As a company that handles the marketing of other small businesses, most of my marketing blogs focus on tips and tricks for doing your own marketing or explaining the importance of what I do for small businesses. But even if you hire a local professional marketing company like mine, you still have some things you should do on your own—namely, community involvement.
Supporting small businesses has become a popular trend as people have begun to appreciate and understand what they do for their communities. Not everyone has the budget or inclination to seek out small businesses for every purchase, but those who do typically do so because they care about supporting their community.
As a small business, they know that when they support you, that money stays in the community. But people who value that also love to see small businesses that are active parts of their community. While a local professional marketing company like POP can get the word out about you and what you’re doing, we need material to share to write about.
So how do you make your business a valuable part of the community, and (beyond the inherent goodness of helping) how does it benefit you and your business?
How Does Being a Part of the Community Benefit Your Business?
Before we get to the how, let’s start with the why. Why should you make your business a part of the community?
Reciprocation
Humans are pack animals. When you get down to it, put us in the wild by ourselves and we’re pretty weak. Even your ultimate athletes aren’t going to stand up too well to bear or tiger. But together, we’re a powerful force that makes up for the weakness of one with the strength of many.
It’s kind of a beautiful thing! At least if we all cooperate.
One of the problems that the mindful buyer has with large corporations (and sometimes businesses in general) is that they’re not holding up their share of the social contract. They are taking a lot, but the consumers, right or wrong, aren’t seeing them give a lot back.
Small businesses can (and should) be the antidote to that. They are part of the community, and even if they make zero effort to directly support the other people in it, they’re at least paying property taxes and taking some of the money they make from owning that business and using it to support other businesses in the community.
There is a certain amount of instinct in this. But there is also an opportunity to go beyond that which brings me to my next point.
Visibility – The Kind Even A Local Professional Marketing Company Can’t Provide
The other benefit of actively participating as a community member is that it gives you more visibility. When you’re partnering with another business, sponsoring a nonprofit event, or doing community service, that’s another form of marketing that a local professional marketing company can’t advertise your way to for you.
Doing the Right Thing
Isn’t doing the right thing a reward? Many people will reflexively gag at this moralistic phrasing, but let’s be real – only the most misanthropic Scrooges among us don’t care at all about the places they live and people they call neighbors.
By improving your community, you’re improving the lives of those around you, and that feels good!
Your Business as Part of the Community
I’ll assume if you’ve read this far, you’re sold that being part of the community is a worthwhile endeavor. It’s less an overconfidence in my writing and more a belief that the value is self evident.
But even if you’re on board, you may not know where to start. Here are a few great ways to be a valuable community member and market your business in the process.
Sponsor an Event
Take a cue from one of the most tried and true forms of corporate marketing—slap your name on something. When a local charity or nonprofit is hosting an event that means something to you, show your community you care by sponsoring it!
This month, POP is supporting a charity we believe in, Ronald McDonald House, by sponsoring its Hug-A-Mug coffee networking event. We’ll be a hole sponsor at the Greater Williamson Road Area Business Association Swing for the Green Golf Tournament a little later in the month.
Ronald McDonald House helps house local families with sick kids in the hospital so the families can remain close. The GWRABA is a business community (there’s that word again) of business on and around Williamson. With our address just down the street from them, it only makes sense to be a member.
This brings me to my next point…
Join a Networking Group
There are many types of networking groups. There’s one like the Kiwanis Club, which supports community service, and the WRABA, or Chambers of Commerce, which supports local businesses and leads passing groups like BNI.
All serve a valuable purpose and help to bring you into your area’s greater community. You get exposure, learn how you can help others, and may find people who need your service, too.
Volunteer
One of the purest forms of giving back to the community is volunteering. So consider taking a day or two a year (or a month if you can) and bring your team to a local nonprofit, school, or other worthy cause that needs you.
Not only does it expose you to the public and give you a positive association, but it also improves your team’s morale and job satisfaction.
Mentor Someone
Finally, pay it forward. If you are a business owner or successful business professional, find someone a little further down the ladder and help them out!
There are many ways to do it, both formal and informal. Our area has the largest business competition in the state, and it’s always looking for mentors – the Gauntlet! Maybe it’s easier for you to mentor someone during business hours with an intern from a local college. Or find someone at one of those local networking events and lend them an ear and a hand.
Marketing is More Than Hiring a Local Professional Marketing Company
While we always recommend hiring a professional marketing company as soon as you can afford it, it’s not the only way to get your name out there. Likewise, all the community-building suggestions I gave in this blog aren’t enough to cover your marketing efforts.
However, being part of your community is valuable in and of itself and is an excellent addition to an effective marketing strategy.
