A few years ago I co-founded a company that provides services to Midwestern exurban towns with the goal of turning them from just a commuter's bedroom into places people might actually want to spend some time (and some money). It's one of the hardest challenges I've ever taken on.
Our public-facing presence is a digital media outlet (website, app, facebook) for each city we cover, but most of our work is done face-to-face with local business owners, the Chamber of Commerce, and the city government. It's a very small operation and we don't make a lot of money from it, but we think it's important to try to save our towns and, in the age of toxic social media and outlets like Next Door/Citizen/Neighbors, foster a real life community in your real life downtown. Outdoor, face to face.