Why supporting local charities is the perfect marketing solution for your small business

In the modern world, every small business needs to put a good deal of effort into marketing and publicity. There are so many start-ups and other companies in their initial phase bombing prospective customers with information, that it’s difficult to catch their attention.
New strategies need to be formulated in order to reach a target audience in a different way; one that is effective. Catch their attention with an original practice and the chances of converting the investment into profit will almost certainly increase. One such strategy is supporting local charitable organisations, a practice that is better explained below.

How does charity impact a marketing campaign?
Instead of putting large sums of money into advertising on television, radio and social media campaigns alone, think about diversifying your options. By supporting a charity within the same region, a small business will not only be helping people, but helping people who share the same community. Word spreads fast and those who previously might have had no connection to a business will raise a company’s reputation by commenting about a donation, or sponsorship. This will often lead to the number of sales and market share increasing.
How can a small business help without donating cash?
Deciding on this strategy is a good start but you may be put off by the thought of how much money it will cost in small business finance to make a charitable donation. Fortunately, there are other ways to make a positive contribution to a charity other than just through donations, that will also positively impact your company’s marketing campaign.
One way is to involve employees in a volunteering scheme. It might be an activity that occurs just once, for example for a special event, fundraising drive or a fair. A small business could also host an event itself, using its own facilities, to raise money for a local charity organization. Doing so would directly relate the company to the charitable cause and bring benefits to all.
What other benefits can a company get from such assistance?
Besides raising its reputation amongst local people, it’s possible to find other direct effects that are positive to the company. One additional benefit to becoming involved in charitable work is that it has been shown to raise the morale of employees who participate in events or projects. Feeling they are part of something else other than just their daily work will indirectly and positively affect their work.
Furthermore, depending on the project or institution, local and national government may offer tax deductions on any values invested in sponsorship or donations to charitable institutions. While the importance of the contribution goes way beyond financial gain, the resulting economic benefits are a big plus.
So, helping a charitable organisation within a local community can bring benefits to a company’s reputation, increased marketing, improvement in small business finance, a rise in staff morale and it supports the community itself.
How to find a local charity organisation
It can be easier to find institutions that may be in need of donations or sponsorship in small communities. Look for sports organisations, hospitals, charities that take care of sick children, for example. Fortunately, with the internet it’s possible to locate such places and entities in big cities as well, where it would be almost impossible to locate them otherwise. A quick search of the web will result in special locators dedicated to finding charitable organisations according to filters. All one needs is to define the type of institution and the area it should be found, to locate a local charitable organisation in need of help.
Final Considerations
Going through all these advantages of helping a local charity organization should be enough to encourage any small business to do so. It’s a small investment, considering all possible returns, especially to those who you are helping, but also in terms of your marketing share.
The most common advertising channels may be effective. Stick with them, customise according to the needs of your company to reach its target audience, but diversify. Pick the best organisations that are most suited to your business and discover from them how you can help in the most effective way.
Doing good for the local community will not only build a strong base for the future – many of those you reach will be prospective new clients – but it’s as beneficial to a small business as a marketing campaign can be. For those reasons, supporting local charities is the perfect marketing solution for a small business.