Degree Name
Master of Science
Graduate Program
Mass Communication and Media Arts
Advisor
Karan, Kavita
Abstract
A large majority of United States businesses are small businesses. Many of these small businesses operate in the country’s rural communities, where local owners face unique challenges to keep their businesses running. The unique challenges faced include differences in population size, access to wealth amongst rural community residents, and lack of internet accessibility for rural residents that affects interaction with digital advertising efforts, among others. Given these unique challenges, it is important to understand the successful practices that small businesses utilize.
The research included case studies and in-depth interviews with five restaurant businesses and a Chamber of Commerce member in Southern Illinois counties to understand the business practices of successfully running small businesses. The interviews showed the origins behind restaurant businesses, their unique menu items, how they targeted local customers, how they positioned their brand, their advertising campaigns and promotion tactics, and the strategies they implemented to keep their businesses operational and successful.
This study reviewed the literature on small business restaurant successes and rural advertising practices, provided insight on how other small business restaurants across the United States and other countries have moved to be successful in their markets, and how companies have advertised to rural communities for success. The overall aim of the study was to contribute to the academic literature on small business success, to establish a blueprint of best practices for starting a restaurant in Southern Illinois, and to understand how small businesses move to be ii successful in rural communities.