3 ways your building community can support Small Business Saturday
Over the past two years, we’ve seen a big push to support local small businesses, many of which have struggled to keep their doors open throughout the pandemic. Supporting small businesses has long-term benefits for both property managers and the local neighborhood. On Small Business Saturday, contribute to your community’s economic growth by bringing your building community together to shop locally.
Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to supporting and celebrating the small businesses in your neighborhood. Taking place every year on the Saturday after American Thanksgiving, Small Business Saturday is an opportunity to boost your local economy by going out and shopping at your local stores.
Here are three easy and exciting ways your building community can participate in Small Business Saturday:
1. Support your local coffee shop
Supporting the small businesses in your neighborhood can be as easy as encouraging your tenants to try out a new coffee shop. For most, grabbing a morning coffee means rushing to your go-to coffee chain; however, if your tenants try something new, it will expose them to a local business that they may even choose to continually visit as part of their routine. On Small Business Saturday, encourage your tenants to try out a new coffee shop near the office or in their own neighborhood. Use HILO Updates as a tool to promote this initiative by sending reminders to shop locally during the week leading up to Small Business Saturday. Updates can also be sent to your building community to announce new businesses that are opening in the building or nearby.
2. Local business raffle
Hosting a raffle for your tenants is a great way to engage excitement, raise awareness and support the local businesses in your community. Purchase items or gift cards from 5-10 stores and draw the winners on Small Business Saturday. Doing this will encourage your tenants to learn about local businesses while your building’s operations team demonstrates their commitment by contributing financially to businesses that are integral to the community. It’s crucial to advertise the companies included in the raffle so the awareness spreads beyond the individual winner, and sparks interest on a larger scale. You can do this by promoting each business and prize when your tenants enter their names into the raffle. After they enter, keep them engaged and informed with HILO’s Community Directory, where they can access information about all of the local businesses in and around your neighborhood.
3. Feature of the day
While educating your tenants on the local businesses in your neighborhood is beneficial, it’s important to mix it up and bring the source directly to the heart of your building. In the week leading up to Small Business Saturday, bring in a different small local retailer each day to feature their business and set up a space to sell and advertise their products. This informs your tenants of the various stores that are in your building or close by. It also gives them a sample of what the business is all about and allows them to speak directly to the store employees or owners, forming a personal connection. Featuring a new retailer every day can also add an element of excitement when entering the building and offers your local retailers another way to market and advertise their business with little to no cost. Use HILO to keep your tenants informed and engaged in the activities within your building and community every day.
HILO and the local community
HILO was built to connect people and bring your building community together. That community includes the local businesses and retailers that serve it. It’s time to bring the spirit of Small Business Saturday to your building year-round, to strengthen relationships with your tenants and take engagement with your community to the next level. With this in mind, let’s take a look at how the HILO connects you and your tenants to the local community.
The HILO Community Directory encourages your tenants to explore local businesses by featuring a list of all the businesses in and around your building. This gives local businesses a mobile presence and allows tenants to easily access information on the local shops they are familiar with, as well as an opportunity to discover shops and services that are new to them.
Helping to facilitate loyalty between local small businesses and the people that frequent them the most, the Community Directory has local curated offers and experiences from both the building and businesses in the neighborhood. The HILO Rewards program gives back to your tenants by rewarding them for their loyalty when making a purchase from a local business.
HILO also supports your local restaurants by allowing tenants to discover the businesses that offer food and drink nearby. No need to use multiple applications to place an order, HILO adds all of the ordering and delivery options available for each food service retailer so your tenants have direct access to mobile ordering and delivery. All your tenants have to do is search for their favorite restaurant, discover the various pickup and delivery options available, and click to order. This is also a great way for local restaurants to conveniently attract nearby customers and make it easy to enjoy what they have to offer.
As well, another way to help your tenants discover local businesses is to send out weekly Updates on HILO to highlight new retailers or retailers that might need some extra love, especially after the challenges they faced during the height of the pandemic. Send out these Updates with images and information to promote these businesses or welcome new eateries and shops to the community.
HILO also partners with local Business Improvement Districts/Areas (BIDs/BIAs), expanding the network and creating a robust community for tenants, whether they are at work or at home. Providing a mobile marketplace and bringing smaller independent merchants onto the HILO network provides an easy and cost-effective way for those businesses to increase awareness and promote themselves to an audience of customers that are nearby in their neighborhood. All in the palm of building tenants’ hands.
