Marketing

Just One Little Mistake

February 13, 2009

In yesterday’s post I discussed that the different customer groups a small business serves, seem to influence whether or not it has a website. If it’s a tourist business or one that hopes to attract visitors, that business is more likely to have a website or blog. If their business focuses on local customers, they [...]

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Everybody Already Knows

February 12, 2009

Last week, I mentioned a blog that asked why more small and rural businesses didn’t have blogs, and I started wondering the same thing myself. Then this week, I also saw the results of a national survey commissioned by Microsoft Office Live Small Business and Elance Inc. Fewer than half of the small-business owners interviewed [...]

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Handmade Collaborative Marketing

February 5, 2009

Here’s another example of collaborative marketing, this time among a community of sellers on Etsy, a popular site for handmade art and crafts. Last week I featured two collaborative marketing efforts among potters. To provide a support system for its individual sellers, Etsy has created Teams. Etsy Teams are groups of Etsy artist members who [...]

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What’s In YOUR Press Kit?

February 2, 2009

Many small business owners believe they don’t need a press kit – that because of their small size or rural location, they won’t be asked to provide facts about themselves and their business. You always have a choice. You can write the story of your business and describe your products yourself, the way you would [...]

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The Personal Touch: Your Business Portfolio

February 1, 2009

In doing research today on marketing for rural businesses, I came across a surprising article. The article is called ‘Using A Portfolio: How To Market Your Business By Hand,’ and discusses the old-fashioned art – or should I say never out of fashion art – of putting together a physical folder or portfolio as a [...]

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Collaborative Marketing for Rural Business

January 27, 2009

How can you draw more visitors to your business when you’re in a remote rural location? Increase your pulling power. Join with other similar rural businesses and promote yourselves as a group. Instead of just one rural business located ‘way out in nowhere,’ you can become a destination worthy of a planned day trip. Collaborative [...]

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Rural Business The Way Google Sees It

January 19, 2009

This weekend a customer mentioned how lucky I was that Google ranked our business so high in its listings. She said she typed in ‘handmade soap North Carolina’ as the search terms and we came up ‘Number 1’ on Google. Of course I was happy that our customer was able to find us so easily! [...]

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Rural Business Marketing for Farmers

January 6, 2009

The North American Famers’ Direct Marketing Association will be having their 2009 convention right down the road from me in Historic Savannah, Georgia February 1 – 7! Click here to visit the 2009 Convention website. North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) is a trade association dedicated to nurturing the farm direct marketing industry. Its actions [...]

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Create a Rural Chamber of Commerce

January 5, 2009

Even in a rural country location, rural businesses can be quite diverse, having little in common except the residents that live in the area. But what about the beautiful scenery, wildflowers, wildlife and heritage they share? A cluster of businesses could join together and promote the resources they have in common to the traveling public. [...]