Gone are the days when sandwich boards and flyer postings were the mainstay of your advertising reach. Access to the internet and online marketing tools are your best friends when marketing your rural business.
You must connect with people, frequently and simply. It’s not as difficult nor as costly as you might think. There are lots of online tools for reaching your customers, many of which offer free basic options to get you started. You need to decide which ones will work for you and your customers.
Say Hello To Your New BFFs: Tools to Connect With Your Customers Online
It starts with a basic website, so let’s agree that you need a basic website so people can find your rural business or product online. Your website must now create interest and attract new customers to your business, wherever your location. This is the part where understanding content marketing comes in handy.
E-commerce, Electronic Commerce, It’s Purchasing Online - Helping Your Rural Business.
You’re in the business of selling a product or service. Once customers have decided to purchase that product or service, convinced by the benefit driven copy on your website, you’d like to help them pay for it quickly and conveniently. There are many options to help you add e-commerce to your business and reach consumers worldwide. Start your e-commerce solution search by defining your business needs. Plus, determine whether you have the technical skills to manage it or how much you can afford to pay someone else to manage it for you.
Free website building software, such as WordPress, offers plugins to provide simple PayPal payment buttons to your site. This is a simple, workable solution you can implement with limited skills to help when marketing your rural business.
Other E-commerce Solutions That Are Available:
- Etsy is a popular member based e-commerce tool for people selling handcrafted goods that lets you create your own merchandise pages, access support and payment options.
- Shopify lets you offer a sleek consumer experience with minimal development.
- Amazon, is a highly customizable option with a recognizable name but needs a higher skill level to maximize its use.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will get your Rural Business noticed first.
Any website content should be defined by keywords known as SEO to ensure your business ranks higher in the search hierarchy than non optimized sites. These words are unique to your business type, such as “handcrafted” and “wool sweaters”, not knitted shirts. Using these words limits your competition, those who may be vague in their content and miss out on SEO. It takes know-how to write SEO based copy, but the effort pays off in increased online profile to boost your sales.
Blog, even when you think you have nothing to say.
Good SEO writing is even more effective when the content stays fresh. Regular blogs enhance your business’s online reputation. Blogs can be quick notes about upcoming events or deals, business based opinion pieces, or comments on articles you’ve read relevant to your business. Try one. And remember, you know your business and consumers will be interested in what you have to say, and so will Google. Still think you don’t know what to write or have the time to do it? Content writers are available to write your blogs too.
Stay Rural and Be Social Online.
Marketing your rural business is so much easier with social media at your fingertips. The key is to use social media effectively for your business—it’s not the same as your personal use—and get the best return on your time and energy investment.
Let Your Success Boost Your Business.
Testimonials are success stories as told by your customers and often say what you want to better than you can. Plus, they come from people who are truly satisfied with your service or product whose feelings and needs reflect those of others seeking your service. A few words are enough to highlight one or more features of your business and how it benefited them.
Contact Tangible Words to help you better understand, plan for, write, or manage marketing your rural business so you get recognized and generate more sales.
Also see how Alysha Dominico, CEO and Founder of Tangible Words discussing being a rural business and what has helped Tangible Words grow as a rural company.
Find Out Who's Using Social Media & What Your Consumers Want To See Online
Did you know that by spending as little as six hours a week, 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits with social media. (Hubspot 2016). 
