Here's the thing about running a business. You can get so caught up in the minutiae of your day-to-day duties, that you forget about the community outside of your front door. However, these are the people you need the most. By getting more involved within your community, you will do them a favour with your philanthropic approach, AND have a way to market your business, without the aid of social media, leaflet drops, and whatever other marketing methods you have at your disposal. Giving something back to the community is good for everybody.
Here are some ideas that you can put into action today.
Set up a collection jar in your workplace. This is an incredibly easy thing to do. Look for a cause within your community that you want to support, and then encourage your employees and any other visiting parties to drop the odd coin (or preferably a note) into the jar. You might even go on step further, and put a share of your business profits in there as well. Be sure to keep it out of the way of sticky fingers, however. Charity does not extend to light-fingered miscreants!
Organise an event. No matter what kind of event you hold, look for ways to integrate your local community. All you need is a venue and stage hire service, and the options are yours to explore. Invite a local speaker to share wisdom. Bring in a local band to perform for your guests. Advertise other local businesses. Collect money for a local cause. Do anything you can think of that will benefit the community in some way.
Support local sports teams. If any of your colleagues play for a local team, or if they have children involved in a youth sports league, you could show your support by raising funds for them, as well as having the opportunity to advertise your business at the sports venue. You might even go one step further and create your own sports team from within your workplace, and organise friendly games with other teams, be they from sports clubs or other local businesses. Be sure to play fair, however, as you don't want to scupper your reputation with bad sportsmanship!
Support your local food bank. Food banks are always in need of food to support more impoverished members of the local community, so show your support by encouraging people within your workplace to bring in non-perishable foods that can be given to donated to local people. At the time of writing, Christmas is fast-approaching, so you could also donate food in a hamper to anybody known to you and your team, who may be in desperate need of the extra food portions for themselves and their families.
And there is so much more you can do, from volunteering your services for free to local groups, to promoting non-competing businesses in your publicity materials. By being an active part in your local community, you may see a boost in your profits because of the goodwill you have gathered, and you will have the personal reward too, knowing that you have done something that isn't only about extending your profit margins. Let us know if you have any further ideas.
