We are in the midst of our crowdfunding campaign and #realtalk, it is emotionally taxing on us. When we have friends asking us how our business is going & verbally support us but don't take any action to actually do anything to publicly share our business with their network, it gives us feelings.
In a day and age where small businesses live or die by the buzz generated by online support via social platforms, it's especially important to share publicly and all the time.
We've decided to put together a full list of ways (small & big) you can support your local small business!
- Do not ask for discounts unless offered, asking for discounts = lower margins for the brand and for extremely small businesses, their cost of goods (COGs) is already much higher to begin with because they do not have the luxury of power by sheer volume the way much bigger corporate behemoths have & take advantage of.
- Share, Share, Share. Share their website, talk about their products with your friends and family. Do that in person. Do it on social media. Word of mouth is still one of the strongest ways to gain awareness for small businesses because they do not have the large advertising budgets that corporations have.
- Buy their products. Buying their product supports the business in multiple ways. The first is that it is an emotional validation that their idea & product is viable! The second being that it allows any potential investors & venture capitalists to know that the brand has traction & a loyal customer base. The last being that supporting those small businesses means that you are supporting local communities. Small businesses usually hire from their personal network. Founders & Co-founders money also goes back into the local community to hire talent and grow the economy.
- If you can't monetarily contribute (which we all understand!), sign up for their email list or leave a positive review to further fuel other potential buyers who may be on the fence about the brand!
There are so many little and big things that can be done in order to show a small brand that you support them fully. Support them with your money and support them socially and spread the word that the brand exists!