Rural Small Business

Rural Business Weekly News – March 14, 2009

March 14, 2009

Here are a few interesting blogs and online articles published this week that relate to Rural Small Business, ending March 14, 2009: With all the talk about tough times these days, it’s interesting to note what products are doing well, and what some small rural towns and business owners are doing to keep things going. [...]

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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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Rural Business Weekly News – March 7, 2009

March 7, 2009

Here are a few interesting blogs and online articles published this week that relate to Rural Small Business, ending March 7, 2009: I’m struck by the theme I see among so many of this week’s news stories. They seem to all be about – Values Clarification. Our economic worries are prompting many of us to [...]

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Fun Can Mean Business for Rural Business

March 6, 2009

Have you given any thought to how attracting tourists to your area could help your business? The Palm Springs, California Bureau of Tourism did, and decided to market to college students traveling during spring break, using social media. You can take a look here to read four perspectives on what small business owners thought and [...]

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Luring Last Minute Travelers to Rural America

March 5, 2009

It seems that all of us in rural America are going to have to work a little harder this year to attract tourists and other regional visitors to our businesses. Apparently, state tourism and commerce agencies are finding it quite a challenge to get travelers to go out for an occasional night on the town, [...]

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Climate Change in Appalachia

March 3, 2009

As some of you may already know, my handmade craft business is very much seasonal and tourist-based, particularly from May through October when travel on the Blue Ridge Parkway is heaviest. For those of us with tourism businesses, nature and our mountain climate can be our best friends ….or our adversaries. We watch our regional [...]

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Rural Business Weekly News – February 28, 2009

February 28, 2009

Here are a few interesting blogs and online articles published this week that relate to Rural Small Business, ending February 28, 2009: The statistics this week describe huge job losses in rural America. From December 2007 through November 2008, rural counties throughout the country lost a total of 15,000 jobs. But in December 2008 alone, [...]

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