Community Vitality Newsletter: November 2019

• SD Local Foods Conference Draws Strong Crowd
• Change Network Alumni to Gather in Rapid City
• Grant Writing Workshop Hosted by Highmore Civic & Commerce
• Guide for Rural Growth
• Rural Food Insecurity: Dramatic Differences from County to County
• Top 10 Tips for Bringing More Traffic to Your Small Business Website
• Business Survival: Small Business Revival
• 4 Ways to Boost Your Sales and Grow Your Business During Holiday Season
• Upcoming Events

SD Local Foods Conference Draws Strong Crowd

The ninth annual SD Local Foods Conference was held November 1 and 2 in Pierre, South Dakota. Put on via the work of a diverse statewide committee, this conference attracted over 100 producers, consumers and resource providers. Kelsey Ducheneaux, from the Intertribal Ag Council, opened as the keynote speaker on Friday, and Carol Ford, author of “Deep Winter Greeenhouse” from Morris, MN, keynoted on Saturday. Over twenty breakout sessions featured other noted experts in production, marketing, financing and Farm to School programs. A chef’s social on Friday night sold out at 125 tickets and served a 5-course meal made with local foods. SDSU Extension staff serves on the planning committee and offers breakout sessions each year.

Change Network Alumni to Gather in Rapid City

Alumni from the Cohort 1 and 2 Change Network program will gather in Rapid City on November 22 and 23 to network and update each other on their visions to create more diversity, inclusion and equity in their organizations and communities. The session will include content and discussion around those issues and a tour and panel discussion of artwork at the Racing Magpie. SDSU Extension Community Vitality is hosting the gathering.

Grant Writing Workshop Hosted by Highmore Civic & Commerce

On Thursday, November 14, Peggy Schlechter, SDSU Extension Community Vitality Field Specialist, facilitated a grant writing workshop hosted by Highmore Civic & Commerce. Nearly 30 participants came from as far west as Fort Pierre and as far east as Ethan. Participants learned about the basics of grant writing. Dr. Weiwei Zhang, Director, Census Data Center, covered where to find evidence to support your project; Brenda Hemmelman, Collection Services Librarian at the State Library demonstrated how to use websites to find funding organizations, and David Reiss, Executive Director, Central SD Enhancement District, shared information about Planning Districts. In addition, panelists from the South Dakota Arts Council (Kate Vandel, Program & Accessibility Coordinator), the South Dakota Community Foundation (Ginger Niemann, Senior Program Office), The Wellmark Foundation (Becky Wampler Bland, Executive Director), USDA Rural Development (Clark Guthmiller, Specialist), and Rural Electric Economic Development (REED) Fund (Linda Salmonson, Economic Development Manager) shared opportunities provided by their organizations and gave some tips on how to complete a successful RFP.

Guide for Rural Growth

We asked good friend and entrepreneurship thought leader, Penny Lewandowski, to share her thoughts on what can make the biggest difference to a rural community teetering between prosperity and decline. Learn about America's untapped gold mine in Help Your Community Become Growth Obsessed: A Guide for Rural Growth. This paper is full of best practices and peer success stories that will affect the way you think about community culture and business development.

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Rural Food Insecurity: Dramatic Differences from County to County

Here’s a quick look at a rural subset of a new report on food insecurity published today by the Urban Institute. Once again, the numbers show the diversity of life experiences in rural America.

Experts on rural America will tell you again and again that there’s no such thing as one single, monolithic rural America. That point gets made forcefully in a new report from the Urban Institute. The report, which comes in the form of an interactive data dashboard, looks at food insecurity across America.

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Top 10 Tips for Bringing More Traffic to Your Small Business Website

Your small business’s website is one of the most important digital assets you have. But even with a well-designed, expertly curated site, you can’t hope to make a real impact unless you can get people to visit it. SEO can help you increase organic traffic to your site. But there are a lot of different factors that can impact the results of your search marketing campaigns.

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Business Survival: Small Business Revival

Own a business and want some good news? Here you go.

The Revival of New Main Street Small Businesses

In an article written for Entrepreneur magazine by Kabbage’s Co-founder and CEO, Rob Frohwein, Rob predicts that “by 2025 a whole host of small businesses that once thrived on Main Street USA will be back with a vengeance—thanks to technology.” He says the new and not so new technologies and services are supplying small businesses with valuable tools in online marketing, financing, purchasing and fulfillment that enable them to compete with the larger online companies.

A Pew Research study shows that almost 24% of American adults have earned money in the online economy over the last year. Point of Sale systems and mobile apps, as well as platforms used by such companies as Uber and Airbnb, provide little or no capital investment along with flexibility and control.

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4 Ways to Boost Your Sales and Grow Your Business During Holiday Season

Y’all, there are less than two months left until Christmas!

If you haven’t already, it’s time to ramp up your businesses and attract new customers, because there’s no better time to grow your business than the holiday season.

Right now, people are scouring the internet for unique gifts – and your products or services can be one of them.

Let’s dive right in. Here are four things you can do to boost your sales and attract these gift-hunters during the holiday season.

Incentivize Advanced Orders

Unfortunately, most people wait until the very last minute to buy gift, myself included, leaving you slammed.

That’s why you need to incentivize customers to order early so you can get a head start on this busy season.

Use your social media accounts and email list to offer discounts if they order before Thanksgiving or free shipping if they order before December 1.

Whatever you do, give them a good reason to quit their procrastination and place their orders now.

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Upcoming Events

• Governors Tourism Conference @ Pierre, January 21 – 23, 2020
• Black Hills Stock Show @ Rapid City, January 31 – February 9, 2020
• Women’s Business Conference @ Aberdeen, March 26, 2020
• Energize! Conference @ Milbank, May 5 & 6, 2020