Two small town guys, Scott Duehlmeier and Chris Brogan. Don’t check your accent at the door. Photo by Chris Brogan.

By Chris Brogan

I’m originally from Maine. Accents up there come through the nose. Most famously, people from Maine are supposed to say “Ayuh” when we mean “yes.” Midway through high school, I moved to Massachusetts, where you lose the nasal thing, but you also lose all “r’s” from conversation. “It’s hahd to sound smaht with a Boston accent.”

Like all people of a certain age and worldly intentions, I hid any trace of an accent in my professional life. Some people even guessed that I was from Canada. (I’ll take it!)

It Might Be Time to Drag Our Accents Back Out of Hiding

Listen, if you’ve heard Becky talk even once, you know she’s from Oklahoma. And unlike me, Becky has been proud of her accent every step of the way. She’s probably better suited for this next spin of the earth. Why? Because the world seems to be poised to want everything smaller again. At long last.

Small town and local purchases have been on the rise since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the one hand, that comes from necessity. On the other, it’s a concerted effort of people wanting to put their small town dollars back to work in the small town where they’re from to keep people in business and keep workers on the job.

Who you are and where you’re from just became a selling point again for the foreseeable future.

Putting the Folksy Back in Folks

Maybe the world got too big for a minute. Have you seen those stunning photos of how rivers and streams and even cities look so much more beautiful and crisp and clear now that cars have been parked in driveways for a few months? Sure, we need to get back to work. But do we need to fly all over creation? Do we need to take every trip we used to, just to get bigger and “better?” If we don’t need to drive to an office in the big city to work every day, where do we want to live?

Tourism is very hard hit during the pandemic. Being from Maine originally, people head up there in summer for seafood, and in fall to see the leaves. Boston is a pretty busy tourist attraction year round because of its ties to the American Revolution and its five professional sports teams. All that business is shut down now, but it won’t be forever. And what will people want when they come to visit? They’ll want a very genuine (completely fake but the way people want to remember it) experience.

Should You “Y’all” in Your Email Marketing?

Ah, the $44.93 question. Our accents and our quirks need to always be the condiment and not the meal. No one goes to a restaurant to order a plate of ketchup. You can slip a little phrase or two into your business communications, but if your writing ends up looking like a long lost script for the Beverly Hillbillies, maybe take it back a notch or two.

In the end, I say yes. People want us to be a bit more personable and regional. But sprinkle it on, don’t dump the bag on it all. Because as we’d say in Maine, you can’t get theya from heeya. (Which means about as little as it sounds like it does.)

Restarting Local Shopping

If you’re working on restarting people’s local shopping habits, take a gander at the new SaveYour.Town video called Restarting Local Shopping.

Answering customer questions is a great start, but there’s another level to the conversation. Photo by Becky McCray.

You know I’m a big fan of answering customer questions. That’s been part of my marketing advice for 10 years now.

• Should I blog for my small business? Yes, answer customer questions
• Talk less about you, more about them
• Top small business blogging questions answered

But there’s a deeper layer to serving your customers. It’s not just about the questions they would ask you. It’s about the questions that people ask your customers.

Help your customers answer
the questions that other people ask them.

This does involve thinking like your customer, maybe even talking to customers to learn more. When customers make any kind of purchase from you, what kind of questions might people ask them? And how can you help them answer?

A friend of mine is in the hunting business. One of the most common questions that people ask his customers is, “What happens to the meat?” So he wrote an email explaining how careful they are with the meat to be sure every scrap is usable and used. It’s the kind of story customers can hang onto.

If you’re a tax accountant, what questions might people ask your customers? Let’s brainstorm a few:

• How did you pick your accountant?
• What does an accountant even do for you?
• How do you afford an accountant?

Where should you publish these answers?

A customer email newsletter is the perfect tool for this. It’s personal. Customers can save your smart answers to refer back to, and they can forward them to others.

Another great place to post them is on your blog or website. Your potential customers might be searching for answers right now.

Want to see more examples? Just ask in the comments, and we’ll work on ideas together.

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