Publicity and Community: How to Put Your Company in Good Graces

One of the best ways to build a good reputation for yourself is to do good things for your community. Building good will for your brand builds good will for your business. Here are some fun and creative ways to build the best reputation for yourself and your company.
Set Up a Charity Drive
There are plenty of ways to raise awareness, funds and supplies for the local charities in your area. You can hold a food drive or clothing drive. You can set up a Toys for Tots donation drive during the holidays or a School Supply drive in the fall. If you really want to help, though, one of the best (and most fun) ways to do so is to sponsor an event. Hire a band to play and put on a community dance. People can either donate food, items of clothing or pay for the cost of the ticket (all of which will also be donated to charity). People love to help others but they also like to have fun. Give them the chance to do both!
Hold an Arts Fair
Reserve your town’s local park and invite local artists and crafters to set up booths through which to sell their wares. You’ll get recognition for setting it up. The artists will earn money through their booths. The community will enjoy seeing what their friends and neighbors are making. If you want to build even more good will, you can donate the money the artists pay for their booth spaces to a local charity. This shows support for the community, local vendors and charity all at the same time.
Set Up a Mentor Program
Work with the local high schools to set up a shadow or mentoring program with your company. Students can come in and shadow different people in different departments. You might even set it up as an internship program so that the kids who do the shadowing can earn school credit while learning about the realities of professional life and gaining practical job experiences they can put on their resumes.
Set Up a Scholarship Program
Set up a scholarship for high school students who want to enter your market after they graduate from college. You can either make the scholarship school specific or general (allow them to apply it to wherever they get accepted). Helping local kids fund their college educations isn’t just good marketing, it’s good for the soul.
All of these things will help you build your company’s reputation within your community. They will also help you build your own reputation. Your data (whether personal or public) is, as Reptation.com CEO & Founder Michael Fertik says in interviews, is the new oil. You want what people know about you to be as positive as possible. These ideas (and the ones you come up with on your own) are what will help you achieve that goal.