AD – This post contains gifted items but all thoughts are my own
The pandemic has seriously shafted a lot of businesses. If big and powerful businesses have found themselves struggling, then it’s hard to think about the impact the pandemic has had on smaller businesses too. Since blogging, I’ve come to know and love so many small businesses who put so much work and effort into their products. It was really hard to see some of them struggle.
Although not entirely the same, as a blogger, I’ve known the struggle of a slow work week or month. When the money, clients or sales just aren’t coming in and the income just isn’t there. It can be a worry, for sure. But it’s a risk a lot of us have been willing to take with starting our own businesses online, either before or during the pandemic.
All our circumstances are vastly different and some of us just might not be able to afford to shop from small businesses all the time and that’s okay. There’s definitely no shaming going on here. But supporting small businesses is SO important. And there are small things that we can ALL do to help support them and just support each other in what’s a crazy time in the world.
Before we get into how to support small businesses, I have a small business I want to share with you today which I’m just blown away by. Created by Magic sell personalised prints, portraits and illustrations of anything from wedding photos, pets, special venues and more. Their team use their expert art skills to create dog portraits from photos, which are designed to enhance the details of your images to create a unique piece of art.
I was kindly sent a piece from Created by Magic of my dog – obviously. I don’t think you can ever have enough photos of your dog. I chose the Custom Dog Portrait Print and selected my personalized preferences and sent all the details to Laura, who got back to me within days with a mock-up of my print, before it was posted out.
I’m just stunned at how beautiful the print turned out. It’s such a beautiful photo of my dog (even though he had just woken up and looks a bit messy!) and the added artistic flair makes it a gorgeous piece for any room. The paper is super high quality too and I just love everything about this piece.
These pieces would make beautiful gifts. Whether it’s a wedding gift for a best friend of her wedding venue, a gift for the pet lover in your life of their precious four-legged friend or a touching memorial piece of a lost loved one. With the excellent service, super high quality print and stunning final pieces of art, you really couldn’t go wrong with Created by Magic!
USE CODE JM20 FOR A DISCOUNT ON YOUR CREATED BY MAGIC ORDER!
So now I’m finished raving about Created by Magic, either pause this post here and check out their website or continue on for some super small ways we can support small businesses in this important time of a pandemic.
Work with them (if you’re a blogger)
If small businesses are looking for bloggers to work with to help promote their product and you feel like you could be a good fit for them, then working with them is a great way to help support both of you!
Buy from them (if you have the means to do so)
Of course the most obvious thing you can do is buy from small businesses but only if you have the means to do so. Perhaps next time to need sometime which you’re going to buy anyway, opt for a small business instead of a high-street store.
Recommend them to a friend / family member
If you can’t purchase from them yourself, then maybe a friend or a family can! I’ll definitely be recommending Created by Magic to my friend, who’s picking up a kitten in a few weeks. I know she’d love one of these portraits of them!
RT their promotional content on Twitter
Twitter is an amazing platform for small businesses and I’ve seen some businesses seriously thrive on there. A simple RT takes you 4 seconds. But it could put that business in front of members of your audience who’ll buy from them.
Share their images on your Instagram stories
I love using Instagram stories to share posts from small businesses that I love. Because they usually create some seriously pretty content on Instagram too! Similarly to above, by sharing a post, it might put that business in front of a soulmate client.
Leave a review on Etsy or Google
A review on Etsy, Google or whatever platform they use can be SO useful for small business owners. We’re not talking about extensive 4 page reviews but just a few lines is better than nothing!
Write about them on your blog
I’m not talking about in exchange for anything but just because you love the brand. I’d done this plenty throughout my blogging career – as I’m sure a lot of you have. Perhaps feature them in some relevant upcoming content or a round up post.
[…] good thing about Lincolnshire, with it being so rural is that there’s a lot of small businesses around. Unless you go into Lincoln or the bigger towns, with high-street stores, you’re […]
I love small businesses! I myself own my own business (I make soap) and I love supporting my friends by showing up to markets, sharing their merch, or simply just buying some of their lovely products. Your article is spot on! Love it.
Thank you! x
Thanks for sharing, these are great ways to support small business 🙂
omg the customised print you got looks so good! You can never have too many prints of your pets hehe. It really is important to support small businesses, when you see these big chains in the news that go under, it really makes you think how much the smaller businesses must be struggling too. I love buying gifts for birthdays, or any other special holidays from smaller businesses, they’re always great quality products and can often be even more special xx
I totally agree; I bet it’s such a scary time for small businesses right now!
I love these tips. It’s all good supporting through the pandemic, but as we are starting to open up again, it’s important to not forget about all the support given over the last year. I love having small business spending sprees and have been only purchasing from small businesses for decor my first house. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I totally agree and I’ve definitely seen a lot of small businesses say they’re struggling right now that the bigger shops have opened!
What a beautiful picture! I’ve just been on the website, I think I might get one of the cat for my partner for his birthday, he would love it!
Corinne x
Awh that’d be amazing. They’re so beaut!
What a gorgeous print!
I know right!
It’s so important that we each do what we can to support small businesses, it’s been a tough year for many! Wonderful tips on here, and beautiful picture of your dog too x
Totally agree and thank you!
I absolutely love all of these, Jenny!! Truthfully, I enjoyed supporting small businesses before the pandemic, but the last year has made me appreciate them so much more and also made me realise that I took them for granted. xx
Thank you 🙂 Oh yeah I think last year made a lot of us appreciated them a lot more!
Great tips! If we do not support our small businesses, we won’t have them!!!
I totally agree!
[…] 7 Simple Ways To Support Small Businesses Post Pandemic […]
I’ve loved supporting small businesses as well specially since last year when the pandemic began since they are really affected. I blog about them or buy from them to help!
That’s great to hear 🙂
Great tips! Sometimes I have to stop and think about buying from smaller businesses instead. They usually are more personal and unique so that’s a nice bonus! Definitely agree with a lot of your tips, I’m sure it helps a lot!
Alexis| http://cafe-beauty.com/
I agree, you can often find so many cute and unique bits from them!
Small businesses, I think, had their time to shine during the pandemic as well as struggle. We learned to appreciate the passion and love that goes into something small and handmade simply because we lost access to many of the places we love.
Thanks for sharing seven ways we can continue to support our favorite small handles, financially and digitally.
Yes I agree. I hope people keep up supporting them!
These are such great tips and supporting a small business doesn’t always mean buying from them. As you have said it could be referring friends or family and sharing their posts on social media. All helps spread the word of the business.
Absolutely – spreading the word is key!
The potrait of your dog is so cute!
Yes to all of these! It’s not always possible to buy from a small business, but there are so many other ways to support them like you mentioned & I regularly retweet their promotional tweets & I’ve written about them on my blog as well.
Thank you! I love it SO much!
I love this post! I’ve always been a huge supporter of small businesses and it’s so important to help them – and these are some lovely ideas. The dog print is so cute!
It really is important. Thank youn
So many helpful suggestions, we try and support a lot via Southampton Bloggers for local businesses – it makes such a difference xx
Yesss that’s amazing xx
Great tips! One thing I always try to do is leave review, just because I know how much I rely on them when I’m shopping around.
Yes absolutely! They can help so much!
Even though the big shops have opened back up, it’s so important to keep supporting those small businesses who we helped and bought stuff from during lockdown! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
I agree! I know there will probably be a balance now but it’s still so important to do what we can!
These are great suggestions. I love the pet portrait. Its great that they can do it from a photo too.
Thank you 🙂 it’s amazing how they do it!
These are some brilliant ideas to support small businesses – I know we focused on a lot of them through the pandemic, but now in particular they need us more than ever! We have been showcasing a few on our blog as well, and we have loved seeing a lot on other blogs too, but we also try to leave reviews for them on Etsy so they can get noticed by other people!
Yes absolutely it seems like some are struggling more now that bigger shops are back open than before which is sad.
I love this post! It is so important that we support these lovely businesses. I find that they have unique items and the quality is often better than on the high street.
Thank you and totally agree!
I truly believe in everything you wrote here. Supporting local businesses doesn’t take much and means a lot. I usually do so by buying only local food (which is also very beneficial for me), sharing their success stories and products on my social media, and if I am ordering their products and love them, I am definitely talking about it with friends and family. When we support each other, we grow so much faster all together and it is just amazing!
I totally agree and that’s great that you do so much for small businesses!
I love this post and I love having more ideas on how I can support small businesses. Over Christmas, I did three blog posts for small businesses and I’ve heard back from the majoirty of them that they saw some great sales. I think we should use the power of social media for the good of these businesses more!
Rosie
That’s amazing to hear!
I love supporting small businesses! One of the reasons I like to buy from them is because you get different things. When you buy from big companies you know thousands or millions of other people will have the exact same products. But when you buy small it feels a bit more special, like you aren’t just following the crowd. And if you get complements and the chance to help promote them, it feels lovely to know you’re helping someone grow their business.
Totally agree about engaging and sharing their content on socials too, even if you don’t buy it. I’ve often bought a product because someone I follow has shared it and I’ve discovered it that way x
Yes I agree! You can often get something super unique that you know not everyone else has!
Love this, Jenny! Yes, support a small business! And if you can’t buy from them for yourself, blogging, recommending, or ordering for gifts are excellent ways you can make a positive difference. ❤️🦋🌀〰️🙏☯️
Sheila @ Being Wholly Vibrant
Yes absolutely! There’s always something you can do!
Love this and so glad you’ve taken your platform to talk about how we can help. There’s always more we can do to show support, and I’m certainly trying to engage more with small businesses too, even if I might not be able to financially afford their product currently.
Thank you for sharing x
Kate | Kindlyk.co.uk
I totally agree and yes I want to make sure I’m doing more too – even just RT’ing throughout the day x
Small business have struggled so much 😔😔 it is so important to support them. Thanks for sharing
https://uncuaderno4cero.wordpress.com/
I know, it’s so sad x
That print is stunning omg!
I always try to shop small when I can afford to, and I support few on Patreon to help them keep going when it’s quieter.
Cora | https://teapartyprincess.co.uk/
Thank you! That’s amazing, well done x
Small businesses have struggled so much the past year, I love that you’re recognising how wonderful they can be and how we can all support them!
Thank you – they have and it’s so sad to see!
Great post they are certainly the businesses that need the most help we will be helping out as much as we can
Thank you, they sure are!