Rural Marketing Ideas

• Successful rural marketing uses a combination of traditional and online methods. Thomas Barwick/Lifesize/Getty Images

  Marketing in rural areas poses unique challenges but can bring great rewards. Unlike cities, where the concentration of people and media creates a climate in which marketing thrives and adapts to changing circumstances, rural areas comprise relatively isolated consumers accustomed to more traditional forms of marketing such as advertisements send by postal mail. A successful rural marketing campaign consists of a combination of innovative and tested methods.

Using the Internet

• Marketing on the web has grown exponentially along with the number of online households. According to eMarketer, spending on online advertising in the United States reached $22.7 billion in 2009, with a projected growth to $36.3 billion by 2014. For rural companies to market online, they first need a website that contains information about their product or service (contact, address, hours, description).

  Next, they need to "go local." Adding your company's information to online phone and address listings makes it more likely that customers will find you through search engines. Rural businesses can use search engine optimization techniques that target geographical keywords to increase their visibility on search engines. Geographic keywords can include the names of a town, county, region and relevant landmarks.

Using Signs

• Anybody who has ever driven through an unfamiliar place knows that a sign pointing to a hotel, restaurant or gas station can come as a relief. In rural areas, often invisibility is the greatest obstacle to a successful business. A well-placed and well-lighted sign or billboard can direct people to your business. Smart signs not only provide essential information, they grab attention, tell a story and promise to satisfy a need.

Remembering Print

• Not everybody uses the Internet to find local businesses. Some prefer to clip promotions from newspapers rather than print them out from an email or website. In rural areas, print marketing can be very effective in spreading the word through a small community. Print ads can take the form of direct mail marketing with flier announcements and promotions, door-to-door leafleting, or posting fliers or posters in local businesses. Small businesses can also advertise in local newspapers. In deciding whether print advertising suits your business, consider how and where your audience consumes information.