Building Community
Since starting my consulting firm a few months before the beginning of the Pandemic here, building community around my firm has been a much more daunting task than imagined. Many year later, I have found inspiration by watching my dogs build their community at daycare,
Whether your business is online or in person or a mixture of both, building community around your products and services is important. Community is there to support you in challenging times and there to celebrate you in successful ones. This is a great opportunity to create a ‘buzz’ about you and your organization. Often, financial investment is minimal. Your time is the resource most valuable to this effort.
We have our offices in a large, early 20th century, converted Ford plant. At last check, there were around 100, mostly smaller, businesses and organizations here. Yet, those we have interacted with are few and those we know well, even fewer. However, that should change soon.
A not for profit organization that takes up a good amount of the higher floor, is returning to Pre-Pandemic times and running their large fundraiser in March. The last time they did this was in 2018. They expect approximately 3,000 attendees! As a tenant, we can open our suite to a performance artist, likely a musician in our case. We recently met with the organizers and are thrilled to participate.
Think about that number for a moment, 3,000. How much time and money would it take to reach that many potential clients, members, customers or patients? Likely, a lot of your time and a lot of your money. And they are being brought into our space! You really cannot pass up an opportunity like this to be a part of the building community and the greater neighborhood.
Understanding that many small businesses do not have access to this type of open community forum, there are ways you can reach out and find other opportunities to showcase your business. See if your town may have a larger building or neighborhood that does provide some type of ‘Open Doors’ event. A city just outside Buffalo, Jamestown, just had such an event. We imagine it was quite successful, most participating museums and organizations were offering to waive entrance fees to showcase their organization to the general public and potential new members. Do an internet search for your local community on ‘Open Doors’ events or large community forums. There is bound to be something of interest to you.
Our city also has one of the largest Garden Walks in the country. While this is usually a residential home garden event, businesses along the routes can participate. Offer free water or lemonade and take advantage of all those walkers sailing by. Locally, the numbers have been estimated at around 50,000 attendees each July. Again, a number an endless marketing campaign could likely take years to reach.
Certainly, not every celebration or event will bring all your prospects in one place. But, participating in as many of these as you can, should lead a few prospects to your door, create a general ‘buzz’ about your firm, and help your sense of community thrive. Now is the time to make up for those years of isolation.
Be well.
