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

By Becky McCray

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

  If you have a retail store in a small town, you know how difficult it can be to attract customers in the door. With so much online competition and limited resources, it is hard to get people in the store and buying your products. In this article, we’ll share some of our best ways […]

February 19, 2023 Filed Under: Best of, marketing, rural, shop local Tagged With: effective marketing, entrepreneurship, retail, shop indie local, shop local, shop small, small business, small business success, store

Local reviews on Google Maps drive enduring value

By Becky McCray

Screenshot of Google's Marketing Kit for local businesses. Text says, "Free stickers, posters, social posts, and more from your Business Profile on Google". Graphic shows a sticker that says, "review us on Google"

While they were pointing out HipCamp to us, our friends at Marketing Delmarva also brought up the enduring power of Google Local reviews and photos. (I added the bold for emphasis.) If you love a local place, put it on Google. Following our first pick-your-own experience at said blueberry world, while sitting in the car in […]

December 17, 2022 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, tourism Tagged With: effective marketing, entrepreneurship, Google local, Google maps, marketing, reviews, service businesses, shop local, shop small, small business

How cooperatives improve small town economies

By Becky McCray

Signboard on a sidewalk says, "Oneota Co-op, a community owned grocery featuring local, whole and organic foods

Cooperatives can play a big role in small towns, providing products and services to fill gaps as well as giving local people a share of ownership. Rural cooperatives go way back Rural areas have a long history with cooperatives through cooperative telephone service, electricity, and agriculture. My husband is a member of the Alva Farmers […]

May 8, 2022 Filed Under: community, economic development, entrepreneurship, rural Tagged With: business formation, business structure, co-ops, cooperatives, small business

New business sign design? Don’t use cursive script

By Becky McCray

A grocery store building entrance with a sign that says "Alva's Market"

Fewer and fewer kids learn to read and write in cursive, so it’s time to stop ordering business signs with cursive or script lettering. You might have seen the memes and jokes. Someday all us old people will use cursive as secret code. But you might not have thought about how this applies to your […]

February 14, 2022 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, trends Tagged With: outdoor advertising, signage, small business

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