The benefits of opening a business in a big city are obvious. There are more people, which means more potential customers; the infrastructure is better so moving goods is easier and there are plenty of other businesses around if you need to outsource. If you are trying to run a business in a small town rather than a big city, you’ll lose a lot of those benefits. That doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to make it a success, but it might be more difficult. Your approach to business needs to be different, you can’t just scale down a business plan that works in a heavily populated area. If you’re struggling to get your small town business off the ground, you might need to change the way that you do things.
Use The Community
One of the major differences between big cities and small towns is the community that exists there. People are more likely to know one another and take pride in their community. You can use this to your advantage in a number of ways.
Firstly, the power of word of mouth is going to be much greater. People will talk to each other a lot more and if they have a good experience with your business, they will tell their friends. This is going to be the main way that you attract new customers. With that in mind, you should focus less on expensive marketing campaigns and put more of your energy into customer service. In a small town, people are more likely to be swayed by the opinion of their neighbors than a flashy marketing campaign. If you make sure that your customer service is second to none, you’ll see a surge in sales.
You should also make sure that you are an active part of the community. Potential customers will prefer to deal with somebody that they know and trust. Using some of your revenue to put something back into the community and support the town will make your business incredibly popular and people will be more likely to come to you.
Work Remotely
New technology means that working in a small town doesn’t necessarily mean that you are cut off from the rest of the world anymore. Your choice of employees will be limited if you stick to the local area, but there’s no need to do that. Employ people from around the country and have them work remotely.
IT solutions are also going to be a problem as it’s unlikely that there will be a lot of tech companies in a small town. Look at places like http://www.myit.com/ that can offer over the phone advice and remote solutions so you can ensure you get the best company, rather than settling for whichever one is closest.
Check Local Regulations
Small towns are often reluctant to embrace change and so local regulations might not be as up to date as the ones that you find in larger cities. The local authorities will be slower to adapt to an ever-changing business climate so things that are easy elsewhere might be difficult here. Before you do anything, make sure you are familiar with all of the regulations otherwise you may end up accidentally breaking laws.
