Sell Your Town

F

REE LAND: Town of Freeland is offering free land for any industry or business to locate there. Freeland is a small but progressive town miles west of and miles east of anywhere on an interstate highway with railroad availability on the offered property. Please contact the Town Hall for more information.

So reads the advertisement (with a few changes to protect the innocent) that has been published in an area classified newsletter for almost a year with little result. There have been few interested parties and after all this time, one wonders if the thought running through a reader's mind isn't, "boy, they can't give that land away, can they"?

There has to be another way, a better way, for a small town to attract business and newcomers to the area. One presumes that's the goal in running this advertisement week after week. The approach, however, doesn't seem to be working. So it's time to look at other marketing angles.

Why not try affiliate marketing to maximize exposure and capitalize on the built-in connections available online? After all, internet access is everywhere, even in the most remote rural locations. There's a big world out there just waiting. Let it know you exist!

What exactly is affiliate marketing? Good question. I got my first lesson by doing a keyword search on the internet. There are numerous internet search engines like google.com that can help. An even easier way is to do a search right here at squidoo! To make it easy for you, I'll list a group of my affiliate marketing pals who just set up their own affiliate marketing lenses in the past week. After reading them,they should give you (and me) some idea of what it's all about. I'm going to visit the following links and read up on the subject now. Grab a cup of something and join me. No need to make it hard on yourself when a few answers are right at your fingertips.

http://www.squidoo.com/affiliatemarketing101/
http://www.squidoo.com/affiliate-marketing-guide/
http://www.squidoo.com/affiliatebucks/

How's that for a start?

There are obvious internet marketing sites that everyone should consider for just about anything they have to sell. One logical venue is eBay. Yet a search of free land at their real estate section yields nothing. That's a curious phenomenon since rural communities often try to give away land to attract business. Why aren't they advertising it in places with lots of potential customers? Well, there could be any number of reasons that we'll examine later. But, for now, let's pretend that getting takers is the goal, and that maximizing advertising is the way to achieve it. So we advertise on eBay and similar sites. Craigslist offers another possibility. In this case, an advertisement in their real estate section in the nearest large town might certainly yield some results.

Wouldn't you expect a few city dwellers to harbor a dream of moving to the country? I know that it's true, because I was one of them a few years ago. I had a few reasons I wanted to move from the city, some uniquely my own and some I shared with others. I did a lot of research through books and online. Today things could be even easier because of sites like this. Now there's a way to match up rural communities with newcomers needing a change of pace, and affiliate marketing sites like this could provide the bridge. How can we best match up the towns looking for newcomers, with those searching for a country way of life?

By now, it's probably occurred to some creative person out there that the town leadership ought to be attracting the kind of business they would really like to have relocate on that free land, right? That mind-boggling idea - asking for what you want - might not cross a town council's collective mind, but let's point it out to them and pretend they'll listen to our suggestions. Grin.

First, it's important to consider the town and its components as they are today. What kind of a town is it? What kind of people and enterprises are already there? What kind of business do you really need? You don't want to attract a business that competes with your major industry unless you have some compelling reason to do so. But, it would be wise to fill a few gaps. What new business would compliment what you already have there? Define those areas and then consider blatantly asking for what you want. What an innovative concept.

There is another issue to consider though. What the town leaders want isn't necessarily what the rest of the citizens would like to see happen. This is how rural xenophobia develops. A few big fish in the little pond decide to impose their ideas on everyone else. And the "else" is notorious for digging its heels in and resisting the plan. Many an expensive government rural development project has been stymied by the resistance of the people.

A better way to guarantee a successful venture might be to first ask the people what they would like to see happen with the town land. Shouldn't they have a say in matters? There are several ways to approach this. Stay tuned for more ideas.

And for help with a real business plan Click Here!

Every small town in America has an aging population. Those people are the heart of a community. They've lived and learned, and many have worked there all their lives. They deserve respect, and one way to show that is to ask for their opinions.

This is why organizations like SCORE are so popular in major cities. They have long recognized the invaluable contributions retired business-folks can offer their communities. The non-profit council of retired business executives, through its brick and mortar offices, as well as via an excellent website, counsels people in the ways of business and planning. For free. Everyone needs to know about them, and rural communities should train their own seniors to be SCORE counselors. It's the logical way to tap this underutilized resource in the backyards of the town leadership.

If the retired are the heart of a community, then the young are surely its hope, and they also need to be consulted about any major plans for their town.

Junior Achievement is an international organization founded in America that has taught the business of economics to young students for decades. Their programs are also free and they have a curriculum for rural schools that teaches entrepreneurship to students from grades K-12.

With guidance from this excellent resource, those young people will no doubt offer a creative proposal for what to do with that free land! The town council would be wise to listen to them. Between the old and the young, more than enough creative thoughts will manifest to enable leaders to proceed with a good marketing scheme.

What do your young citizens think you should be doing with that free land you want to give away to any comers?

And if those two streams of creativity and insight don't lead to a better plan for the free land, then how about a contest? Why not offer some money to the person who develops the best idea and business plan for the town? Everyone loves a little competition and who doesn't want to earn some cash for an innovative and workable idea?

A Brilliant Idea Award as low as $1,000 will get anyone out of the woodworks and using their noggins. Why don't leaders consider this option more often? Pay people for their bright ideas! Now there's a bright idea if ever there was one!

The point is that people like to be involved with the development of their hometowns, and getting their input will promote a general satisfaction in the final decisions. That's particularly true if the chosen plan and new business perfectly fits the make up of the town and provides a benefit for the whole community.

Let's dream up a plan for three quarters of land on a major east/west highway in the middle of America. What would I, as a resident of Freeland, America like to see move here? Let's come up with some wild and crazy ideas. There's no risk in brainstorming.

Here are my thoughts:

The Town of Freeland has some holes in its food system, as far as I'm concerned. I can't get fresh fish or organic vegetables. So my choice of a new business would be a greenhouse that grows organic crops, and attached fish hatchery for farm-raised salmon.

It sounds like a synergistic combination, and with interstate-commerce potential via trucking or rail, Wal-mart could find itself with another supplier for their new organic foods program.

Greenhouse farming is an excellent idea in light of climate change for any rural environment. Moderated temperatures and growing conditions are aspects of agriculture that all growers will have to consider in the near future.

An added plus to this business model is the benefit provided by sun and wind for conscientious and low-cost energy supplies. The greenhouse could even be built partly underground for added insulation and a lower profile against high wind damage. And grown inside, there is no risk of GM pollen drift or chemical contamination from organo-phosphates which are much-used in most conventional agricultural environments.

Imagine. A rural grocery store with fresh and locally grown organic produce and fish. What a bright idea! I won't have to drive to a major city to go to a farmers market for fresh produce. Do you think anyone besides me will think this scheme has merit? You can't know until you get every idea on the table.

Finally, don't forget to say thank you, and share your success plan with others who might need the same kind of information and help. After all, it's just old-fashioned wisdom that what goes around, comes around. And as one wise man once said long ago - if the only prayer you ever say is "thank you", that would suffice.

Special thanks to Tiffany Dow who taught me an awful lot about squidoo lenses with her great ebook: