Businesses, like everything else, do not exist in a vacuum. They are impacted by the community in which they based, and thus, it only makes sense that involvement in one's community can help one's business grow.

Obviously, community involvement will help you develop and retain a clientele for your business. The most eye-catching, well-produced commercials are no substitute for a loyal client base and good word-of-mouth. People like to patronize businesses they, and their neighbors, know and trust. The majority of businesses gets most of its business from the local community - even in this day and age of globalization. Thus, a business's livelihood is often closely tied to its community.

Beyond this, however, community involvement can help a business grow in other ways. Community involvement helps business owners cultivate their professional networks. It is here that business owners can find talented people to staff their businesses, where they can find good deals on supplies and materials that they may need, and where they can form alliances that can be essential in helping to keep their businesses afloat.

Business owners who are active in their communities can also get an unfiltered, firsthand account of what their community needs in terms of business services and products. For instance, a small business owner specializing in printing high-end invitations may get information about upcoming weddings and other special events by attending community events, and thus, it can help him/her cultivate that market. Market studies or advertising may not have been able to penetrate that market. Similarly, if that owner learns that there's really no market for high-end invitations in that community, s/he may consider diversifying their business, or expanding to a different community. The best way to know how your business is doing is to see it at work, and the best way to do that, is to go out into the community where your business is based.

Finally, business owners that are involved in their community develop something that can be priceless to a business - goodwill. Consider New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Many businesses were completely wiped out, and insurance payments weren't enough to rebuild. Some businesses, however, with strong ties to the community, benefited from the generosity of its community - through monetary donations, as well as voluntary labor to help the businesses get back on its feet. Cultivating ties to the community helps a business become a part of that community and as a community thrives - so too does the business. But a community can also rally around a business should it fall on hard times - as communities tend to look after its own.

This relationship works in reverse as well, as business owners who invest in their communities, helping it to grow can help to expand that community (and thus its clientele), as well as to increase their business's worth through increasing real estate values and business 'traffic.'

In the end, creating a strong support network for the business through on-going and strong ties within the community in which the business is based (and which it serves) can be a great benefit and asset to a business owner.

Learn more about this author, Katie Lee.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How being involved in your community can help your business grow?
We want to hear your view. Write now!