My neighbors in Fairview, Oklahoma, have an excellent store-front improvement contest going on. And you can copy it. CJ’s Country Store has a nice frontin downtown Fairview, Oklahoma They’re giving businesses plenty of time, the qualifying period is June 1, 2012 ‐ September 30, 2013. They’re making it worth merchants’ time. 1st Place: $5,000 2nd Place:…
Farming is an organic process of seasons and cycles, and so is marketing. In fact, I think marketers and business people have a lot to learn from farmers. On The Pulse on Marketing show, I shared some of these ideas. The “reaping rules” we talked about in the video were outlined in a guest post…
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one Nov 22-25, 2012. It’s Thanksgiving week in the U.S., so this is a great time to share some thankfulness. Have some good news this week? Put it in the Brag Basket. Basket photo (CC) by Janet…
Reader Micah Choquette asked on Twitter: @beckymccray any tips on finding business info and demographics for my town? Do ppl keep records like biz’s that opened/closed ths yr?— Micah Choquette (@meetmicah) November 14, 2012 This is a tough question, because most small towns lack this kind of basic economic data. Two online resources can help,…
Small Business Saturday is focusing more people’s attention on small businesses for holiday shopping. That’s good. But what does it mean? How can small town businesses benefit? What do we need to do? The bottom sticker is for SmallBusiness Saturday from 2011.Seen in Portland, Maine. Small Business Saturday is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Nov 24, 2012….
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one Nov 16-18, 2012. Have some good news this week? Put it in the Brag Basket. The basket maker keeps working. Photo (CC) by PhotosByDavid. Don’t hold back because of that word, “brag.” When you hold back,…
I’m always seeing new business ideas, so I bring them here to share. Maybe one of these will work from your small town: Service I need: someone to stock the fridge and have dinner on the stove when I get home from travel.— Amber Naslund (@AmberCadabra) October 27, 2012 Sounds like an interesting sideline for…
Investment Ready Places is a new description of small towns and mid sized cities, from the team at Street Sense: Atul Sharma, Kevin Lavelle and Joseph Nickol. Small towns and cities have lots of potential. Mid-tier towns and cities are our most dynamic urban settlements and have the largest untapped potential for fostering economic growth. They vary…
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