Rural Business Academy
Local First Arizona's Rural Business Academy is a first-of-its-kind accelerator program with courses designed to address the unique challenges experienced by businesses operating in rural communities.
Each course is facilitated over six weeks with up to 12 participants, each led by an expert in the field with opportunities to collaborate with peers and one-on-one with mentors. The goal for each course is to provide hands-on learning, real-world exercises, and take-home tools that strengthen each business where it’s needed most.
Criteria
To be eligible to participate in the Rural Business Accelerator, businesses must:
Be located in a rural town (population < 75,000) in Arizona
Be established as a business for at least 3 years
Submit an application and sign a participation agreement
Pay a one-time $99 participation fee
Curriculum
Course 1: Digital Marketing
Participants will receive hands-on training on social media and digital marketing strategies that are key for rural businesses. The training covers SEO, Facebook, Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor and Instagram. Businesses will walk away from this cohort armed with a social media planning calendar that will guide content strategies across all platforms, which will align with the goals of each business.
Course 2: Customer Experience & Attraction
This course will be customized for each participant, with areas of focus determined by a secret-shopper assessment initiated at the start of the cohort. Each participant will identify key performance indicators for their business and the course mentor will suggest additional items that would optimize the customer experience. At the conclusion of this module, participants will receive a comprehensive customer experience plan with measurable objectives that can help guide/evaluate staff.
Course 3: Access to Capital
A series of experts will guide participants through strategies to expand their business including access to capital, preparing and analyzing financial statements, and tax planning and preparation. At the conclusion of this cohort, businesses will walk away with a series of completed financial statements and an understanding of their business cash flow.
Course 4: Talent Recruitment & Retention
Businesses will learn effective strategies for identifying and recruiting high-quality and adequately skilled employees - and proven methods to retain them. Through this coursework, business owners will optimize job descriptions, identify talent pipelines relevant to their business, create strategies for effective candidate screening, and finalize an onboarding plan. From this cohort, participants will walk away with a Recruitment & Retention plan customized for their business.
Past Academies:
May 10 - June 14
Wickenburg: Customer Experience & AttractionJune 22 - July 27
Winslow: Digital Marketing
Mohave County: Access to Capital
August 10 - September 14
Pinal County: Digital Marketing
Mohave County: Digital Marketing
September 21 - October 26
Mohave County: Talent Recruitment & Retention
Rim Country: Talent Recruitment & Retention
November 2 - December 7
Mohave County: Customer Experience & Attraction
News in Rural Development
Questions?
Get in touch at katie@localfirstaz.com