insights | 28.10.2025

Showcasing Aylesbury’s country charm: Marketing for rural businesses

Article topics

Use your website to showcase your business
Create an enchanting social media presence
Partner with other local organisations
Think about your off-peak marketing
Target returning customers

There are so many wonderful things to do in Aylesbury and the surrounding areas.

You can hike through the Chilterns, explore the Grand Union Canal, and even enjoy a scone and a cup of tea at Waddesdon Manor!

Rural tourism is a larger industry than you might think. It accounts for 70 to 80% of domestic UK tourism, and worldwide, the market is set to reach a staggering £170 billion by 2032!

If you run a rural business, whether a cosy country pub, a shop selling locally-made items, or a farm-to-table restaurant, marketing can help attract visitors and showcase your brand values.

Here are five ways you can use marketing to your advantage:

1. Use your website to showcase your business

If you want to get seen by tourists planning their trip to the Aylesbury countryside, a good website is a must.

One in five small businesses doesn’t have a website, so if you fall into this category, it’s well worth investing in one!

A website not only allows you to tell your business’s story and showcase your values, but it can also help you rank in the search engine results. Invaluable when prospective customers are Googling for things to do in rural Aylesbury!

Here are some of our top tips for making your website as appealing as possible for tourists:

Offer a virtual tour of your business on your website – you don’t need fancy technology to do this; a video is fine. This shows prospective customers exactly why they should come and visit you
Make sure your website loads quickly and is mobile-friendly. This helps people who are searching for things to do on the go, especially if you’re in an area with patchy internet!
90% of guests prefer to book online where they can, so make it easy for customers to book appointments, tickets, and tables
Add trust signals like online reviews, accreditations, and awards you’ve won to show tourists why you’re a reliable and reputable business that deserves their custom

2. Create an enchanting social media presence

Social media is becoming the new search engine of choice for many people.

46% of Gen Z and 35% of millennials prefer searching platforms like TikTok and Instagram over traditional search engines like Google and Bing.

This means a well-defined search engine presence can make more people aware of your business.

Not only this, but you can use social media to showcase your authenticity, heritage, and what you have to offer – perfect for those looking for a taste of rural life.

Here are some of our top tips for developing a high-quality search engine presence:

You don’t need a presence on every social media platform. Do your research to see which platforms your target audience use, and meet them there
Consider UGC – user-generated content. This is social media content your customers have created. By sharing this, you can offer an authentic, objective view of your business, and make customers happy that you’re promoting their posts to a new audience!
Post videos as well as photos. They’re more engaging and customers are more likely to stop to watch them. Plus, they’re easier to make than ever – all you need is a smartphone!
Remember that engagement is more important than the number of followers you have. It’s better to have a handful of followers who are excited for every post you publish than thousands of followers who don’t interact with you

Want to know more about developing your social media strategy? Check out social media marketing – six steps for success.

3. Partner with other local organisations

One of the easiest ways to grow your business when you’re out in the countryside is to partner with businesses in a related niche.

For example, take the pub above, which has partnered with a local butcher to put on a steak night.

The key benefit of doing this is that you can tap into a new audience, as well as create joint marketing, which saves money.

If you’re a newer business, aligning with an older, more established business can make you appear more credible too!

It also helps the community as a whole. River Cottage talks of a ‘money boomerang’, where local partnerships keep money circulating within the community, meaning healthy businesses, a stronger economy, and more jobs for residents.

Here are some of our top tips for partnering with other local organisations:

Think about who you partner with – you don’t want to work with a business you’re in direct competition with!
Consider prospective partners’ values and ultimate vision so that you can grow together
Do your due diligence before partnering up with someone – look at their reviews and general standing in your community
Regularly communicate with each other to see how things are going, celebrate your successes, and identify any critical feedback

4. Think about your off-peak marketing

People may be eager to visit your venue in the warm, dry summer months… But what about in wintertime?

To ensure a steady flow of revenue, it’s worth having a plan of action in place to encourage people to visit you off-peak.

It may be that you have to pivot on what you offer. For example, if you run a farm, rather than outdoor activities, you may switch to indoor ones, like craft workshops.

Working in partnership with other venues can work to your advantage here too. While a tourist might not make a trip to visit one business, they may be willing to travel to visit multiple businesses.

Here are some of our top tips for working on your off-peak marketing:

Take new photos and videos to show off your business in off-peak season. Think roaring log fires, fields covered in fresh snow, and delicious warm food!
Offering discounts can draw people in in the winter, but review your profits to make sure you aren’t going to be operating at a loss
Use any downtime you have to work on your marketing for the summer months, including gathering reviews, optimising your website copy, and planning future campaigns
Focus your attention on marketing your business to previous customers who know exactly what value you provide – we’ll talk about this in more detail in the next section

5. Target returning customers

If a customer has bought from you before, they’re 60% to 70% more likely to buy from you again. Likewise, 73% of UK residents admit to holidaying in the same place year after year.

This means appealing to returning customers can be a highly lucrative strategy.

There are two great ways to encourage tourists to buy from you again and again – email marketing and loyalty programmes.

Email marketing means you can keep customers up to date with new developments and offers. You can even segment your marketing list like Waddesdon Manor has above, to target people who have different interests with highly personalised emails.

Loyalty programmes encourage customers to make repeat purchases with the promise of incentives and rewards. For example, if you run a coffee shop, you can stamp a customer’s card when they buy a coffee – do it nine times, and the tenth one is free!

Here are some of our top tips for appealing to existing customers:

Personalisation makes previous customers feel special. Capture data about their last visit, their preferences, and what they bought, and use it in your marketing
Ask your previous customers for feedback, and act on it. This not only helps you improve as a business, but also makes them feel valued and listened to
Consider a referral scheme to harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing. If a customer recommends that someone comes and visits you, offer them a reward to say thank you

Xigen: Your digital marketing partner in Aylesbury

Whether you’re based in the centre of Aylesbury or the countryside surrounding it, a well-thought-out marketing strategy can promote your business to new customers and encourage them to spend more.

We specialise in web development and digital marketing, providing high-quality services to businesses across Aylesbury and the wider Buckinghamshire region.

Our skilled and experienced team will help get you online, build an email marketing list that gets people interested, and create content that encourages tourists to come and visit! Whether you’re rural or urban, get in touch today, and let’s work together to get your business seen.

Sources

Tags: Digital Marketing, Aylesbury Businesses

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