Help Your Business By Helping Your Community

Every home-based entrepreneur stares financial problems in the face at many points in the life of their businesses. This causes all of us home based business owners to explore all sorts of ideas about how to keep expenses low. However, because promotion of our businesses is so important, we must find inexpensive ways to tell people that we are here. Without customers, we have no business at all. Many of these promotions require little monetary investment, as well as not very much of your time required, either. This article discusses some reasons for community promotion, as well as what entrepreneurs have done for promotions.
WHY SHOULD YOU PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS BY HELPING YOUR COMMUNITY?
In the world of the Internet, simply hanging out an “Open” sign won’t bring you customers anymore. Neither will a passive Website about your business, or simply posting occasionally to social media sites. You must develop an ongoing promotional plan which includes all of the elements we mentioned, but, in addition, you need to make yourself personally visible to those around you. When people know who you are, what kind of person you are, they are much more likely to do business with you, as well as telling their friends about you. This is the best kind of viral marketing.
By promoting yourself and your business to your local community, you are insulating your business against million dollar promotional campaigns mounted by your very largest multi-national competitors. Without help from your friends and neighbors, you have no defense at all, so you need to be creative and do everything you can to mount your local shield.
The home business owner needs to make the public aware of his or her product or service at the lowest possible cost. There are many ways. A pet breeder in a large city was struggling for several years-until he came up with a novel idea. He started giving away customized "birth certificates" for the pets he sold. Almost immediately, his sales rose more than 10 percent.
The owner of a new home cleaning service was trying to attract clients. She couldn't afford much advertising, so she began offering "home cleaning seminars" to civic groups. After two months of seminars, she was swamped with inquiries and clients.
You can read a discussion of these promotional issues here.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKING YOURSELF KNOWN TO THE LOCAL PUBLIC
Some entrepreneurs may be a bit shy about appearing before public gatherings. It will work best for you, if you are one of these, to become affiliated with an organization like Toastmasters International. A group like this will help you gain self-confidence and enable you to become active in promoting your business to the public.
Here are some general ideas to get you started:

• Become involved in local service organizations, your local government, and your school’s Parent Teacher Association. You should gradually increase your participation in these groups, and possibly move into leadership. Such activities will increase your credibility locally and they may also enable you to establish contacts in much larger industry and trade groups.
  
  
• Make yourself visible as a lecturer with expertise in your particular field. Offer to speak at college and university events, as well as participating in TV and radio interviews. This kind of activity before audiences who never knew about you, or your business, causes a large amount of new business for those who use these techniques.
  
  
• Offer your services generously. Examples are an entrepreneur in the music business volunteers to perform at holiday events, or a paint contractor obligates to paint a number of low income houses.
  
  
• Partner with other entrepreneurs to promote an open house or fair where your business’s products and services, along with those of your partners, can be shown in a festive atmosphere which includes food and entertainment.
  
  
• Donate small items as prizes at popular local events, or offer discounts on your products.
  
  
• Whatever you do, try to find the best fit for your donations and things that mean the most to your community potential customers.

From here on, we will discuss actual examples of community participation.
ONLINE JEWELRY COMPANY
This company, Exhale To Excel, markets a line of affordable, but high quality, jewelry. The founder is an advocate for breast cancer awareness and controlling domestic violence. To advance these causes, as well as make her company positively known to the community, a portion of every sale is donated to these issues. Her slogan is, “Believe in yourself and that you have the talent and perseverance to succeed even if you fail the first time. Clarify your goals and go after them. Where there is a will there IS a way.”
You can read more about this company here.
A PUBLIC RELATIONS COMPANY
A Florida public relations company designed and donated a new logo to the local American Red Cross chapter. The logo represents the fun and fantasy surrounding the Red Cross’s first annual
Mad Hatter’s Tea and Fashion Show. The public relations firm made this donation in appreciation for the excellent job the Red Cross is doing locally.
Read more about this company here.
HERE’S A GUITAR COMPANY
The owner of this Iowa company specializes in making playing the guitar simple. He has accompanied such artists as Manheim Steamroller and Bonnie Raitt. He not only excels in guitar, he also is proficient with the bass, banjo, mandolin, mountain dulcimer, and ukulele. Giving back to his community is done with free performances at events sponsored by local churches and civic organizations.
There’s more about this company here.
THIS PAINTING COMPANY IS OUTSTANDING
The owner put himself through college by painting houses, so, when he was laid off from his first job out of college, he decided to found a painting company. He only had $100 to his name, but he was passionately entrepreneurial. Since its beginning, the company has served several thousands of clients with a 98.6% satisfaction rating.
The company has two programs ongoing to help people in their community. First is an ongoing commitment to paint six houses every year for people having financial problems. The six houses are painted for free. The company asks for nominations for these free paint jobs from people in the community who know of deserving homeowners.
The second ongoing program is the company’s partnership with Make A Wish. The company will donate a portion of all jobs contracted or completed during the month of July to Make A Wish. At times, they also may pay for the entire cost of making a wish come true.
Read more about this company here.
WHAT A LARGE MOVING COMPANY IS DOING
This company started in 1980 with one $17 ad in the Boston Phoenix Newspaper. Since then it has gone nationwide with offices in many states. An example of how they participate in community affairs is their sponsorship of the Windermere Cup Regatta, an international rowing event celebrating its 26th anniversary this year. They will host a hospitality tent at this year’s event. The company’s nationwide expansion policy calls for sponsoring high-profile athletic events in new communities where they locate.
To celebrate 30 years in business, the company established a foundation focused on two issues of importance to the company:
Youth leadership development through athletics and education.
Housing assistance and homelessness prevention.
There is more here.
CHECK THIS SMOOTHIE COMPANY
This company participates in many community events. They include surf events, triathlons, festivals, and concerts. By providing refreshing drinks to participants and the community, this company seeks to give back for the support they have received. Some events they sponsor are:

• Relay for Life, American Cancer Society
• Susan G. Komen – Race For the Cure
• O.C. Triathlon
• AVP Championships

A NETWORKING GROUP
This group supports charities in their community, as well as one or two around the world. Among others, they have supported the Good Shepherd Alliance, The Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter, and Loudoun County Social Services.
BUSINESS CHARITY GIVING
According to this report, it is often the best business practice to give to charity. If you make charity giving a priority, the report says you will improve your personal reputation and, ultimately, your bottom line. Here are some smart ways to establish charitable giving as a major goal of your home based business:
To effectively use a giving program for your business you must develop a plan that includes a budget for your giving. You can’t just start throwing money around with no idea about what you want to accomplish. In the US, most business giving ranges between 2.5 and 5 percent of pre-tax income. This does not mean your business has to give this much to be effective, it is only an amount you can view as a guide to what you want to give. If you can’t give as much as others, don’t worry about it. Charities are happy with whatever you choose to give them.
Look around at the charities you like and see if you can find one or two that you like. You will be much happier supporting a group you can establish an affinity with. It will be to your advantage if the charity you choose meshes with your long range business goals. Choosing the right charity can do many things for you. Most charities have board members who also sit on other business boards of directors. You can see how an association with these people can help you with your efforts to make other business contacts. Choosing a high profile charity will get you a lot of media exposure, as well. In addition to money, it will be to your advantage to get yourself in a position that will display your expertise through donations of your time. Try to find an organization in which your target market participates. If your company is in the senior citizen business, you might become involved with a veteran’s organization; if you run a sporting goods operation, consider sponsoring a youth athletic team or Little League Baseball team.
Question everything about your charity. Even though you may have an emotional attachment, be sure the money you contribute actually goes to the cause you support, rather than to administrative expenses. Some places you can use in your search are the Better Business Bureau and the American Institute of Philanthropy.
Establish a partnership with your charity. This will bring you closer to your chosen organization and enable you to communicate with their employees and members. Such a relationship can provide extra income for your business, in addition to generating goodwill throughout your community.
Be sure to get credit for your charity work. Issue press releases and photos to local media. Include references to your charity work in company brochures, newsletters, and on your Website. Ask your charity to include publicity about you in their own newsletters, brochures, and pamphlets.
Take advantage of the networking opportunities provided by association with a charity. Stay in touch with members and employees with thank-you notes, discount coupons, or lunch.
Take advantage of possible tax benefits from supporting a charity. Consult your tax advisor before taking any deductions on your tax return.
There is more about home based business charitable giving here.
CONCLUSION
We are all here to help the less fortunate around us. If we can do this, and, at the same time help our business to succeed, we have winners all around.