I know, I know, you’ve heard this all before. Shop local. Support small business, etc. and guess what, I’m going to say it again and again: Shopping Local and Supporting Small Businesses MATTERS.
Why? Because supporting small businesses means you’re supporting a local family, it means you’re helping someone create art, or amazing coffee, or a fun experience. Supporting small businesses means you're not putting money into the pockets of big corporations, but rather putting money into the pockets of a family or individual that has put their heart and soul into their product or service.
Shopping small and supporting small businesses means more unique products, diverse representation and a more vibrant local community overall.
So, this holiday season, if you aren’t able to shop small, or maybe you're looking for free ways you can support your local businesses do the following:
Engage with and Share their Social Media Content: Most small businesses are running their own social media channels. So on top of creating their products and services, they're also working full time to produce content to showcase those products and services. The easiest way to support your favorite local small business is to like, share, and comment on their social media posts! It may seem simple or silly, but every small business owner notices something like this and are super grateful for it! Also, doing this allows the social media algorithm gods to push their content out to more people.
Leave a Review: If there's a way to leave a review for a small business, do it! It takes such a small amount of time for you to make a small business owners day. Leaving a review helps to show others that other people have experienced the service or bought a product from this small business and most people now base a lot of their buying decisions on reviews. So leaving a review for a small businesses is a free and easy way to support a small business moving forward and it's something that the small business can use over and over again to help showcase those that have visited or bought from their business.
Recommend them to your friends and family: Recommend, recommend, recommend! Tell your friends and family about your favorite small businesses. Most small businesses rely on other people talking about their business and recommending it to friends. Everyone has their own social circles, and you never know who could find a use for it!
Create a “must-do” list for your out of town guests that highlight your favorite local businesses: This is perhaps my favorite tip on this list! I'm all about creating fun little things for guests when they visit. One thing you can do for your out of town holiday guests is to create a "must-do" list for your city and include your favorite small businesses! This can include coffee shops, restaurants, beauty services, shopping, etc.! It can be as simple as compiling a digital list to text to them before they come or you can make a printed little booklet highlighting all of your favorite places! Most out of town guests want to visit local places versus chains, so help them out and recommend some of your favorites!
There are so many ways for us to support each other and the holidays are a great time to do it! Even if you can't buy local, there are numerous ways to support local businesses in your city!
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