, 2009

Everybody likes to save money, and in today’s economy that’s more true for your customers than ever before. Coupons don’t have to mean you make less money. In fact, you can offer coupons on specific products that aren’t selling and you need to move, or offer them during slower seasons of the year. Coupons can [...]

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What Is The Future of Business Cards?

February 20, 2009

What is the future of business cards? I was looking at various items I need to reprint this Spring, and my business card is one of them. I’m always amazed at print prices and how they continue to come down from years past, even just from last Fall. That’s definitely not a complaint. The color [...]

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Telling Your Own Business Stories

February 16, 2009

Whether you’re speaking to customers, your employees or the local Rotary Club, odds are you’ve got stories to tell. Not tall tales, untrue and uninteresting. But stories that can inspire, influence, motivate and even turn negative situations around. Stories are often more memorable and more effective than just facts or directives. What are some of [...]

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Collaborative Marketing with Artistic Flair

February 15, 2009

The artwork pictured here to the left is ‘Marsha’s View,’ an original pastel painting by artist Kay Gordon of Marshall, North Carolina. In recent weeks I’ve featured collaborative marketing partnerships among those in crafts. In Collaborative Marketing for Rural Small Business I introduced the idea of increasing your power to pull visitors to out-of-the-way rural [...]