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Complementary Uses for a Community Site
Posted by Fred Engelmann on June 7, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT
When we moved to rural upstate New York from sunny southern California, everything changed. Now we have clean air, little traffic, plenty of fresh water - and a much smaller local market for my core business of network design, implementation and management. So we put our heads together and created a new business, specifically for this area.
The model is simple, but not the marketing. As a family business, we design, implement and manage networks (surprise!) - which also offer public Internet access to visitors and guests. The network infrastructure is owned by the venue providing access, and the Internet access revenues cover the network management expenses.
That means we serve two distinct customer bases; our end users that purchase Internet access, and our venue partners whose networks we manage. In our area, the venues are generally small businesses, which serve the same visitors and guests. Those small business owners and managers are also our friends, neighbors, vendors, customers, or competitors (or all of the above) - one of the many benefits of rural living.
Here's the challenge: How can we engage our diverse constituents; provide value for our venue partners, communities and visitors; and build brand awareness? Not the old-fashioned way.
