Posts Tagged ‘Small Biz Survival’

Are You Promoting a Ghost Town?

July 6th, 2010

In Miner County, we are having a photo contest, but this is no ordinary photo contest.  We have some amazing photographers in Miner County, and we want to be able to showcase their talent.  By hosting the contest via Flickr.com and printing winners in the county paper, we are showing off their talent both locally and globally.   But, that is not all.

The goal of our work through the Rural Learning Center and this blog is to give a new image to vibrant, rural communities.  Besides showing off local talent, we want to show to the world what a great community Miner County is to live in.  We want to show that there is more to this place than beautiful prairie vistas and wildlife.

With the help of our local photo club and newspaper, we strategically chose three contest topics that would promote pictures with people enjoying themselves.  Turns out, we are not alone in this strategy.

According to Becky McCray at Small Biz Survival, “Putting people in your pictures gives you instant social proof. It draws your potential visitor into the story.”  She goes on to point out that often times tourism websites post pictures of lots of wonderful things, but the pictures are void of any people.  She warns that these websites start to advertise “ghost towns” instead of vibrant communities.  She gives two examples in her post.  While these photos are not the type of professional photos a community would use for advertising, they illustrate the importance of people in photos.

The first picture is a beautiful hotel lobby, but not a person in sight.  You only see the stained glass skylight and the grand staircase.  Her next picture is of the exact same lobby, but with about 7 people walking and sitting throughout the room.  The difference is huge. 

In her second example we see an arching palm tree overlooking blue waters and a lighthouse in the background.  Directly below the first picture we see another palm tree on the same beach, but with a father and son feeding seagulls.  Becky says, “Suddenly, there is a human story, an activity, an interest.  A photo with people is able to tell a story. That’s a story the thing alone could never provide.”

Communities want to show off the “things” that make it great: the park, the stores, the great restaurant.  But, when you ask, people often say that the people themselves are the best part of living there.  All of the “things” are great, but if you can’t showcase the people enjoying those parks, stores, or restaurants, others won’t be able to see it either.

West Central Initiative Foundation of Minnesota had the same idea for their photo contest.  They challenged their photo contest participants, “Show us what YOU think will make a difference to the future of west central Minnesota.”  I’m happy to report that just about half of the pictures submitted so far feature the people of west central Minnesota.

Is your community promoting a ghost town or a vibrant place to live?  If you could enter one of these two contests, what would you say is the future of your community?

 

Photo:  Becky McCray on Flickr

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Posted in Community Development, Uncategorized | Comments (3)

Small Biz Survival “gets” Gen Y

December 17th, 2008

If you’re a small business owner in a rural community, you need to get over to the Small Biz Survival blog.  Becky McCray, who writes there, offers innovative ideas about how to use social media and other forms of technology in small businesses.  And best of all, she understands rural.  After all, she’s owns a small business herself in Alva, OK (pop. 5288).

Yesterday, Becky struck a home run in a subject we’ve been interested in lately – how to engage Gen Y in rural communities.  She published the following excerpt of her responses to interview questions with Deb Brown, a small town Iowa newspaper editor:

How can we get our kids to come back to the community after college? What do we need to be doing to help develop our community for them too?

Engage them. Put young people in charge of projects. Involve them in “adult” meetings, like Rotary or the City Council. Setup a job shadowing or mentoring program with local businesses. Do everything you can to make young people a vital part of everything in the community. It’s not just about projects or assets. It’s about building a sense of belonging and community. That will stick with kids long after they head to college, and that is what will make them want to return.

You can also go further to bring them back, with events focused on homecomings. You can hold all-school, all-year reunions. If you can compile a mailing list of interested alums, you can market not just your events, but also your town. Your city government might be able to offer inexpensive lots for building or other move-back incentives. You have to be creative about it.

Check out the full interview at Deb Brown’s blog:

Although I make it a point never to guess a lady’s age, I’m going to step out on a limb as say that Becky does not belong to Gen Y. But I sure think she gets them.  Her advice will go a long way to making our rural communities places where young people want to live.

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Posted in Economic Development, Gen Y, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (3)