8 ways to support Black-owned Businesses
1. Shop at Black-owned businesses
The easiest and most straightforward way to support a Black-owned business is to vote with your wallet and shop at their business. This puts money in the pocket of the business directly. And, if the product or service meets your need, you can now give this business a new repeat customer that will help them stay in business.
2. Share their posts on social media
The majority of businesses have some form of social media. Sharing one of their posts is free and effortless but gives them more exposure. This could potentially help a business find more new customers, as more people than ever before are using social media to help them find new businesses to frequent.
3. Share your experience on social media
If the business has a physical storefront, take a picture there and share it on social media. If not, order a product and take a picture of it and post it on social media. If you enjoy it, add a caption explaining why you would recommend it. This is another way, other than sharing an existing post, that you can help a Black-owned business. Creating a post on social media is free and doesn’t take much effort either.
4. Recommend through word of mouth
Sometimes the best recommendation comes from someone you already know and trust. Word of mouth recommendations are still the gold standard on how people are convinced to try a new business. This is yet another way you can help a Black-owned business with little effort and it is free.
5. Leave a review online
It’s not always possible for potential customers to hear about a business through word of mouth. In this case, online reviews help by giving the customer confidence that they can trust the store. By seeing multiple positive reviews, it gives a potential customer peace of mind that their order will be exactly what they expected. You can help by being one of these reviews for a Black-owned business, after ordering a product or service first of course.
6. Don’t ask for a discount
If you don’t ask for a discount at other businesses, don’t ask for one at a Black-owned business. Business owners take many different factors into consideration when determining what to charge, including the usual business costs and labor along with rent if applicable. By paying full price, you are helping them generate a profit instead of merely staying afloat.
7. If possible, tip
Tips are not always required or expected, but if this is a small, Black-owned business then your tip is going infinitely further than you could ever possibly imagine. That tip could be the difference between being profitable or not for the day. It may not be free, but it is an appreciated gesture.
8. Buy their merchandise
Not all businesses, Black-owned or not, sell merchandise. But if they do, support them by buying their merchandise. Not only are you helping the business financially, but you’re also helping them everytime you wear their merchandise by helping to get the business’s name out there in the wild. And if anyone were to ask about it, you could use that as an opportunity to advertise the business.