A Holiday Shop Local Campaign for Your Nashville Business and the Community Benefits

As the holiday season approaches, small businesses everywhere are gearing up for the busiest time of the year. While it's important to focus on attracting new customers, it's also crucial to nurture and support the relationships you already have with your community. One way to do this is by participating in or starting a "shop local" campaign.

A shop local campaign is an effort by businesses and individuals to promote spending at local establishments in order to boost the local economy. These campaigns typically take place during the holidays, but can really happen any time of year. By shopping local, consumers are not only supporting their community, but they're also helping to create jobs and strengthen the local tax base.

There are many ways to get involved in a shop local campaign. In this blog post from the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, we'll cover some of the ways businesses can participate, including kicking off a campaign, promoting it, and giving back.

Launch a Shop Local Campaign

One of the best ways to get people excited about shopping local is to host an event that highlights all the great things your community has to offer. This could be something as simple as a holiday market or open house where shoppers can browse and purchase items from multiple businesses in one central location.

Another great way to get people involved is by hosting a contest or raffle where the prize is a basket full of goodies from local businesses. This is a great way to get people talking and sharing on social media, which will help spread the word about your campaign far and wide.

Promoting Local Shopping

There are many ways businesses can promote a shop local campaign. One way is by simply putting up signage in your store or office letting customers know that you're participating in the campaign. You can also include information about the campaign in your email newsletters or social media posts.

Many communities also have organizations or other groups that sponsor shop local initiatives. If this is the case in your community, see if there's any way you can partner with them to promote the campaign. They may have marketing materials you can use or be able to share your business information with their members or followers.

Shopping Local During The Holidays

In addition to promoting the campaign, businesses can also incentivize shoppers to participate by offering special discounts or promotions during the initiative. For example, you could offer a percentage off purchases made with cash or give a free gift with purchases over a certain amount. Get creative and come up with something that will really entice people to shop at your business.

One way to attract local shoppers is to create a gift guide featuring products from your store. A PDF gift guide can be easily shared through social media and email, which can entice new customers as well. Write a useful guide in Word and convert it. If you can upload the file you can use this PDF converter to make the change. Then you can share the guide in order to draw in customers.

Joint Marketing And Co-Hosting Events

One of the best things about shop local campaigns is that they provide an opportunity for businesses to come together and support each other. There are many ways to do this, but some ideas include co-hosting events, joint marketing initiatives, or cross-promotions (such as offering a discount at one business when a customer shows their receipt from another).

By working together, businesses can pool their resources and reach a wider audience than they would be able to on their own. Plus, it's always nice to build relationships with other businesses in your community!    

Holiday Giving

Giving back is one of the best things businesses can do during the holidays (or really any time of year). If you're participating in a shop local campaign, consider donating a portion of your proceeds to a worthy cause in your community. Not only will this make you feel good, but it will also show your customers that you care about more than just making money—you care about making a difference too!

The holidays are fast approaching—are you ready? If you're like most small business owners, chances are you're busy getting everything ready for what is typically one of the busiest times of year. While it's important to focus on attracting new customers during this time, it's also crucial to support and nurture relationships within your community by participating in (or starting) a shop local campaign. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start supporting your community today! Who knows—you might just find yourself on top next holiday season!

Connect with and learn from other local business leaders by joining the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce.