Can Community Involvement Grow My Brand Online?

Why Your Business Needs Community Involvement For Success

Personal connections play a huge role in business success. It might be hard to believe, but people respond to people! That’s why we always suggest community involvement.

Whether you run an HVAC company, plumbing service, or electrical business, your team is where the rubber meets the road. Interacting with your community can increase your visibility both offline and online.

Interpersonal interactions with current and potential customers increase brand awareness, establish loyalty, and even allow you to tap into new areas to grow your business by meeting people where they are. Being active in your community helps in ways you can track and in ways you can’t!

The most important thing to remember is that when you do what your customers love to do, they’ll grow to love you too!

• What Are the Tangible Benefits of Community Involvement for Your Business?

It feels good to help people, and in a perfect world, we could spend our entire day doing that. You are, however, running a business, and it’s okay to keep an eye on the value you’re getting for your time.

Jessica Bermudez put together countless campaigns for our clients during her time with LeadsNearby. The key was showing them how to help others while still helping themselves.

“We had a client that wanted to get into a neighborhood they weren’t currently working in. One October day, they had more techs than work, so some were sent to leave a pumpkin on every doorstep in an aging neighborhood. The company included their contact information and a note saying if you don’t want this pumpkin, call us, and we’ll come pick it up.”

Unsurprisingly, people love pumpkins!

They didn’t get any calls to remove these little presents, but they did get more than a few questions about noises people had been hearing in their furnaces as well as inquiries about new installations before the winter hit.

The campaign was a total win-win. People got a pleasant surprise as the leaves started to fall, and in turn, the company was able to reach and connect with a new customer base.

• What Are the Intangible Benefits of Community Involvement for Your Business?

These benefits are harder to track but can still have a tremendous impact on your bottom line.

The more you’re involved in your community, the more people will think about your company. Ask yourself: If you see a local garage door company’s logo every time you wash your kid’s Little League uniform, what’s going to be the first name that comes to mind when you need a new garage door?

How Does Community Engagement Help Your Online Presence?

Backlinks! Backlinks are links from other websites to your site. They are incredibly valuable and usually come as part of an event sponsorship package. By sponsoring events, you can gain backlinks from local websites, which Google recognizes as a trust signal.

Greg Shadik, SEO Manager at LeadsNearby, explains that these connections increase your site’s trust factor. “Many people don’t pursue local backlinks because they don’t see the value. But Google sees backlinks as proof that you are a trusted partner in the community. That confidence can help you rank higher than another provider in your town.”

A good marketing company knows how to blend physical marketing with digital marketing to get you the results you’re looking for. Anytime you can be where your customers are, it’s a win!

What’s The Best Way To Start Community Engagement For My Business?

“See what your employees are into,” Jessica says. “Someone you know is doing the Alzheimer’s walk. Someone is doing a 5K for breast cancer. If you don’t personally have a pet project, see what your employees are passionate about and help them out.”

Whether you have time or money to spare, there’s a way to get involved that benefits the community and your business.

“Does the high school need foam fingers? You can put the school mascot on the front and your logo on the back for almost nothing. Guess which side people will spend hours looking at every Friday night?”

There are many ways to reach out to your community and different levels of commitment to match the resources you have. The trick is finding a company that can help you do this in a way that reinforces your brand!

If you have more time than money, Jessica says an offer to cook out at an event could be perfect.

“Even if you have to buy the hotdogs and buns, they cost very little. Spending a few hours introducing yourself to every hungry person at the pet walk is worth its weight in gold! You might even be able to just work the grill with no out-of-pocket cost. The point is, when you associate yourself with something people care about, they’ll start to care about you.”

If you want to learn more about how community involvement can boost your online visibility and customer base, contact LeadsNearby. We can help you create a strategy that maximizes both your online and offline marketing efforts.

Do You Have A Logo Or Brand? » « Essential Ways You Need To Optimize Your Google Business Profile