Author: Becky

We’ve been hitting the airwaves with Small Town Rules. Here are a couple of recent radio shows. Author and small business expert Barbara Weltman featured Becky on Build Your Business Radio (WSRadio.com): Build Your Business Radio Interview   Brian Sullivan and Pat Madden featured Becky on The Entrepreneurial Moment radio show (KCTE in the Kansas City…

The rise of containerized shipping and intermodals has completely remade the shipping industry, and it serves as a model for the change in the entire economy. The New York Times profiled the changes to jobs at New York area ports, in On the Waterfront, the Rise of the Machines. The old way of distributing work…

Big-box stores are getting smaller. Because so many big box retail chains are cutting back on store sizes, Barry Shlachter writes in the Fort Worth Star Telegram that this is a national trend. It’s also one of the Small Town Rules, where we know that bigger isn’t always better. A few juicy quotes from the…

James Lowe interviewed Becky for his Talk Radio X show. We talked about where the concept came from, the process of writing when we were based in different towns, and about connecting customer service to culture and place.

Author Barry Moltz took time to join J.J. Ramberg on MSNBC. They talk about a few of the rules, and how J.J. has seen the trend towards thinking and acting small in business.

Early in the book, Small Town Rules, we mistakenly say: “Events that “stick” to a large corporation can threaten to bring down a company. There are well known examples of Johnson and Johnson’s Tylenol (product tampering), Perrier (product contamination) and Honda (brake failures).” One loyal reader rightfully pointed out that the brake issue was at Toyota not…

“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…