Many entrepreneurs jump into holidays and put marketing plans together as a way to not only give back to the community, but to get their business name known. There are ways to be involved year round and keep your business front of mind. While marketing around the holidays allows a business owner to go above and beyond simple sales and promotions, the tactics employed during the holiday season are perfect to amp up your visibility regardless of the time of year.

Consider the marketing steps your business can take around the holidays and the reasons they work:

• Holiday promotions and marketing events show your business takes its place in the community personally.
• A holiday cause rallies customer support around a shared cause – i.e. the homeless, animal adoption, etc.
• Promoting a community issue helps build not only customer loyalty but trust.
• Your promotion of a cause becomes a part of your brand identity, i.e. “ABC Company Supports Animal Rights Causes.”
• Lets the community at large know that you’re a good corporate citizen that believes in giving back to the community that supports you.

Regardless of whether you host a gala event or a small scale one, your community-based marketing can bring long term positive impacts to your company’s bottom line.

Here are three ways in which your business can become involved and give back to the community:

1.  Hold a fundraising event. Did a fire destroy a home and leave a family homeless? Rally the community and help raise money. Is your local food bank low on supplies? Organize a food drive.
2. Sponsor a community-based organization. Make your fundraising and marketing efforts local. Sponsor a youth sports league, raise money for a soup kitchen, run a fundraiser for the local library, etc.
3. Partner up with another business and host a fundraiser. There is strength in numbers and if you work with other community based business owners you can drastically increase your reach.

Once you’ve chosen a charity (and spoken with the head of the organization) you can begin your involvement in the community and by association, let the community know that your business is a contributing member!