Think Big This Small Business Saturday
The Black Friday deals started the day after Halloween. Christmas decorations are already up in my house. Customers are doing their shopping and ordering way earlier this year. Amazon Prime Day in the middle of October kicked off a surge on early shopping and was one of the reasons an early display of the holidays has become more acceptable this year.
Enter Small Business Saturday. Unofficially created by American Express, the day always falls the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The goal of the day is to support small businesses and move the holiday shopping from the huge retailers to small brick and mortars, online shops, restaurants and more. Each year it grows in popularity and there is now huge social movements around the day with a call to support small businesses. Searching the tag #SmallBusinessSaturday on Instagram, you will be shown 1.7 million posts.
This year more than ever, small businesses are facing so many challenges including shopping behavior changes, reduced hours of operation, Covid-19 regulations, limited staffing, supply delays and much more.
We all know 2020 will go down in history for being incredibly lackluster, to put it mildly, however, that doesn’t mean your efforts for a stellar Small Business Saturday have to be. Think big this year. Get noticed. What you do on this day, can very well pave the way for your business into the coming months.
First Things First
If you accept American Express at your business, you will be listed on their Small Business Saturday directory of small businesses. Customers can drill down by area code while the rest of the page is a great resource. They even offer materials to utilize on your storefront windows and online that I would highly recommend you take advantage of.
Don’t Limit Your Efforts to Just a Day
Whether you have a store, restaurant or online shop, running your promotion to the actual day of SBS, could minimize the impact of your intentions. We all know people forget about things, especially when they aren’t on your calendar. Add to that it being the weekend after Thanksgiving, while different this year, will still likely consist of holiday decorating, tree hunting, photo taking, card ordering, etc. Open up the window of your SBS promotion from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Or just have it run throughout the season right up to December 25th.
In Store and Online
If you own a business that has a physical store or restaurant AND a website make sure you are running a special on both channels. Right now, people have various levels of comfort when going out and about. While some customers will be fine shopping or dining out, others would prefer to sit it out and do their shopping from the confines of their home. Promotions at each should be equal to each other in value to ensure your customers feel they are being rewarded for their support, no matter where they purchase.
Spread the Word
You know the drill, promote your Small Business Saturday specials prior to the actual day. Start now. Tease that you will be running limited time promotions beginning on a specific date and tell them to stay tuned. These should be consistently broadcasted across your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, SnapChat and Google My Business pages.
Partnerships Pay Off
Pick one or a few other small businesses you could partner with to cross promote your products and promotions on Small Business Saturday and into the rest of the holiday season. This allows you to grow your brand’s awareness within a new customer audience. A great example of this is Handline promoting Joe Matos Cheese Co. recently on their instagram feed. Joe Matos Cheese was running a give-way, and Handline shared it to their fan base.
At the very minimum, restaurants and retailers who carry different brands or suppliers should be tagging and sharing information about them onyour social channels. They will in turn do the same and share your information to their fan base.
Utilize Local Trade & Business Groups
Many cities have various organizations that promote business groups based on their location or membership. Seek out these organizations, many might be doing their own Small Business Saturday push to promote businesses that are participating. An example of this is Downtown Santa Rosa who have created a specific website Open & Out dedicated its local businesses with Covid-19 updates.
Keep them Coming Back for More
A missed opportunity that I regularly see is failing to provide your customers during Small Business Saturday a bounce back reward for their next visit.
This type of promotion gets your customer back into your shop and helps your grow loyalty. Ideas of this could a featured price on a specific item or a flat dollar or percent discount. It could even be an invitation to an early release or event. Whatever you decide on, make sure the fine print is included on your materials. You don’t want customers to be able to double up their coupons but instead use it for a later date- but not too far out.