What makes you feel successful as a business owner in today’s competitive world?
For some, it is seeing your revenue grow quarter to quarter. Others, meantime, like it when their brand not only gets lots of promotions, but is also expanding into other markets.
While those are all great marks for a company; so too is helping others.
When your brand can reach out to those in your local community (and even nationally at times) and lend a helping hand, it gives you a good feeling about your role as a business owner.
Business of Lending a Helping Hand
It truly doesn’t matter if your business is big or small, there are myriad of ways you can leave a positive imprint on the lives of others.
In the event you’ve not been too robust in community activities over the years or are new to the business world, keep some of these ideas in mind for 2016 and beyond:
- Outreach – What are you doing as a business leader to help those in your local community? Get together with your employees to come up with some ways of making lives better for those in and around town. There are options such as participating in running or walking events, book drives to get more people (especially kids) reading, packing up supplies to send off to the troops, doing toy fairs for area children and so much more. When you and your employees sit down and think about ideas, the best idea to come out of this is that you will be helping others;
- Partnership – If you do not want to headline a fund-raiser or other such event, partner with others in the community to do so. This takes the pressure off of you to be the prime organizer, yet you still add your company’s time and effort to the mix. Have someone on your staff be in charge of looking for opportunities to get your business involved. Work with the local chamber of commerce and other business leaders in the community to see where your brand can best leave its helping footprints around town;
- Educate – Learn from some of the “big boys” as to what they’re doing not only nationally, but in local communities. Companies such as McDonald’s, Nike, Target, Las Vegas Sands and many others are well-known for their efforts to assist others. Take a lesson from these and other known brands, learning how they put these different helping programs in motion. Once you’ve done that, you can then implement likewise efforts on your local level to help both individuals and families;
- Publicize – Once you have a fund-raiser or other such type of helping program or plan in place, promote the heck out of it for maximum success. You can do this through a number of channels, notably press releases and social media. Your press release/s should include pertinent details not only about the event, but how and why others in the community should get involved. With social media, you can inform countless people of the event planned and how to participate in it. Use your social networking opportunities like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. to promote your plans. Lastly, share the plans with as many people you know in your social networking circle, encouraging them to promote as well. It is also a good idea to help promote others who are doing likewise initiatives in their respective communities. Another business in town may be doing its own type of fund-raiser that you’re not participating in, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give direct non-competitors a little promotion on your social sites. When everyone takes a little bit of time to spread the news about assisting others, much more gets done.
When you stop and think about it, having the right focus applies to many facets of the business world.
Yes, you’re in the business world to sell your product or service and ultimately make money.
That being said, helping others a little less fortunate along the way will bring you just as much success and a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.
Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com
About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.
