Library

:. Administration
:. Community Development
:. Consulting
:. General Skills
:. Marketing
:. Retail


::. Administration

An eye catching sign is a useful tool in attracting customers to your store. Once a customer decides to enter, a successful layout will entice the customer to explore more areas of the store. Part of designing a successful layout involves effectively creating and placing signs throughout the store. A store’s signage will help the customer identify areas of interest. The longer a customer spends shopping, the more money will likely be spent by that customer. Thus, a store’s signage and layout are key aspects of boosting sales.


::. Community Development

21

Athens, Texas was doing well. They had a fairly diversified manufacturing base that was generating good quality, higher paying jobs. Not bad for a historically agricultural community of just over 11,000 in the rolling hills of Northeast Texas. Then a key business was bought out and moved away, setting in motion a domino effect of lost business among Athens' medical manufacturing base. Athens Economic Development Corporation owned a building that was vacated after a tenet invested more than a million dollars in the facility. Athens had a unique facility, a well educated workforce and a strong desire to regain and keep control of its economic destiny. Out of adversity Athens found inspiration and with the help of good friends at the local, state and national level, Athens EDC has brought about a wave of change that today has Athens sitting atop a quiet powerhouse for medical device development that is creating jobs and businesses alike.


::. Consulting

4

Given budget constraints and limited personnel resources, few strategies can provide better return on your marketing investment than a strong web presence. Here we outline those items that, based on our experience, seem to be of particular importance to our small business and community customers as they develop their web presence.

5

Your prospect customers are ever more relying on search portals (like Google and Yahoo!) to navigate the internet and to conduct research prior to making a purchase – this trend accentuates the importance of considering search based advertising as one, and maybe the most important, of your marketing venues. In this article we explain the basics of search positioning and offer tips for improving your position in search results.

6

In small, rural and/or underserved communities there is often an over abundance of challenges. As economic developers, you’recharged with turning those challenges into opportunities and making things happen. In this article we present four basic steps to follow in approaching your economic development plan and implementation.

7

Many communities are turning to tourism as a strategy for economic development. Experiential tourism in particular, including natural, historical, cultural and recreational activities, can help diversify a community’s economy while enhancing the region’s vitality and quality of life. Achieving and sustaining your full tourism potential requires innovative and effective tourism development strategies, committed leadership and diligence on the part of the entire development team. Here we summarize four keys to a successful tourism development program and present the steps to following as you plan and execute.


::. General Skills

Federal funding can make the difference between a great economic development idea that never happens, and a successful project. Unfortunately, not everyone who has a great idea to help build a better community knows the steps it takes to secure a federal partnership. This articles aims to provide background on the basics for seeking federal support.


::. Marketing

It is hard to imagine anyone busier than a small business owner. This is often a key reason that more time and energy is not spent on Marketing. The good news is that a small business owner can develop a marketing plan with little or no budget and experience significant returns. Before developing a marketing plan, it is important to: determine if a marketing plan is necessary for your business, clearly define your business and target market, and determine what messages you want to convey.

29

An eye catching sign is a useful tool in attracting customers to your store. Once a customer decides to enter, a successful layout will entice the customer to explore more areas of the store. Part of designing a successful layout involves effectively creating and placing signs throughout the store. A store’s signage will help the customer identify areas of interest. The longer a customer spends shopping, the more money will likely be spent by that customer. Thus, a store’s signage and layout are key aspects of boosting sales.


::. Retail

No matter how small your store, you need at least one part-time employee on your staff. For a small store, it can be tempting to try to cut your store’s expenses by not hiring any employees. Once you hire an employee, you have an obligation to pay them no matter what happens to your store’s sales. In order to minimize your risk, try to hire someone who is willing to work 10-30 hours a week depending on business. Once you have hired someone, carefully plan that employee’s training to ensure the long term success of your business.

Employees are key to the success of any business, that’s especially true for the retail business where employees shape the shopper experience and have a direct impact on sales. Once you’ve invested time and effort into training an employee, you naturally want to hang on to her but for small businesses with limited payroll dollars, this may seem especially challenging. The good news is, people choose to stay on the job for reasons much more meaningful than money. Employers can both retain and attract good employees by offering them an opportunity to make a difference, feel a sense of ownership and simply enjoy their work environment. Here, we present some tips for keeping good employees.

The primary goal of a retail shop should be to create the most comfortable shopping experience possible. By focusing on the customer, the revenues will follow. In order to maximize the revenues from each customer, you must pay careful attention to the details in your store.

A small retail store cannot realistically compete with large retailers based on price, but it can compete based on customer service and the experience it offers. The good news for smaller stores is that customer satisfaction plays the largest role in determining whether or not a customer will purchase from a given store. The greatest determinant of customer satisfaction is the level of customer service and the key to providing exceptional customer service is knowing what your customers want – that requires research. The following are three techniques to conduct highly useful, albeit less scientific, market research on a very limited budget.