Ways to support your favourite small businesses

It's been a tough one for a lot of small businesses this year. And coming up to what is usually the busiest time of year for retail and product businesses, I wanted to share all the ways that you can support your favourite small businesses', local or not, because let's be real - a few orders for a small business could make all the difference, whereas the big companies (you know the ones I mean), will not miss a few orders.

And you don't necessarily have to spend a penny to help support your favourites!

Attend a market or visit in store

I've been doing lots more markets this year and it's always great to see the amount of people that come out to have a look and support. Even if you don't buy anything on the day, it's a great way to find local and small businesses that you may in the future want to buy from. Same with local independent shops too. Check to see if your favourite small businesses stock their products in brick and mortar shops too - saves you on shipping!

Share

Sharing the posts of that business you love on social media is a great way for the business to potentially reach new customers. So even though you're not spending anything, it could result in an order or two for that business from someone who may follow you but not know about the business. Win win!

Engaging

Liking, commenting or bookmarking the posts you see that you love helps so much! The more engagement a post get, the more likely it will be pushed to more people. Social media has become much more difficult to navigate as a small business so every interaction really does count.

Review

If you have previously bought something from a small business, leave a review! It may help a future customer place an order if they see positive reviews about the product they are looking at. I know for sure that I read the reviews on anything I'm looking at.

Recommend

Tell your friends, family and co workers about the business you've bought from or found recently. Word of mouth is a powerful (and free) way of advertising.

Post photos of past orders

Like with reviews, if you post about a product you've bought from a small business in the past make sure to tag them! Or at least mention the name, so that other people can find them too.

Sign up/subscribe

Most small business' will have a newsletter/mailing list that you can subscribe to - and often with a discount incentive to sign up. Even if you don't buy anything when you first sign up, you'll likely have all the latest straight into your inbox. Much more reliable than social media!

Purchase

Obviously the best way to support is to purchase. Even if it is just a card, or something small, all purchases make a big difference. And especially at this time of year, giving a gift from a small business will be so much more thoughtful than generic stuff from a big name shop.