Why Small Businesses Should Stand Up for a Cause

You’re a small business. You have a defined purpose. Yet, something is missing. You don’t currently support any causes. Why is this important? Well, sometimes, your customers get the impression that you’re nothing but a faceless, cold, corporate entity. Yuck. If you want to improve your PR and corporate image, consider standing up for something outside of your core business activities.

Hold A Fundraiser

Holding a fundraiser is probably one of the best PR moves you can make. If you want to win awards with your customers, try raising money for a good cause that you believe in. If it’s something community-related, all the better. That way, your local customers can benefit from all of the money being raised.

It’s an easy win for your brand and something that you can involve the entire local community in. Bring in current and past customers, as well as potential customers, to help with the event. Spend some money promoting it on local T.V., local Internet ads, flyers, and even direct mail.

Participate In A Fundraiser

When you can’t hold the fundraiser yourself, consider participating in one that someone else is hosting. For example, let’s say a charity is set up to accept donations at the next high school basketball game. Your company either doesn’t have the money or time to manage a similar event, so you participate in the one already being held.

You volunteer your time, and make donations to the charity. Some charities will reward top contributors with pins, plaques, and sometimes even free advertising at sporting events if the charity has made special arrangements with the co-host (if there is a co-host for the event).

Regardless of whether you’re awarded anything for your charitable donation, you may end up with good publicity. Many times, local news organizations cover charitable events, especially if they’re local and help the local community.

Even if there’s no local media present, you can still take advantage of the opportunity by having someone from your company tape the event. Then, you can edit it later and put together a music video for your company’s website or use it in promotional material.

Wear Ribbons

Ribbons come in all shapes and sizes. They’re worn for all sorts of causes. For example, wearing cancer awareness ribbons shows your support for those who are currently battling cancer, who have suffered and survived, and for those working for a cure.

Consider picking up pins for everyone in your office. You can wear them on national holidays commemorating the cause. For example, cancer pins can be worn on National Cancer Awareness Day and World Cancer Day.

Of course, cancer pins are just one example. You could purchase pins for diabetes awareness or for domestic violence, down syndrome, autism, 9-11, HIV/AIDS, heart Disease, and even child abuse.

Choose a cause that you really believe in. You don’t have to poll everyone in the company, but it might help if you only intend to support one cause at your company. You can also support any and every cause that is important to your employees. Pins won’t disrupt the workflow of a typical workday, and they will help bolster employee morale.