5 Easy Ways to Support Small Businesses Throughout the Year

26 Jun 5 Easy Ways to Support Small Businesses Throughout the Year

Target Merchant Solutions (TMS) highlighted National Small Business Week in May on our social media platforms. In this blog post, we discuss why supporting small businesses throughout the year matters and 5 easy ways this can be accomplished.

It is important to support and frequent your local small businesses throughout the year. They play a crucial role in driving economic growth and creating job opportunities. However, running a small business is not for the faint of heart.

Small business owners take on many different hats at once, often multitasking between human resources, marketing, budgeting, accounting, and customer service to name a few. The Small Business Administration (SBA), defines a small business either in, “terms of the average number of employees over the past 12 months, or average annual receipts over time.”

Everyone is dealing with a higher cost of living than in previous years due to inflation. According to Forbes, “Inflation is hitting small businesses hard right now—data from MetLife and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that 85% of small-business owners surveyed expressed concern about inflation. And 1 in 3 listed inflation as their top business concern.”

Inflation also makes it harder to generate revenue and leads to rising interest rates. By supporting a small business, you can help maintain the unique character of your community because small business often offers unique and specialized goods or services that may not be available through larger corporations. These goods or services include local art, fresh produce from farms, handmade items and more.

We are sharing 5 Ways to Support Small Businesses all Year:

1. Shop local.

• • Shopping local is convenient and can provide you with a more personalized shopping experience. Also, local businesses are usually more invested in their communities, like supporting local causes and charities.

2. Buy gift cards.

• • Gift cards are a fantastic way to support local small business owners. It also provides the potential to bring the receiver and/or new customer into the business, hopefully encouraging return visits.

3. Tell your friends.

• • Personal referrals are always helpful to small businesses. Your friends and family trust your recommendations.  The more people who know about it, the more likely someone will be to become a customer or client.

4. Write a great review.

• • If a small business is doing a great job, tell them! Hearing positive feedback from customers is always a morale boost and is sure to bring smiles to the owner’s face.

5. Like, Comment & Share on social media.

• • Engage with businesses on social media! Visit their website or blog, follow them on social media and sign up for newsletters. Helping to amplify their brand on social media is a crucial way to further drive traffic to their website. This will assist in ultimately increasing sales and building consumer relationships.

How TSM helps support small businesses

TMS is a small business supporting small businesses. We help by providing local support, affordable processing, and assistance in finding the best solutions for you. We know that small business owners are some of the hardest working people and sometimes it can feel like all of their hard work goes unnoticed.

Not only does supporting small business benefit the economy, but you are also giving small business owners the opportunity to live out their dreams every day!