Supporting the local business environment plays a major role in growing the community. Once the community has various businesses running, residents won’t have to travel long distances in search of goods and services. Every good and service you wish to acquire will be within your reach in the community. There are many ways through which you can learn how to support local small businesses.
Attend Virtual and In-Person Events
The local businesses promote their work by organizing special events. The more people that attend the events, the higher the chances of the business promoting its work. The events’ main aim is to let people know about products and persuade them to purchase in the future. Organization owners count a lot on such events by hoping that a huge number of locals will attend. Therefore, if you attend such events, you will be creating a positive impact on the business. You will get to know their products, purchase them or spread a positive word of mouth to your friends and family.
You can attend the virtual or in-person events since they will help you learn how to support local small businesses. For instance, an event organized by farmers to create awareness about community nutrition is one you do not want to miss. A lot of people find it hectic having to travel long distances to buy food. Hence, if your community is hosting an event about the farmer’s market, it is advisable for you to attend such an effect. This means you will identify a local market from which you can buy foodstuffs. You will also be added to farmers’ customer lists, hence promoting their business.
Like and Comment on Social Media Posts
Given the current technological advancements, online marketing has become a common trend among businesses. Almost 75% of businesses have websites and social media accounts through which they market their products. If an organization has a social media account, they promote their work by persuading people to like and comment on their posts. It does not take much of your time to like and comment on a post. If you already use social media, there’s not much you need to learn about how this can help you learn how to support local small businesses.
Digital marketing has become the best way to attract customers and persuade them to purchase an organization’s product. A social media post with high engagement is more likely to attract online shoppers. It is up to the business to create posts that will convert their viewers into clients. Once you have liked and commented on the post, you have already promoted the local business. Many likes and comments create an illusion that many people are pleased and have been buying their products. Such would motivate other people to purchase the products, thus promoting local business.
Share Your Own Positive Experiences
One of the main ways through which businesses grow their market is through positive word of mouth from their customers. Therefore, if you share your own positive experience with friends or family members, the chances are high that they will also purchase products from that particular business. People tend to purchase products from companies that have been recommended to them by friends or family. That means learning how to support local small businesses is as simple as recommending your favorite shops to other people.
For example, let’s say your friend needed party tents or a big event. If you know of a local business that supplies party rentals, your positive review could mean the difference between that business getting another client and laying off members of their staff.
Send Links to Friends and Family
A web hosting service makes it easy for a business to create a beautiful website. Unfortunately, small business sites often don’t get the attention that they deserve. So when you stumble across a local small business’s site that you love, take a moment to share a link! When you share your love for a small business by sharing a link to their site, you’re doing your part to ensure that other people will look at it. Better yet, when people click on the link you shared, they’ll be driving site engagement up. They’re also more likely to make a purchase from that small business on your recommendation.
Invest in Local Nonprofit Work
While a nonprofit might not seem like a traditional business, the truth is that learning how to support local small businesses means investing in your local charitable organizations, too. It might surprise you just how many nonprofits exist right in your own community. Nonprofits for dementia awareness, domestic abuse support, and other causes could exist right under your nose. When you choose to invest your time or money in these organizations, you’re helping a local business and the individuals they serve within your community.
Leave Generous Tips
If you really want to learn how to support local small businesses, one of the first steps you can take is supporting the people who work there. This is especially important when you’re supporting local restaurants, whose wait staff members rely heavily on tips from customers like you. Whether you’re ordering carryout or you’re dining in, leaving at least a 20% tip on your bill can make all the difference in the world for a small restaurant in your community.
Of course, it’s not just restaurant workers you should be tipping. For example, if you hire a local eco-friendly garage door service to fix your garage door, it’s important that you tip the technicians for their hard work. The business itself might profit from the work its employees do, but supporting employees directly is a great way to ensure that they can continue providing the excellent customer service that you received.
Offer Your Own Expertise
Most small business owners are responsible for every aspect of their business. Inventory, accounting, customer service — you name it and a small business owner likely has their hands in it at least occasionally. If you, as a patron of a small business, have a background in an area where you notice a small business is struggling, offering your services might be the boost they need to stay afloat. In many cases, a small business owner simply might not have the time or the right skills to take charge of something like online marketing or monthly accounting reports effectively. Offering a few hours of consulting services to help a business you love can make all the difference in the world.
The best way to help local businesses grow is by offering such expertise for free or at a smaller fee than you would have offered other businesses. This means local companies can afford your services. Your expertise is what local small businesses need to grow in the long run.
Buy Gift Cards
Gift cards are a wonderful way to support local small businesses. If you’re ever unsure of what to buy a friend or family member for a special occasion or holiday, a gift card to your favorite local restaurant or boutique is an excellent option to consider. Not only does that money help the business you’re trying to support, but you’re making an effort to help expand their customer base, too. Chances are that once your friend or family member uses their gift card, they’ll continue to support the business.
You can also buy business gift cards that will help family members and friends handle certain expenses. For instance, you can buy them gift cards to maintain solar panels or for landscaping services they might require. In this way, you’re helping your loved ones maintain their homes while also helping small businesses stay afloat.
Utilize Family-Owned Services
A substantial number of people work with large corporations. This is largely because of the advertising power these companies hold. As a result of big ad campaigns, customers often believe that such services are the best in the business for their needs. All that said, it is important to support the local community by utilizing family-owned services. For instance, if you want a kitchen remodel, you can use local services and get the type of model you were looking for. Such companies have the necessary expertise to offer you more specialized services than a larger outsourced company would have.
Additionally, working with local small businesses for home improvement projects can help bolster the economy in your community. IF a neighbor sees that you worked with a local remodeling company and got a beautiful kitchen with locally-sourced granite slabs for countertops as a result, they’re more likely to utilize that business’s services in the future, too. Growing local businesses is beneficial to both the businesses themselves and individuals in the community.
Learning how to support local small businesses is the first step in supporting your community at large. In the long run, you could help sustain jobs in your community and cultivate a truly great place to live. In time, you may even find that you rarely need to leave your small community because small businesses are so supported there.