Tauranga Moana Pride’s annual festival is a celebration of LGBTQ+ communities, and an opportunity to raise awareness and support. 

While the events of the festival have been impacted by COVID-19 Alert Levels, it is still a great opportunity to champion and connect, particularly when it comes to business in the Bay.  

In conjunction with this, we spoke to Geoffrey Campbell from The Why Marketing about his experience as a LGBTQ+ business owner and how diversity is valuable to a city’s business community.

With substantial growth comes the need to change with the growth. Tauranga is the fastest growing city in New Zealand, which means the overall demographics of the city are continually changing.

An influx of people from larger cities looking for a better work/life balance or people from smaller towns looking to take advantage of the potential, this growth brings with it – and all this brings a greater diversity to the city, which businesses will need to adjust their strategies to accommodate.

COVID-19 was also a catalyst to significant changes in how business is done and, so far, we seem to have coped rather well. These changes include the shift for many from employee to business owner or entrepreneur.

In this growing diversity will be an ever-increasing number of the LGBTQ+ community members becoming business owners.

While one would assume it would be a case of ‘business as usual’ for these new business owners, without the visible support of an organisation, such as Tauranga Chamber of Commerce, and other business owners in the community, entering the business community can feel isolating and daunting.

While I personally have not received resistance, many LGBTQ+ business owners could still feel intimidated and excluded. This could equally be true for employees – knowing they are welcome, valued and included in the company they work for, as well as the overall business community in the city, will go a long way to benefit not just the business owner or employee, but the city as a whole.

I cannot overemphasise the benefits of strong support within the business community. Being part of another group, BNI, gave me and my business the opportunity to get our foot in the door of the Tauranga community. BNI has always been an inclusive organisation and, therefore, I know I have a supportive group behind me and my business.

Support doesn’t have to be in a face-to-face manner either. During Pride Month, many businesses throughout the country changed their social media profile images to include the LGBTQ+ flag colours. For me, as a consumer, this made me consider changing one of my service providers to one of the businesses that were visibly inclusive and supportive.

COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns taught us that we can do pretty much anything if we work together. Small businesses need their service providers to work closely with them to help them succeed. The same can be true for the economic growth of a city. We can all benefit from working together toward a collective goal.

Tauranga Moana Pride Picnic is on March 7, 2021 at the Tauranga Waterfront, and this is the perfect opportunity for the business community to show how inclusive it is. There is an influx of people during the Pride festivities that are either not from Tauranga or don’t often come into the CBD. This is a prime opportunity to show your support and open your business up to a potential (perhaps previously untapped) market.

Getting ahead of this growing diversity, and making sure that organisations and businesses show that they are safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community to join and be involved in, is a great first step and can open the conversations to work together to the benefit of all businesses and the city.

Geoffrey has established a private Facebook Group to support the LGBTQ+ business community in Tauranga.  Join the private Facebook Group here.

The Why Marketing was a new idea born from realising a gap in the market for small business marketing and being the support small businesses need while they grow. The majority of small businesses and start-ups don’t have huge marketing budgets and attempt to do everything themselves. Brand awareness is massively important to these small businesses and if not done correctly can do more damage than actually market the business. Upskilling small business owners while they grow their businesses when budgets are tight is both very rewarding and enjoyable.