Dirks On Strategy

Community Marketing: Fact vs. Fiction April 12, 2013

David Dirks

One underutilized area of marketing is where a business supports one or a few local community events and/or organizations.  I say it’s underutilized primarily because most businesses I know are often not quite sure how to relate support with business needs.  Then there’s the issue of why it’s good business to support local organizations and what are the best ways to support them.  Here’s my list of ‘fact vs. fiction’ when it comes to what I call community marketing:

Facts:

• Community marketing can be strategically important to a small businesses.  Sure, you can ignore the world around you but smart businesses who support community events and organizations reap the benefits of establishing additional good will and brand equity within the community.  Helping non-profit organizations in a real and genuine way raises your stature and your businesses stature in your community.
• Focusing on the “giving” part means that the business benefits to you take care of themselves and accrue in different ways.  Most people can see through a person and/or business that’s clearly providing community support in the interest of only getting more business for themselves.  Be selfless in this case.

Fiction:

• You have to spend money to support community-based organizations.  Yes but often they want your time as a volunteer to sit on a board or committee…they really could use your brainpower but the money helps too.  Perhaps you support them by lending them some manpower from your business for an event.  Whatever it is, it isn’t just about supporting with direct dollars.
• Buying ads in community-based events will drive business.  No, it won’t.  You have better chance of winning the Powerball.  Why? First, ads in community-event flyers have a life expectancy of about 10 seconds.  Don’t believe me?  Where do you think these printed booklets often go?  On someones coffee table?  On their fridge?  Taped onto a wall? In their purse?  No, most are left on the floor or table on the night of the event.  Secondly, it takes more than one ad impression to get people to respond to your ad.  In fact, it takes at least 3 impressions to get anyone to notice you at all.  So you think that one 5 x 5 ad in the community flyer is going to drive your business? Make the phones ring?  Rookie mistake.  The real reason you buy ads in community events is TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND PROVIDE THEM WITH A SOURCE OF FUNDING.  That’s it.
• Advertising in community based publications is branding.  No, it’s not – at least not like Nike.  You’re not Nike and spending a few hundred dollars per year to maybe $2k or $3k won’t make you a household name either.  Why?  Again, because the life expectancy of most community publications is minute and the amount of people who actually bother to look at the ads is even less.  If advertising is your focus for branding or business development, you’re focusing on the wrong thing. Instead, build your business brand by building strong and positive relationships as you network through the community.
• You should never expect any business resulting from your involvement in a community-based organization.  Wrong.  The difference is that you should never hold your support for any community-based organization hostage to your demand to drive business in your direction. People will see through your real motives and your reputation will be tainted as such.

Want to know how the real community players (I mean that as professional business people who are genuine in their support) get more business?  They network.  They development genuine professional relationships with other business people.  People like to support other people who have like-minded interests.  You can get more business by being a consistent and genuine supporter of community organizations if you focus on helping the organization and leveraging the relationships of the people you meet along the way.

Learning point:  If you want to meet other successful business owners and other key community influencers, working to help better community-based organizations is where you will find them.  Just look at the boards of some of your community organizations?  Whose on them? Losers? I think not.

Supporting community-based organizations can be a very smart investment of both time and money if you are genuine and really committed to helping them.