Besides spending money on marketing, do you know there are many other ways to spread the word about your business?
One thing to consider is reaching out to your local community. Community engagement is important because it can help your business by drastically increasing your local presence and sales.
If you haven’t done it yet, we listed some tips on engaging the local community to grow your business.
Read below for all the tips to make your business stand out in your local community.
1. Conduct Research on Your Local Community
Before engaging with your local community, you should know who is in it.
Learn more about the people and the businesses in the community so you’ll know how to interact with them.
You can do this with surveys, which will inform you about what people in the community want from your business. Surveys will also tell you about customers’ buying preferences and how much they like your products and services.
When you know their pain points and what you have in common, you may figure out what you can offer to produce a win-win situation for everyone.
2. Network with People and Organizations
Networking goes a long way. Here are some advantages small business owners can get from it:
- It allows you to meet and socialize with other people and organizations.
- It helps you to exchange ideas with other organizations.
- It uplifts your professional confidence.
Word of mouth will help your business grow when you do networking correctly. Additionally, networking benefits both sides, making it more enticing to all companies.
3. Support Non-profit Organizations
The support charities receive is rapidly increasing; support comes from both individuals and organizations.
The revenue from charities in the 2020 reporting period was 176 billion, a 10 billion increase from the last reporting period, which shows a desire for people to donate and get involved with their favorite causes.
Source: Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission
When you donate, volunteer, or support non-profit organizations, you’re not only contributing to the community, but you also get to meet leaders and potential customers.
It increases your business’s visibility and lets people know what you and your company can offer.
4. Host an Event for the Local Community
You can attend or host an event where you’ll increase brand awareness and network with other people and businesses.
A great idea is to make it a family-friendly event so parents can bring their children along. In this way, they are more likely to enjoy the occasion.
Here are some tips for hosting an excellent event.
5. Sponsor a Local Team 🏏
Sponsoring a local team is another way to give back to the community. People love and heavily emotionally invest in sports, so seeing you sponsoring their favorite team will put you in their good graces.
Additionally, sponsoring a local sports team can help your business in multiple ways, including:
- Increasing the number of people who see your brand daily.
- Making people more aware of what your business does and where it is.
- Helping you reach your intended target audience and attract new customers.
- Giving you more media exposure.
- All of the above can expand the relationship with the team you sponsor.
6. Partner With Other Businesses in the Community 🤝
Although partnerships are in the minority of business types, at only 9% in Australia, they are still beneficial if you find the right business to partner with.
Reach out to local businesses, and you can partner with them, which will benefit all parties. By doing this, you can tap into their customers, and they can tap into yours.
7. Offer Discounts to Customers 💵
Provide discounts and free shipping to encourage people in your local area to buy from you. Doing this will help increase loyalty to your business, and their word of mouth is an effective marketing technique.
If a customer really needs a product, offering it to them for a discount is something they won’t regret.
8. Have a Strong Online Presence 📱
Although you would think more businesses lean toward digital marketing strategies, that isn’t the case.
A recent netStripes study found that only 11% of small and medium businesses embrace digital strategies. Although the number of businesses using digital strategies is low, engaging the local community, especially a younger customer base, is still an excellent idea.
Source: netStripes
If you want to introduce your customers to a new product, consider using social media like Facebook and Instagram and adverts on the TV and radio to ensure that most people know about it.
Final Thoughts on Using the Local Community for Business Growth
Your business can grow and succeed in the long run when you efficiently leverage your local community members.
The advice we mentioned will benefit you and help you grow your small business.
To get more advice on marketing your business to your customers, check out our blog on Tommy.
- How to Efficiently Engage Your Local Community to Grow Your Business
- 1. Conduct Research on Your Local Community
- 2. Network with People and Organizations
- 3. Support Non-profit Organizations
- 4. Host an Event for the Local Community
- 5. Sponsor a Local Team
- 6. Partner With Other Businesses in the Community
- 7. Offer Discounts to Customers
- 8. Have a Strong Online Presence
- Final Thoughts on Using the Local Community for Business Growth
USA 
USA 
AU 
UK 
ES 
FR 
BR 
TH 
IN 
USA 
USA 
AU 
UK 
ES 
FR 
BR 
TH 
IN