Keep the Open signs up in your community
“Guerrilla warfare describes the small but impactful tactics used by small forces to overcome the occupation of larger forces. Small businesses everywhere are in a war against the pandemic” Says small business owner Darryl Parker of Warner, NH. Darryl was recently faced with the challenge of keeping his coffee shop open during the pandemic. Unfortunately, it made more sense for him to close. I say unfortunately because it is beloved in the Warner community and also one of my favorite spots to enjoy snack and coffee when I am nearby. After chatting with Darryl, we realized we had to take action and create a toolkit for small business owners to survive the pandemic. Together, We can keep our favorite small businesses open.
Here are some suggestions from Darryl on steps you can take to have a significant impact in the survival story for your favorite small business and help them stay open. Restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, or any other retail store survive. Let’s start with three everyone can get behind:
- GIFT CARDS
Buy new ones, find old ones, don’t redeem either. Keep that cash in the business’ pocket. Business owners will sell you a gift card much more readily than take a donation because the gift card creates an agreement for you to receive goods in exchange for a service or purchase. The money from the card doesn’t sit around waiting for you to redeem the card, it goes right to the bottom line. - SHOP WEEKLY
Mark your calendar and make an effort to buy from your favorite local store EVERY week. This is survival mode. If you want the shop to survive, purchasing at least weekly or more frequently is imperative. This is survival mode. - SHARE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
Retweet, repost, like and share everything. Spread the word! Hours, services, menus, delivery. Businesses are using social media to reach their customers in the most affordable way possible. Word of mouth is every business’ best advertising.
Get the text and a set of still images here, DropBox. The video can be downloaded here.
How can you help? Share this info with your favorite small business. Link them to the video, it is free to download. Share and post it. Together we can keep our favorite small businesses open!
We will have more tactics coming next week. Follow us to get notified. Or follow us to show some love. Thanks for reading.