Here’s another way to begin “Getting Your Name Out There.” Let’s talk about Community Involvement and how that can help your business grow.

“Wait, community involvement? Doesn’t that mean volunteering and doing stuff for free?” I heard you think it.

And no, that’s not exactly what we’re talking about. Community involvement can definitely be those things, but they aren’t necessary to grow your business or help you get your name out there. Think of it like this: while networking helps you grow through mutually beneficial partnerships with individuals, community involvement does that between you, your company and other organizations.

CI (I’m gonna call it that for the rest of this post, because typing out “community involvement” is killing my fingers.) can be a great way to grow your brand and grow your community presence through positive public relations and corporate social responsibility. In today’s world, it’s not enough for a brand to be loved by its customers for the typical reasons - convenience, price, customer service. Customers, especially those of the millenial variety, want to know that your company is rallying behind a cause and being a good citizen.

But the most important thing to remember here is BE AUTHENTIC! Don’t just pick a cause because it’s the flavor of the week. Customers see straight through that. Choose something that aligns with your brand, mission or what you the owner is passionate about. Say you make and sell toys for pet birds. Being involved with a local bird sanctuary would probably be a great partnership. Or maybe you own a food truck. Starting and maintaining a community garden or feeding the homeless might be a great way to show how your brand integrates with the bigger picture.

So what does the actual involvement part of CI look like? If it’s not giving away free product or money, what can you do? First, whatever form of CI you choose, needs to be sustainable and not a one-off. Nothing looks authentic if you only do it once. Let’s use the two examples above. With the bird toy biz, employees could volunteer at the sanctuary once a month or do a food drive for the birds. The toy company could easily take pictures and post about either thing on their social platforms to showcase their relationship with the sanctuary and in doing so, provide free publicity for the sanctuary, making it a symbiotic relationship. With the food truck, feeding the homeless could become pricey depending on the volume, but working with an already established food pantry or nonprofit could lighten the load and again provide an opportunity for collaboration across sectors.

Not sure how your company could start a CI program? Start small. Get a group of employees together and volunteer somewhere or ask everyone what they’re passionate about and try a few different options. Or for something relatively simple, call your local United Way. They can either find a way to plug you in somewhere or make recommendations. Trust us; there are organizations for every interest.

A great benefit to CI is that it provides opportunities for varying groups to rally behind a cause, improve outcomes for the community and network at the same time. The next time that bird sanctuary adopts a bird out and the new owner wants toys for their baby, who will they recommend? Their friends at the toy company of course! And when the food pantry needs a caterer for their fundraiser, who will they hire? Their food truck friends!

Dellanee and I have found a few organizations we’d like to be involved with or attempt to align ourselves with. We’ll be using this year to flesh those partnerships out and see what works best. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you plugged in with what we’re up to!

Still can’t decide on a way to integrate Community Involvement into your organization?
Your friends at the Maltshop would be more than happy to brainstorm with you on ways to be involved in the community and grow your business while doing it! Call us here in Shreveport at 318-202-2142 or go to our Contact Us page to find out how we can help you today!