Rural businesses often lack the footfall and the on-the-doorstep support networks of their city-based counterparts. This creates unique challenges around recruiting staff, transportation and access to advice; how can rural businesses overcome barriers to growth and are they connecting with the expertise they need?
Mandie Berry, a senior economic development officer at North Somerset Council, says business support services can be incredibly fragmented in rural areas, particularly since Business Link, which aimed to provide a “One Stop Shop” for businesses in England, was closed in 2012.
Seek out business support
“There’s no one place where business can go and find that information,” says Berry. “A lot of businesses in towns and cities are keyed into their local Chamber of Commerce or business networks. Quite frequently [rural businesses] are winging it; they simply haven’t been able to find where to get that support from.”
No direct replacement for Business Link has been established, although Local Enterprise Partnerships are launching Growth Hubs to carry out a similar role on a regional level. This contrasts with the situation in Wales and Scotland where Business Wales and Business Gateway act as the first point of contact, helping businesses engage with regional and national support schemes.
The British Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have local representation, which can provide an avenue for rural entrepreneurs to start networking and find out what support is available. Gov.uk also provides a directory that helps signpost services.
Agricultural and craft shows play an important role in helping rural SMEs to connect with customers and to network. Berry helped set up the Made in North Somerset Festival, for example, which provides a showcase for the region’s agricultural businesses and an opportunity for them to pitch retailers.
Steve Milner, managing director of Yorkshire-based wind turbine manufacturer Earthmill, says time spent on promotional activities is split 50:50 between this kind of face-to-face activity and marketing, which includes direct mail, trade advertising, supporting local sports teams, engaging a PR firm and online promotion.
Rural businesses are unlikely to benefit from having access to the same size of local customer base as urban areas, unless they’re near busy roads or in villages that attract a lot of visitors, so it’s common for them to look online to generate trade.
Use online tools to promote your business
Greg Page-Turner owns and runs Woodhayes Farm, a series of converted farm buildings that include office rental units, guest houses and an art gallery. He utilises a combination of Twitter, Facebook and a blog to draw attention to the project. This means talking about activities taking place, such as a project to plant 400 trees or new businesses that have moved in, rather than simply promoting the services that are on offer.
Page-Turner is also a big advocate of local networking and is chairman of the East Devon branch of the FSB: “Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted,” he says. “People in rural areas do tend to talk and update each other about what’s happening locally and people get to hear about it. You have to keep plugging away at it. People will get to know you.”
Look to local colleges and training centres for recruitment
Recruitment can be a big challenge. Potential employees might not want to commute the long distances required to work for a rural employer and employers often have to hire from a smaller talent pool. The rural businesses and advisors mentioned in this article say this often creates a greater focus on staff development than might otherwise be the case.
Janine Smith, growth services manager at the Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub - where eight out of ten of the local authority areas are classed as rural - says it’s important to work with local colleges and training providers:
“Rural businesses are more reliant and more likely to look at training staff in their own area. There’s less demand and less supply, so that creates much more reliance on bringing people in from scratch and training them. I think it’s about working very closely with local colleges and training providers.”
Milner adds that not having the pull of a city centre location combined with working in a fledgling industry led him to look at graduates. “Our success has come from taking on graduates with relevant degrees. From a cost point of view it’s helpful and you’re giving people that are just starting out in the industry an exciting point to start because they can grow at a much quicker rate.”
Gemma Roe, founder of eco-friendly roundhouses manufacturing business Rotunda Living, uses referrals to help find staff, including telling suppliers when she’s trying to recruit.
Don’t forget the benefits of rural business
The difficulties with transport extend beyond recruitment and it can be expensive to visit clients spread over wide geographical areas. Milner says Earthmill generated 300 leads from its first agricultural show, estimating that visiting these potential clients required travelling around 12,000 miles by car.
Internet speeds can be a problem. Page-Turner says the 6-8 megabytes per second speed at Woodhayes is vital to their business, but notes you only have to go a few miles further into the Blackdown Hills, which straddle the Somerset-Devon border, before speeds drop to half a megabyte.
However, the situation is improving. The government plans to roll-out superfast broadband to 95% of the country by 2017 by targeting rural areas and had already boosted nationwide coverage to 78% by spring 2014, with approximately 40,000 rural premises gaining access every week.
Most of the rural businesses featured in this article highlighted issues with business rates. One of the difficulties Rotunda Living faces is that it requires large premises and Roe says the method through which rates are calculated, combined with lack of choice in rural areas, can be crippling for small businesses.
In spite of the unique challenges facing rural SMEs, there are benefits. Competition can be less severe and entrepreneurs in these areas say it’s easier to establish long-term relationships with customers.
“Never be fazed by the challenges,” says Roe. “There can be benefits that outweigh the negatives and having a rural business can be really rewarding as well. You’re not out there fighting with the competition on your doorstep; you have a lovely little sustainable business and we’re just grateful to live and work in such a lovely environment.”
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