Small businesses are the backbone of any small town or village. They provide facilities and amenities, giving them the chance to shop on their doorstep rather than needing to drive to the nearest big city. Even in this current day and age when people are a lot more inclined to buy the products that they need online, there are still some very strong statistics that suggest people would still prefer to shop in the small businesses in their local community.
So, as you can tell, everyone who is in the surrounding community is very important to you and your business indeed. Without them, you wouldn’t have many customers and it would be a lot more difficult for your company to thrive. But it’s not just them who are important to you – your business is also extremely important to your local customers and the community in which they live. There are lots of ways a small business props up a community and there are many benefits it can bring. You will have to be proactive in bringing some of these benefits to your local community, though, as some of them won’t materialize on their own.
Here are a few of the ways you and your business can support your local community and give back to the people around you.
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Provide Employment Opportunities
One of the most obvious benefits that you will provide your local community is the chance of employment. Whenever any kind of new business opens up, it will bring some new jobs along with it. All of the locals will be able to apply for them, which should help the overall employment levels in your town. This will be a great advantage to the people who do end up working for you too, as it will mean that they no longer have to commute to the nearest big city. As a result, their working days will be shorter and they will be able to spend more free time at home with their family. Plus, as these employees will spend the majority of their time in the town, they will be a lot more likely to spend their money in other local businesses, which will help to keep the local economy afloat.
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Improve The Local Economy
I’ve briefly mentioned in the point above that hiring local employees will help to keep the community’s economy afloat. But there are other ways your business will do this as well. For instance, having more businesses to shop at in the community will improve the tax base. Put simply, this means that local people will be spending their tax dollars close to home. As well as customers spending their money locally, lots of small businesses will be more inclined to use other local companies as their suppliers. This will be a big help to the community’s economy as a business will be pumping a lot of its profits back into other companies, which will create a profitable ecosystems for local communities.
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Offer Work Experience Placements
It’s a good idea to consider offering some work experience or apprenticeship placements for young people living in your local area. These placements can be on a temporary basis, and most companies offer them to teenagers through the summer months while they are off from high school. By giving local kids the opportunity to come into your business and train under you, you will be giving them the chance to learn new skills and knowledge that they can later take with them when they enter the world of work. Not only that, though, but because these kids will already have a lot of on-the-job experience from working with your company, they will be a lot more employable once they do leave school or college. That’s because the chance with your business will have given them a big edge over others with a similar education to their own.
Work Together With Local Schools
Lots of small businesses also find that they can benefit themselves and the community around them by working together with schools. There are various ways you’ll be able to join forces with schools. One option is to partake in some teacher collaboration and work together with a teacher in the classroom. This usually happens during business studies classes, and you could go into the class to give the kids the chance to ask questions to a real-life entrepreneur. You might want to talk to them about how they could go about setting up their own business in the future. Lots of school pupils find these talks to be very inspirational. Another way you and a local school could help each other is by offering the work placements mentioned above to their pupils. You might want to offer two places a year to kids from the school. Lots of businesses team up with schools to provide the kids with work experience opportunities. You never know, the kids that you take on might come back to work for you on a full-time basis when they are older!
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Support A Local Charity
Lots of businesses around the world, whether they are large corporations or small startups, know that it is very useful to donate to a charitable cause. When you are a small business, it’s always best to donate to a charity that is based locally or one that focuses on a cause that affects your local area. This gives you the chance to give something back to your local area and make some improvements that will change it for the better. Not only that, though, but giving to a charity can really help to boost your business’s public reputation. The public’s perception of the company will become a lot more positive as they will see that you are trying to help turn the fortunes of some people around and to help improve the local region as a whole. If you are lucky, this could even turn into a great marketing opportunity for you and your business. That’s because the charity you donate to or volunteer for will no doubt mention you in their press releases and they might even include your logo or branding in their publications. This will help you get your business’s name out there to a much wider audience.
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Encourage Employees To Volunteer
Another great way to help your local community is to encourage your employees to volunteer their time. They will most likely volunteer for a local charity, but there could be other opportunities as well, like helping out with a local children’s sports team or giving up some of their time at the local school. The main reason why this would be a great idea is that it can really help to support your region. Most charities really struggle to get all the volunteers that they need to man their shops and help provide support for fundraising events. Encouraging your employees to offer to help will take away some of the strain that charities face. Plus, once word gets out that you are encouraging your employees to help charitable causes, I’m sure it will really boost your company’s profile.
Sponsor A Local Sports Team
Another great idea is to see about sponsoring a local sports team. These kinds of teams are always on the lookout for money and sponsorship from local businesses so that they can continue to run and buy essentials that they need, such as kit and other supplies. Without any kind of sponsorship, most local teams would have to disband. This is also a great chance for you as it can boost your marketing. In return for the sponsorship, the team will then print your logo on their kit and other promotional materials. You’ll also be able to place adverts for your company in their ground or stadium. Then when they play matches, your business will be exposed to the competitor’s fans who might have traveled from far and wide and might not be aware of who your company is.
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Help To Create The Community Identity
Did you know that your small business might be helping to create an identity for your local community? It’s true! If you are located on the high street in the town, your business will be contributing to the first impressions that visitors and tourists make when they wander down this main street. If you create a brand and identity for your business that fits into the community’s overall identity, you will be contributing to the area’s character.
Be An Inspiration To Your Local Community
As previously mentioned, setting up your own company could help you to inspire others in the local community. When you speak to the younger generation, you can explain how and why you got into business in the first place, and your story might inspire them to do the same once they are old enough.
There are so many ways that your business and the local community can come together and benefit each other. These are just some of the ways you can reach out and improve the area around you!
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