Ramp Up Your Community Involvement to Strengthen Your Business

Ramp Up Your Community Involvement to Strengthen Your Business

Engaging in philanthropic, civic and social activities with the communities you serve isn’t just personally fulfilling; it can also fuel your company’s success. Community involvement can help you create goodwill, make valuable connections, and better understand customers’ needs and how you can fulfill them.

With this in mind, you may want to assess your community engagement and consider how you can do more, connect more deeply, so your company reaps the full rewards of your efforts. Start by defining the communities that can be supportive of your business:

• Your local communities are those with geographic proximity to your company. The level of impact these communities can have on your success depends on the composition of your customer base and the ways you do business. If your business relies on pedestrian traffic or serves companies within a certain radius, for example, engaging in local community organizations and events can be vital to your success.

• Your customer community comprises those who have bought or shown an interest in your products or services. Increasingly, these individuals expect meaningful interaction with the companies they do business with.

• Your special-interest communities include people and businesses that share certain values, goals or perspectives with you. Members of these communities can support your business by recommending your products or services, publicizing your philosophy across their networks, partnering with you on philanthropic efforts, etc.

• Your online community may include members of all or some of the communities described above, in addition to the broader public. Building a successful business today almost invariably requires a strong online presence that enables you to engage with others through your website, social media and other channels.

Next, look at opportunities for stepping up your engagement with these communities. Here are just a few ideas to get you started.

Engage enthusiastically in charitable initiatives

Whether you choose to participate in local food or clothing drives, national charity runs or global efforts to save the planet, commit to volunteerism, sponsorship and charitable giving. Get your employees involved by designating days of service when they can forgo their usual work tasks to volunteer or to organize campaigns for causes they believe in. Pull in some of those special-interest community members by seeing if they might like to partner in some way. And always use social media and your website to let others know how they can join you in supporting charitable organizations and special events. Connecting with like-minded people and communities can multiply the good you do exponentially.

Sponsor and participate in community events

Demonstrating your commitment to your local community can take a variety of forms: sponsoring a Little League team, being active in booster clubs, hosting a booth at a local fair, working on city-wide cleanup or restoration projects, etc. There’s no substitute for face-to-face interactions to get to know people (potentially customers) and let them get to know you. It can be a great way to build trust as you enjoy being part of something bigger than yourself or your business.

Become a member of your local chamber(s) and business leadership organizations

Building relationships with other business leaders can spark new partnerships and referrals, and provide you with opportunities to get involved in new projects and advocacy efforts. Additionally, the peer-to-peer networking, mentoring and coaching can help propel your leadership skills to the next level and provide you with fresh perspectives on growing your business.

Host competitions

Nothing engages people like an opportunity to get creative, especially when prizes are involved. Think of the particular audience you’d like to appeal to with your theme and format. One audience may love the idea of entering a dance or home video contest themed around a holiday or one of your products, while others may embrace the opportunity to name a product or contribute ideas for beautifying their local park. Prizes can range from a free product or service to gift cards or cash.

Create scholarship and internship programs

Investing in youth — the leaders of tomorrow — is not only commendable but smart. Whether you build a scholarship fund or an internship program, you will build goodwill among students, schools and parents while making connections that could one day lead to your employment of some of these bright, talented candidates.

Host webinars or workshops for other business leaders

A great way to showcase your expertise without giving away your core services is to select a topic of concern to business leaders and invite them to participate in an informative session. If your business is accounting, for example, you could host a workshop focused on preparing for the new tax season. If you provide cybersecurity services, you might host a webinar answering the top five questions you get from businesses or educating executives on ways to ensure their employees aren’t taken in by scams.

Take full advantage of Small Business Month and Small Business Saturday

If your business is small, Small Business Month and Small Business Saturday are more than tributes to your business and others; they are opportunities to engage with your communities. In May, you can celebrate your customers all month long through Small Business Month sales, offers and events. Likewise, Small Business Saturday (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) provides a platform for showcasing your products and services, as well as the personalized service your business offers. The stronger your ties to your communities, the stronger your business becomes.

Be sure to include community participation in your strategic planning, and keep those connections going year-round.


This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Any reliance on the information herein is solely and exclusively at your own risk and you are urged to do your own independent research. To the extent information herein references an outside resource or Internet site, Dollar Bank is not responsible for information, products or services obtained from outside sources and Dollar Bank will not be liable for any damages that may result from your access to outside resources. As always, please consult your own counsel, accountant, or other advisor regarding your specific situation.