Rural & Small Town Online Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses

More businesses than ever are launching in Rural and small town areas. To stand out, it's all about leveraging cost-effective digital marketing! We break down the top strategies like SEO, email, and social media that connect you with customers. Learn how to optimize existing efforts and launch targeted campaigns. With the right digital presence, your businesses can thrive in 2023.

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There are dozens of reasons why you should be using some kind of digital marketing to promote your business. Chances are you have some of these already, but maybe just need to optimize better. Here are just a few reasons I think stand out the most:

It’s Cost Effective –

If you’re looking to save money, then digital marketing is an excellent option. You can start by creating a stunning website, then start relevant social media accounts. Once you’ve established yourself online, you can consider options of paid advertising campaigns.

It’ll Help You Connect With Customers And Prospects –

One of the biggest benefits of digital marketing is that it helps you connect with people who might not otherwise find out about your company. This means that you can reach new customers and prospects, and build relationships with them from even farther away.

It‘s Flexible –

As mentioned, digital marketing is very versatile. You can choose how much you spend and when you spend it. You can also adjust your budget based on what works and what doesn’t. Having an  Agency like ours  work from the shadows can give your campaigns a jump-start.

If you’re not using digital marketing strategies, then you’re leaving money on the table. This means that there are plenty of opportunities for businesses to use digital marketing to improve their sales and profits.

As a Rural or Small Town business your best strategy is to keep it simple for profiles, but relevant. Stick with the Big 4 and work your way to more niche profiles. These backlinks will help you drive traffic and show Google you are who you say. (Big 4 - Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, & YouTube).

Did you know second in search volume to Google is YouTube?

If you're like me you've probably read a lot of great stuff that might work well in a city, but quickly learn it's just an attempt at an email swipe or an affiliate link. Of which..... I'm a sucker. But not everything was garbage.

As a marketer I paid good attention to the details, the flow, and the customer journey. Here are the TOP 5 Platforms & Technique's that work the best.

Online Reputation Management -

Nurture and grow all your reviews, good and bad. Use them to stand out above your competition. If your current customers are pleased they will stay, the new customers will feel this and also stay. Leading to more recurring revenue and a higher authority in the field.

We specialize in inbound marketing, we find that if you curate more to the client and their satisfaction, your outreach won't need to be as aggressive. And the best part is the ROI is huge. It only takes a minute to address and either thank or resolve an issue.

Many businesses don't have the time to keep up, we can help with this. Give us glance and see if  we can help.

Email Marketing -

Not the mass mailing kind you think, Targeted Personalized emails work better and get more credible leads.

Believe it or not this one is my most useful strategy, it works well for rural Montana Businesses. I personally build very specific lists, aimed to actual industries in very specific areas even. Being human in your outreach emails is sometimes more impressive than fancy HTML campaigns, so remember to make a human sounding email.

When you send a more simple text style email they have a higher likelihood of ending up in the inbox too. I like to use a basic footer, incorporating my links, review links, contact details and anything else relevant like such as a meeting link or maybe a little subtitle. Either way simple is safe.

But overall else, making the lists is your best weapon and increases your chances of being taken seriously. Check This article out for some easy tips on B2B email list building!

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) -

Use your content to help google bring them to your website or business. What do you do, where are you located? This one easily can get lost on most business owners, sadly many business owners only think of their eCommerce as an extension for their current customers or portfolio. When the fact is, your eCommerce has the ability to be used as a growth tool for your local economy by reaching more people and driving foot traffic back.

Having a good layout, using contextual headers (H1, H2, H3.......), and concise but clear descriptions not only help your customers, but are used by Google algorithms to rank your website for relevancy.

What do you want to Rank #1 for? What string of words would your customers naturally type into the search? Using your headers and even internal links will help EVERYONE understand who you are and what you do.

Want more insight on some recent SEO trends? - This great article on Google Trends & Statistics will help you understand how to optimize.

Social Media -

Profiles across platforms that are active will help bring your brand awareness up. And can bring new followers to sell to. It's a no-brainer.

Have you ever come across a viral shared post? Odds are you've giggled to one, hands down social media is a great tool. But here's the thing, it's not all about selling your product or services. You should be using it to create Brand Value, offer advice and insights, even give a humanizing view of your business persona.

Currently videos hold the share of votes for best tools, but starting simple with good advice will already give you an edge. It's a healthy balance.

A Well Designed Website -

Your website design can make or break a sale. A clean user friendly website using all the above digital marketing options in cohesion will encourage trust, drive loyalty, and help ensure continued sales. We can help! 

Think about this, If everyone has WordPress or Shopify how much harder will you have to work to stay ahead if you choose the same tool? Even worse if you're on Etsy, they will place competitors on your shop page.

We started building with WordPress a very long time ago, and since have left it behind. Most businesses don't have the budget to make their site a fair contender on a regional scale let alone national.

Which is exactly why we work with top of the line partners, when you get your hosting from a company like ours you get great hosting but you also get additional tools & a certified professional like myself tethered to you. Helping by getting your website perfect for every display. As well as providing valuable insight along the way with real local data.



If you stick with the above 5 strategies for the first little while or first few sales, you'll be poised to continue growing faster. Here in Montana especially, it's important to capitalize on powerful tools. NOT cheap, but not the shiny shiny...... a Swiss army knife scalable to suit a booming business with a real person to actually help you understand the metrics.