The Power of Community: How to Grow Your Small Business Through In-Person and Virtual Relationships

At the heart of many small businesses and nonprofit organizations is the community they serve. Whether you offer handmade goods for purchase, local meals or treats, educational resources, special events, or personalized services, we’re willing to bet that the most important part of your business is the people. After all, you support them, and they support you. The more you grow authentic relationships and make your people feel seen and connected with you, the more your business will grow.

Constant Contact customers connect with their community in many ways, including sending personalized messages through email or SMS text messaging, engaging with social media followers, hosting virtual and in-person events, and taking every opportunity possible to collect contact information. Keep reading to hear from small business owners who use Constant Contact to grow relationships with their community every day.

Customize your content

Everyone is different, so it doesn’t make sense to always say the same thing to everyone. With digital marketing tools, you can add the personal touch even when your customers aren’t visiting your location in person. The first step is to set up a sign-up landing page that asks for their name, email, phone number, special dates (like birthdays and anniversaries), and other preferences related to your business or organizations (like topics they are interested in or favorite products).

Then, you can create lists and segments based on their selections and how they engage with your emails. Once you have organized your community into groups of what they like and how they like to engage with you, you can use segmentation to talk to them about what they are most interested in. This will boost engagement and strengthen your relationships.

The Milk Bar, a bakery owned by Christina Tosi that offers unique, nostalgic desserts, uses their Bake Club newsletter to regularly connect with their community. They feature birthday shoutouts, an “I See You Bake Club” section, which highlights what community members have baked from the week before, tips and tricks, and glimpses into Christina’s personal life, including her dog, Butter. To further their connections with people, Christina and her team segment their Bake Club subscribers into different lists so they make sure they are sending relevant information to every member.

“Being able to not say things to certain people or to say more things to certain people has really helped us be deliberate with how we show up for [our audience]. There are so many features in Constant Contact that help us toe that line.” – Shannon Salanzo, Milk Bar Director of Brand

Don’t be afraid to text them

Texting is one of the most personal forms of communication, so when using SMS text message marketing, it is important to be respectful and follow best practices–especially because your text will almost certainly get opened. Remember, we’re all looking at our phones every day!

Nicholas Jackson, Head of Information Services and Facilities Manager at Parsippany Public Library, uses email and SMS to make sure his community knows about everything the library has to offer, from events to summer reading challenges. 58% of the library’s contacts subscribe to SMS, which helps Nicholas improve event attendance and stay in touch with his community through an extremely personal means of communication.

People tell me they love [the library]. It’s wonderful. Whether I’m here or out in the community…they’re thankful. – Nicholas Jackson

Bring them from social media follower to email subscriber

Social media is a place where you can find lots of new people, but the key to growing relationships goes beyond responding to comments and DMs. Be sure to add a link to a sign-up landing page in your Instagram bio and encourage people to sign up to receive your emails. Once you have names, emails, and phone numbers in your contact list, you have the power to build relationships with those people outside of social media platforms.

Athlete and entrepreneur Austin Ekeler saw an opportunity to collect contact information for his subscribers on Twitch, a live video streaming platform that is popular for audiences who enjoy online gaming. He began gathering email addresses and invited fans to subscribe to his monthly newsletter and learn more about his nonprofit, The Austin Ekeler Foundation.

“[Social media] is a very light way to build a relationship without actually knowing somebody. For me to continue to further that relationship, I need to get information to them so that they can feel like they know me.” – Austin Ekeler

Encourage sign-ups at events

Even in the digital age, there is nothing like an in-person connection. The marketing team at Skieasy Indoor Ski and Snowboard Centre London deeply understands the value of events, and they don’t slow down their marketing when the weather is warmer and interest in winter sports wanes. They are constantly reminding people that they can ski indoors year-round at their centre, and they attend industry events to meet new people and encourage them to provide their contact information. When meeting people in person, Lena Niedlielin, Skieasy Indoor Ski and Snowboard Centre Manager, takes advantage of QR codes to make it easy for interested customers to sign up to hear from Skieasy no matter the season.

“It would be extremely difficult to create a network of loyal customers and operate well over summer without Constant Contact.” – Lena Niedlielin

Remember your mission

Tamika Catchings, owner of Tea’s Me Cafe, also uses QR codes for her business, but in a different way than Skieasy–she integrates with WooCommerce to check attendees in at events hosted at her cafe. In 2020, she started a series of events called Tea’s Me Community Conversation to give people a free space to discuss local social issues. For Tamika, starting a small business was all about her mission to make a difference.

“I didn’t get into it [running Tea’s Me Cafe] to get rich. I got into it because of the community and to bring people together and build this.” – Tamika Catchings

Build relationships in the inbox

Like Tamika, Michelle Nicholson, owner of The Flour Girl Bakery & Cafe, always remembers to keep the people she serves at the heart of her business. Michelle prioritizes local grassroots marketing opportunities, like sponsoring the T-ball team, over bigger paid advertising campaigns, because she knows her customers are right there with her on Main Street.

However, her biggest marketing effort comes weekly in the form of email newsletters because Michelle understands the importance of connecting with her customers when they are not enjoying a scone in the cafe. These newsletters are chock-full with information her community cares about, from new menu items and special events to updates about crowdfunding campaigns.

“The community built my business. The community runs my business. My business runs off the community and they give back to it.” – Michelle Nicholson

Building relationships with your community as a small business owner can happen anywhere with the power of email–an authentic message from you can be waiting in their inbox at any moment. Remember to prioritize what’s important to your audience and send regular, thoughtful communications to continue growing personal relationships with them. With the right email marketing strategy, you will earn their trust and loyalty for years to come.

To hear from more Constant Contact customers about how they build their communities and grow their businesses, check out more customer success stories. To start building your own community, sign up for a free trial.