Marketing includes communications and media, advertising, image development, niche development, events, promotions, social media, and e-commerce.
Educational objectives include: learning how data can be used in a market analysis to guide downtown decision making, analyzing community data from ESRI Business Analyst and other sources, learning how to find additional data sources for downtown benchmarking and evaluation, and learning how to effectively collect data that is not otherwise available (surveys, focus groups, and other primary research).
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It is the small community that brings its residents, often defined by school district boundaries, together through commerce, education, and a sense of personal identity. It is this dichotomy that prompted further examination of the topic and the research question: “Can Small Towns Be Cool?”
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This toolbox contains tools that Main Street executive directors and volunteers can use to assist downtown businesses, carry out downtown improvement projects, provide information for residents and visitors and run their own organizations effectively.
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eTailing is effective in helping small niche-market businesses reach an audience that was once difficult to find or only gathered on rare occasions. Through eTailing – Taking Charge of Your Online Presence, small business owners can expand their geographical reach. Today, the marketplace for any business can be global in scope.
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SBDCs help entrepreneurs realize the dream of business ownership and help existing businesses remain competitive in a complex, ever-changing global marketplace. They are generally affiliated with a University outreach or Extension service.
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The Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs is a clearinghouse for information on rural issues, coordinates rural research, and works with state agencies on issues of importance to rural communities.
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This manual is designed to help small town revitalization efforts. Building on several basic principles, the manual provides small Pennsylvania communities with a menu of low-cost tools and strategies that they can adopt as they try to revitalize their central business districts.
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This publication includes stories about planning and implementing economic development strategies in 45 small towns with populations of fewer than 10,000 residents.
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The market analysis toolbox helps you study downtown business and real estate development opportunities in an era of large format stores and online shopping.
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