Just like you rely on customer support from your local communities for your small business, your communities also depend on you to give back. This cooperative relationship builds stronger communities economically, socially, and culturally for the benefit of all. This is why community engagement is essential to keep your small business growing.
In this guide, you’ll learn engaging and cost-effective strategies for your small business to give back to your community.
Community engagement is essential for success
In 2022, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported that 80% of small business owners had a clearly defined mission that included community engagement. This commitment to your community:
- Strengthens employee engagement. When you create a culture of caring, you give your team a sense of purpose that adds fulfillment to their work experiences and can even attract new talent.
- Builds customer loyalty by showing what’s important to you as a business owner and member of the community.
- Creates brand awareness that’s cost-effective and engaging while supporting your brand platform and business goals.
- Supports areas of your community that need extra assistance. This shows that you share responsibility for the well-being of the people and places around you.
Community engagement can have terrific return on investment for employee and customer goodwill, visibility in key market areas, and positive impact. Often, these initiatives are factored into your marketing budget given their impact in brand- and business-building. Although there aren’t set figures for how much to budget for community engagement efforts, about 6% of annual profits is a good target.
Keep in mind that your support in the community is still impactful even if your business receives some benefit in return. For example, if you sponsor a local Little League baseball team, you can showcase your business name, logo, and more while also making baseball more financially accessible for all kids in your area.
How to build a community engagement program for your business
If you don’t already have a community engagement strategy, developing one is simple. First, define what’s important to you and your business. Then, find organizations whose mission and work align with your business and community engagement goals, as well as your budget. For example, a restaurant can team up with a local food bank, while a pet-goods store can work with an animal shelter.
Then, get creative about how you can help while also boosting your business and brand awareness. Here are a few ideas to get started:
- Sponsorships: These are low-cost opportunities with great potential for brand-building. You can take out an ad in theater or concert programs, support an event for a non-profit, or sponsor a youth sports team. There are endless opportunities to support your community through a sponsorship.
Look for opportunities with local schools, sports teams, environmental organizations, food banks, animal shelters, care facilities for seniors or unhoused individuals, or anything else that brings together your business’s offerings and the interests of those in need. - Volunteering: Most non-profits and schools rely on support from volunteers. Whether your team performs regular, ongoing work or assists on a one-time or annual event, your involvement and impact will be noted by those you’ve helped and others in your community. By sharing your volunteer work through your business’s communication channels, you’ll show your commitment to the community while raising awareness for the organizations you’re supporting too!
- Donations: If you have goods or services that are on the wish-list for an organization, that’s a great way to boost your business profile while benefiting others. Talk to your vendors to find out if they have goods that could be donated as well. You can also raise funds for local charitable organizations like “round-up” initiatives – when sales are rounded-up to the next dollar and the difference goes to charity.
Share your work to build support
When one restaurant or retail business holds a fundraising event, that’s great. When groups of businesses in the same industry or community collaborate to benefit a charitable organization or community need, the impact can be awesome!
This is also a great way to build your network within your local community and throughout your industry. Work with other businesses to develop or join initiatives. Be sure to share your success stories with each other and with the community at large, because current and potential customers love to support businesses that give back.
In addition, share what you’re doing in the community through your social media, email lists, and your website. Your audience and community will see first-hand that you’re committed to giving back, and you can boost awareness for all involved as well.
How to engage and track community and business benefits
Are you concerned that community engagement initiatives will be expensive? Don’t worry! You can create a significant positive impact while using modest resources.
When you identify an organization to work with:
- Collaborate on a plan so that the needs and expectations are clear, and you and your team know what time and financial resources you’ll need.
- Ask how their needs, objectives, and goals or outcomes are evaluated and tracked. Most non-profits have this information, as it’s often used for grants and sponsorships.
- Ask if your team (or theirs) can document events, services, or sponsorships. Often, a partnering charitable organization or school will have photos, videos, or testimonials that can be shared with your business.
For example, let’s say you have a landscaping business and you partner with a local community-gardening organization to do a spring cleanup. The organization may document the work like the number of gardens involved, or residents impacted. You can also typically get photos and/or videos with participants’ permission. This can then be shared online through your website and social media.
Community engagement is great for business
The best community engagement plans are simple, local, relevant, fun for your team, and meaningful in your community. Whatever you choose to do, your help is always needed and appreciated.
And Pursuit is here to help you. We have a range of small business loans and a line of credit that are tailored to small businesses with big plans. Contact us today to learn more.
