With the rise of remote work, more people move to small towns even temporarily to work remotely. Small town businesses have the opportunity to tap remote workers as new customers.

Why remote workers are hard to market to

New residents who work remotely can be hard to find: they aren’t all working at the same place, and because they may see themselves as only temporary residents, they may not participate in the traditional events or organizations in the community.

Here are some suggestions to connect with them:

1. Partner With Other Businesses

One of the best ways to reach remote workers is to partner with other businesses that cater to them. Co-working spaces provide a place for remote workers to network, socialize, and work collaboratively. By partnering with a co-working space, businesses can host events, offer discounts or promotions, or simply use the space as a way to meet and network with remote workers.

Similarly, apartment owners and real estate agents can be great partners for small businesses looking to reach new residents or attract remote workers to their communities. Don’t forget about AirBNB hosts. Many remote workers are transient, and they may be looking for short-term housing while they explore new communities.

An informal co-working event like Jelly can help welcome remote workers to your community. Photo CC by Sheila Scarborough

2. Welcome Remote Workers to Your Community

Small businesses can also market to remote workers by welcoming them to their local communities.

Hosting events, workshops or meetups can be a great way to connect with remote workers and show them what your community has to offer. By providing a welcoming and inclusive environment, small businesses can build relationships with remote workers and foster loyalty.

Participating in existing community events and festivals is also smart. Remote workers often look to local events for chances to socialize and be part of their temporary or newly-full time residence. Small town businesses should already be participating in local events to reach locals and tourists!

3. Be online and market online

Having a social media presence on at least one channel is essential for small businesses looking to reach remote workers. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are all great platforms for connecting with potential customers.

Email marketing is also an effective way to stay connected with remote workers. By collecting email addresses through in-store sign-ups or online forms, small businesses can keep remote workers updated on events, promotions, and new products or services.

Want to recruit remote workers to live in your town?

The 3 major factors are incentives, flexible workspaces, and a sense of community.

And here’s how to recruit new residents, remote workers, or remote entrepreneurs by figuring out what makes your town attractive.

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Todd Holder rings up our soaps and lotions. Photo by Becky McCray.

Successful small businesses depend on customers who return.

Such customers form your core audience. They buy regularly and as research notes, they buy more than the more casual customer or the one-time customer. Yes, their regular purchase may be less but, over time, they are your stars.

Second, your returning customers are most likely be your ambassadors. They spread the word about you, your business, and the goods and services you offer. Such voluntary endorsements are some of the greatest marketing you can have. It is trusted and relied upon even though we may not know the people providing the comments.

So how can you develop such a relationship with your customers?

It obviously begins with offering products and services that customers want and doing do at a reasonable price. Notice I don’t say it must be the cheapest price, just reasonable. Customers will pay more for quality and service.

A good deal and good service are very important but there are other aspects of the customer-relation process that will encourage someone to return.

Customers appreciate it when you know them by name and when you know what they like. I have a favorite coffee shop where, unless I tell them otherwise, they know my drink of choice.

One think that upsets your long-standing customer is if they feel you just “nickel and dime” them to death. Set your price and avoid the add-ons. If something small comes up that would be a small additional charge, it may be in your best interest to forego it. This is a fine line as you also can give away the business if you aren’t careful.

These customers are also ones who you can encourage with customer loyalty programs.

Finally, remember that every employee in your organization plays a role in developing these customers. You can do everything perfect but one staff member can tear it all down quickly.

Valued customers are key to your small-business success. Take the time and the steps you develop these ambassadors of your business.

Photo (CC) Justin Grimes, on Flickr

Read anything offering marketing tips and you will be encouraged to learn who your customers are. You want to understand the demographic make-up as well as their likes and dislikes and, of course, what they buy.

Yet, so often that is the end of the effort.

Getting the data can be done with registration information, sales receipts, and even contest applications. You can also ask simple questions, “how can I help you?” or “did you find what you wanted?” It may also come from asking what they like about shopping in your store. And then there are short surveys, a comment box, online engagement polls, etc.

So getting the data is not usually the problem.

Yet, how often do we take the time to dig into the data and look for clues to help us run our business. Do you analyze what it means and then make changes on what you found. And do you remember to thank the customer and tell them what has been done because of their help. (I must take a moment of self-confession. I don’t do any of this as much as I should. Time to up my game.)

In my case, doing this blog allows a number of data points to be collected. One such effort is just looking at the number of people who engage with a blog post.

So I decided to look back on my 2016 blog posts for Small Business Survival. For this first effort, I simply wanted to find my top two posts based on the number of people who commented on them. Engagement could have also been likes but I felt people who commented where especially interested in the topic.

The results were:

1. Your Small Business Needs a Sign – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2016/07/your-small-business-needs-a-sign.html
2. Information Helps Your Small Business Succeed – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2016/06/information-helps-your-small-business-startup-succeed.html

This simple look at the data reinforces survey information that I first gathered in 1996 and at several other points in time. At a broad-brush level, marketing and startup information seem to be of greater interest.

If you look at the second article though, maybe the issue is more of a time management question. It’s important to go deeper than what a quick overview might suggest. This might be a time where additional information is needed – Is it time management that is the issue or do you have some specific startup questions or is it both?

Bottom line, data can move your business forward if (1) you take the time to analyze it; and (2) you act on what you heard.

Thanks for your blog comments, likes, and interactions. They help us focus on what you need. Keep them coming.

My local pharmacy delivers every day.. Photo of Holder Drug by Becky McCray.

Your customers are your business. Connecting with them means success or failure.

How well does your business do in terms of connecting? You won’t find many answers in this column, but you will find lots of questions you need to think about.

How do you connect with your customers?

I suspect many of you have a phone at your business. Do you publish the number? I know businesses that don’t.

And when you or one of your employees answers the phone, what do you say? What is your tone of voice? Do you ask what the person is calling about?

How long does the phone ring before someone answers? And how quickly are transfers made? What about phone messages? How quickly are they returned? Think in terms of hours, not days.

Then you have the people who walk into your store. Are they greeted, and if so, how? How long are they in the store before the greeting occurs? And how many employees might they pass before someone asks if they need some help?

How about when people leave: Are they thanked for stopping? Do you encourage them to come back again or ask if they found what they wanted? Do you go as far as suggesting where they might find what they are looking for? (I am reminded of that each Christmas season when watching “Miracle on 34th Street.”)

Today you also have to think about how you are connecting online with your customer.

I won’t even ask if you have a website but instead ask how easily people can find your business contact information on your website. Make it visible and on every page. What about a comment/question box right on the website?

Besides the standard information on your website, offer email addresses, driving directions and maps.

Remember that your online audience probably isn’t who you think it is. You may assume it is the “younger” generation. It is, and that group rapidly is becoming the largest spending segment. But every age group is doing online activities, with those 60 and older the fastest growing segment.

In terms of email, how quickly do you respond? You should be responding in no more than four hours.

Finally, don’t forget the online social media channels. You have two issues here. In the first scenario, your business doesn’t have any social media channels. While I might encourage a business to have a channel, you certainly have reasons – time being a big one – for not having such an online presence.

Even if you don’t have a channel, that doesn’t mean your business isn’t being mentioned in social media. So you want to be there to answer questions, thank those who offer positive remarks and respond to negative criticism.

And while you are reviewing what is being said about your business on social media, don’t forget to monitor online review sites for comments as well.

If you do maintain one or more social media channels, the preferred response time is an hour or less in most cases.

Connecting with your customers is crucial. To do it well, remember all the options, practice and train on the methods, and ask your customers how you are doing.

Photo (CC) Justin Grimes, on Flickr

A lot has been written about how market research will help you achieve business success, and many of these claims are true.

That connection, however, is not a simple, direct link. Collecting information about your potential market is useful only if you take the next step of analyzing the data.

Data analysis yields clues about who your customers are, what they are buying and problems they face. It provides you with an insight of the benefits they are seeking.

Data analysis begins before you even start collecting the information. Thinking about the questions you want answered. This guides the data you need to collect. Remember to start with data you already may have:

• Customer lists – Do the lists answer how much customers spend, when they buy and what they buy?
• Effectiveness of your marketing – Are your customers responding to your marketing and advertising efforts? If so, what efforts are working best?

Your local chamber of commerce or economic development office will also have information about the trade area and the people who live there.

You also can get information from third-party sources. Trade journals, news magazines and papers, plus writers you find online or in books, often share information about your target market.

Finally, vast amounts of data are available for free from the state and federal government. Here in North Dakota, you might check out ND Compass and the U.S. Census Bureau. Both of these are adding tools to make data analysis easier for anyone.

After having examine the information available, then look for the gaps. Make plans to fill those gaps.

Tools to help collect such information include surveys (paper, oral or electronic); contests structured to provide feedback information; checkout data, such as asking a question or two as a person is checking out; and customer feedback. Data also can come from observation, interviews or simple testing. Data collection can be done one-on-one, in a group or through the mail.

But to this point, your data is just numbers and words. The return for your effort comes from making sense of the information. You can use in-depth statistical packages or textual analysis software. Many business owners start by putting numbers into a spreadsheet and looking at frequencies, charts and graphs. The idea is to see if any trends emerge. The same goes for textual information.

Having others look at your initial findings is helpful. This is a good time to have your mentors and advisers review the information and have some frank conversations about what everyone is seeing. Different interpretations will emerge, giving you greater insight. If you can supplement the numbers with customer conversations, then your analysis will yield even more.

It sounds complicated, but it’s really not. Start simple and build your skills and your database. You don’t have to collect everything at once.

When doing market research, balance what you need with the cost and time required to get it. Don’t forget to take into account your customers’ perspective, how much time are they willing to give and what information might they want to keep private.

Building your business means knowing your customers. Good market research can help you know your customers, so start your effort today.