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Small Business Bakery

How to Support a Small Business Without Purchasing a Thing

So How do You Support a Small Business Without Purchasing a Thing?

Many people assume that, in order to support a small business, they must spend money and purchase something from that business. In fact, there are several ways you can support a small business without purchasing a thing—and it’s important to know about these because every little bit helps! After all, your local small businesses are the backbone of your community, and providing any support you can to them will go a long way towards strengthening your community as well. Let’s take a look at the different ways you can support your local small businesses without spending any money!

Word of Mouth

One of the most straightforward and easiest ways to get started supporting a small business for free, is to tell your friends and family! Talk about your local favorite businesses and be a walking billboard to show support for the products or services you love.

People love to hear about good businesses to try out, so don’t be afraid to talk about the business you love.

Leave Reviews

Even if you’re strapped for cash, it doesn’t mean you can’t give back and support small businesses. Do you ever research before visiting a small business location or shopping online? Sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor offer excellent ways to learn about the customer experience in advance. Write reviews on Yelp, other review sites, and any social media posts you make so that your voice is heard. 

Reviews can play a major role for many small businesses. Facebook and Goodle are a couple more fantastic places that almost everyone can leave a review on. All you need is an account! This is an excellent way of supporting small shops without spending any money at all!

How to Support a Small Business Without Purchasing a Thing

Give Authentic Feedback

I, personally, love small businesses. When I visit my friends’ shops or restaurants I get the feeling that every thing was lovingly made with care and concern for all the little details. However sometimes, they need us to let them know when something could have been imporoved

Giving them feedback is easy: 

Say you order lunch from a new restaurant and you absolutely loved it, but maybe something wasn’t quite right. We can just ignore it and hope it doesnt happen again, or we can let the company know. If we let the company know, they can do their best to remedy the situation moving forward and keep it from happening again.

Most business owners would much rather have one customer politely let them know about a problem, rather than many negative reviews coming in because of something they didn’t know was happening.

Follow Them on Social Media

One of the best ways to support small businesses is by connecting with them on social media. Facebook and Instagram are a great place to start. You can be a part of your local communities without spending anything or even having to leave your house!

While it’s not as hands-on as going into the store and shopping, it does provide meaningful exposure for small businesses. Follow them on Twitter, like their posts on Facebook, and leave feedback in the comments section! You can even join their email list to stay up to date on everything they have going on. It’s important that we do what we can to create positive change in the world—and supporting local business is one way we can do that.

Support a small business for free

Share Posts

Share your honest opinion of the business’s products and services. If you like it, tell people where they can get it! I love to share a post every time that I get a haircut at my local salon. I can give them a little bit of exposure and it costs me nothing! 

When they post a promotion, be sure to share it to your page, so that all of your friends and family can see the awesome deals as well!

Connect with Owners

If you are really looking to empower small businesses, connect with the owners. They may suggest some of the same things we’ve mentioned here, or maybe there’s something specific they’ve been needing help with and you know the right person to help them out. 

It’s incredible how much just talking with small business owners can provide truly substantial insight into how you can best help them out. There really are many simple ways we can help that never would have crossed our mind if we hadn’t gone straight to the source.

Get Involved in The Community

Local networking groups can be a great way to connect with local businesses in the area. Many city’s will have a “Chamber of Commerce” which is all about local business trying to help each other out. Everyone works together and gets a chance to talk about how others in the group can help them make their business grow. Who knows, maybe you’ll even find someone who can help you!

Just Get Started!

So what are some ways you can give back and support small businesses in your community?

Visit them, check out their website, volunteer with them on an event or at the store. Join their mailing list and find out about any deals going on. Share what you buy from them with your friends on social media so they’ll visit too. Reach out if you want to take pictures of your purchase for their social media page, let others know when they are giving away items like gift certificates, or share a product with another customer who might be looking for something similar without the same item being available.

Trevor Kaak
Trevor Kaak

Trevor Kaak is an experienced author, speaker, and business and marketing expert who is highly knowledgeable in business acquisitions, digital marketing, and SEO.

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