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“A big company can choose to remember that it was once a small company.” Artist and Marketer Hugh MacLeod gets the small town rules. He grew up in a small town, and has lived in towns and cities world wide. He drew this Cube Grenade for Rackspace, as they experience massive growth. It’s a Social…

Seen on the streets of Chicago: Rolling Rock is “Born Small Town.” Stop by their website, and you’ll see that they are embracing the “small town character.” Rolling Rock clearly gets that consumers are ready to embrace small towns. Is your brand ready for the shift in consumers?

Another brand is recognizing the “small town” shift in consumer feeling: Delta Airlines. Delta’s ground operations at the Atlanta airport are sporting signs with “Atlanta’s Airline,” “Proud to call Atlanta home,” and “Atlanta’s hometown airline for 70 years.” It’s a Small Town Rule 7: Build You Local Connections play by the brand. Consumers are increasingly…

On Wednesday, May 30, 2pm Central, join us for a celebration of Small Town Rules. We will have special guests, Chris Brogan, Liz Strauss, C.C. Chapman and Rieva Lesonsky as well give out 10 free copies of the book. Join us for an interactive event! You can call in to join us at (347) 426-3202, or…

Carol Tice writes over at Entrepreneur that planning for the crash is something large organizations do well. Her background in risk management gives her a good perspective, though I’d argue that plenty of large organizations have missed this lesson, too. Carol lists off seven key risks that companies should look at. Commentors have added a…

Small Town Rule 7 is to build ties to your local communities. Dominoes Pizza is doing that with their commercial playing up the contribution of a local franchisee. The commercial says that product ideas don’t usually come from the store level, but their new Parmesan Bread Bites came from Brian Edler, Domino’s franchise holder on Main…

Thank you! After we introduced Small Town Rules on the 30th, you ran Amazon completely out of stock on hardbacks in less than 24 hours! In fact, you ordered 50% more copies than they had. Amazon should have more hardbacks in stock at the end of the week. Barnes & Noble and Que Publishing both…

Barry and I are excited to introduce Small Town Rules to you. The book is rolling out for sale now, and we’ll be celebrating the launch all week. Barry introduces Small Town Rules, from an undisclosed location: I introduce Small Town Rules, from my office in Hopeton, Oklahoma: Watch for special offers to launch this…

  Seth Godin took on the role of technology in changing the role of geography, in Sovereignty and the new world–the end of nations? Technology has allowed us to move both information and goods in ways that completely changed long established business patterns. In addition to the changes in communication, look at the changes in…

The tech startups in Central Europe are following the Small Town Rules to achieve successes in a different way than Silicon Valley. Oliver Holle at The Next Web Europe explains how in Hail the hidden champions: Why fringe markets may beat Silicon Valley (at least for investors). While Silicon Valley startups are always shooting to…