5 Free Ways To Support Local Business

Everyone has their favorite local business, a friend that has started their own small business, or even an organization that needs help. Starting a local business is both exciting for you and for the business owner. You get to see them follow their dreams and the business owner gets to make a living providing a great product or service for their community.

If you’re like us, you try to support these local businesses in any way possible. You help them move, set up their shop, even help with their deliveries and other day-to-day duties. You want to do more, but sometimes their business is outside of your knowledge base. What more can you do? ALOT, ACTUALLY!!

Here’s some easy ways you can contribute to the success of your favorite local business or organization. Best of all it’s FREE and takes very little time and effort.

Word of mouth remains the most powerful, most impactful, and our favorite form of advertising. It’s easy, just start talking! Talk about your experience, what you liked, how you felt afterwards, and encourage the people you’re talking with to go check it out for themselves. Better yet, invite them to go with you!

This might not work for all businesses. For example, if Fred has a problem with his toilet, you’re probably not going to invite yourself to fix it, unless you know how to. What you could do is tell him a similiar toilet problem from either your experience or someone you know and recommend a local service, highlighting the positive experience and the outcome. If you want to go the extra mile, pull out your phone and Google the businesses number and website and pass it on to Fred.

Ahhh Social Media, a constant stream of entertainment and announcements. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay and has a huge impact on how a community gets and shares information. Here’s your shot to spread the good word about your favorite local business to your friends. Post a picture, share a video, or write a post about your experience. Doing so gives local businesses instant credibility and increases the chance others will share in the excitement with you.

Whatever social media platform you are using, chances are your favorite local business has a presence. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, LinkedIn, or any other social media site, give your favorite local business’s content a Like, Comment, or Share. Doing so increases their content’s reach, allowing it to be put in front of more people. This is good for their business’s reputation and assures them that spending time putting out social media content is not wasted.

Have you ever researched a company before you did business with them? Of course you have….it’s not 1920. With online reviews being a dominant form of reputation building, here is another chance for you to help. Writing a review doesn’t have to be a lengthy process. Simply search their business in Google, Facebook, Yelp, or any other social media or review platform and start sharing your experience. These types of testimonials are priceless for a local business and help generate a buzz around their offerings.

Tagging your friends in online posts is the fastest way to share your favorite business’s online content. If you see a post or article that you think a friend would be interested in, simply tag them in the comments section. Whomever you tag will get a notification that they’ve been tagged in a post and because the tag is coming from you it’s almost like your passing a secret note to them. How Tricky!

If you’re looking for ways to help a local business succeed try some of these very simple tactics. Start by talking about their business with family and friends. Continue that conversation online by tagging, liking, commenting, and sharing their social media content. Write a positive review for them and share your experience in doing business with them. Trust me, people are reading!

In the end you’ll feel more attached to your favorite local business and really feel like you’re contributing to their success because YOU ARE.

Thanks For Reading!

DZM