Why It’s So Important for Your Business to Be Involved in the Community
Despite the advancements of social media usage and online shopping, most small businesses are still largely dependent on their surrounding communities for both customers and employees. Because of this, it is vital for your small business to be involved in the local area.
Community involvement means different things to different businesses. It can be as simple as showing up for community events, volunteering in local service projects, and just paying attention to the specific needs of your community. All of these things are ways of giving back to the people who support your business.
If you are engaged in your community, your company can build relationships with your potential customers and show them that your small business cares for them. This creates a give-and-take relationship between your company and the local community that benefits both parties.
Dave Saylor, owner of Acadiana Café in San Antonio, Texas, attributes much of Acadiana’s 34-year success to the café’s involvement in its community. Dave serves on several different boards in the community, and many people have turned to him in their time of need because they knew his business’s reputation as a company willing to step up and serve its local community.
The community’s loyalty to Acadiana was not built up overnight. Dave has cultivated this reputation through actively engaging with the San Antonio community at every opportunity, and his effort continues to pay off.
In our recent podcast, Dave recommends several ways to help your small business be involved with your local community so that you can build up that relationship.
Know Your Community
Before you can truly be involved in your local community, you have to become familiar with it first. Once you know what the community’s culture is like, you will be able to adjust your business to serve the area better.
The community surrounding Acadiana Café is a melting pot of ethnicities, nationalities, and cultures. Between the military base and San Antonio’s large Hispanic and German population, Acadiana serves its Cajun cuisine to people from all different kinds of backgrounds.
While the café sticks mostly to a traditional Cajun menu, there is one deviation: Cajun nachos. Acadiana Café is the only Cajun restaurant where you can find such unusual fare.
Because Dave was involved in his community, he knew what kinds of food would appeal to his customers, and he was able to use that knowledge to come up with a truly unique dish for his customers.
When you begin to involve your business in your community, you will find ways for your company to create new products tailored to the local culture which you might never have otherwise considered adding to your business.
How is the area surrounding your business distinctive? What can you do to adjust your company’s services to better cater to your local community?
Serve Your Community
When you go above and beyond to serve your community, it shows people just how much your business cares for its customers. Service is a strong way to build up your brand within the local community.
Dave is a well-known figure in the San Antonio vicinity. He serves as an honorary commander for the air force at the nearby military base, helps local churches who call on him for assistance with service projects, and volunteers with Habitat for Humanity to help build houses for people in need.
As Dave has continued to serve his community, people have begun to rely on him when they know of someone in need. He has been approached multiple times with a request from someone in the community, and he loves to be able to give back and help out.
“There are opportunities for service, you just have to be open to them,” Dave said. “They’ll come find you, or you go look for them.”
When your business is a force for good in your community, people will come to know and rely on your brand. Your standing in the local area is vital to your small business’s success, and serving the community creates opportunities to build up your reputation as a caring business.
Empathize with Your Community
If the people in your community know you have a reputation for caring about them, they will be more loyal to your business.
But community is not limited just to the people who patronize your business. Your employees are an important part of your local community as well, and more and more, employees want to work for a company that cares for them.
According to the 2019 State of Workplace Empathy Study, 93 percent of employees said they are more likely to continue working for an employer who is empathetic, and 78 percent said they would be willing to work longer hours to stay with an empathetic employer.
Dave has maintained an unusually low turnover rate at Acadiana Café, despite being in the restaurant business. He attributes it to having loyal employees.
How do you get loyal employees? Dave says that when you try to understand what your employees are going through and are willing to work with them, you both benefit.
Dave’s advice is simple: “Take care of your people and they’ll take care of you.”
Loyal employees impact your brand’s reputation in a positive way. When you are willing to empathize with your employees, you create a more positive work environment, which in turn promotes loyalty among your employees.
Long-Term Effort, Long-Term Reward
Dave has spent the past 34 years pouring into Acadiana Café, first as an assistant manager, then later as sole owner, and he has reaped the rewards of his business’s intentional involvement in the local community.
Knowing, serving, and empathizing with your community will help your business thrive. Being involved in your community can help increase loyalty and awareness, build trust, and promote a positive view of your brand.
If you are willing to invest time and effort in being involved in your community, your business will benefit from it. It’s a long-term investment, but in the end, it brings about worthwhile results.
