The grab-bag of ideas listed below may have to go on the next-year list, but they all strengthen your community connections and customer base. If they don’t work exactly as described, you’re prepared to keep your antennae up for what does work in your town.
Volunteer! Start with your local paper and see who’s looking. Join the volunteer fire department or ambulance service. Get an off-hours shift. Offer to coach a sports team—sponsoring one may have to wait because of the cost, but coaching’s volunteer. Ask to be put on the municipal resident newletter list and check in with the public library. Offer to tutor through the community center. All those hours and running a business, too—are we nuts or what? Not quite—all those other volunteers you’re working with are potential friends and customers.
Teach! Offer a dental-care program to elementary schools. Do a holiday fashion show for the women’s club. Do an affordable fashion show for the senior center. Or a cooking demonstration. Do a low-fee antique appraisal session to support the historical society.
Contact your local adult-education facility and offer a class—anything from plant-care to self-defense or upholstery. You’ll earn a small fee and see more people.
Put up some family pictures or hobby pictures for customers to see. The new baby? Pink balloons and “It’s a Girl” in the window, baby pictures inside. Love to sail? Let your customers see your boat, and, of course, tell you all about theirs. You don’t have to live in a goldfish bowl, just offer something you can talk about.
Put an attraction out front—check with your municipality about sidewalk rules, but use your front space to attract potential customers. A savvy locksmith watched the foot-traffic at the ice-cream store, and put out a bench, which the creamery had not! The planter in front of the hardware store always has something new growing—they pop in new pots of blooms every couple of weeks.