Small Business Saturday is a pretty big deal when it comes to small businesses. Black Friday has always been such an over shadowing event that smaller retailers usually get left out in the cold when it comes to holiday shopping. A couple of years ago American Express came up with the grand idea of holding an event the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I love this idea of having a day that is devoted to the smaller retailers to help drive some traffic to those websites and through those doors.
Small Business Saturday 2012 falls on November 24th this year, which means it is getting close. It also poses the question, as a small business, are you participating? If you are participating, how are you letting people know that you are participating?
What I have started seeing some small businesses do is post on their Facebook page and even print out pictures to go in their store fronts. These are great ideas that you should be doing! Put it on your website as well! If you want to see some of the pics that are out there you can check out a couple of places, one is the Small Business Saturday 2012 Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday
Looking at their Facebook page there is even a way that you can qualify for some free online advertising through their program! Amex has really gone above and beyond with this idea and this grows every year with more promotional dollars being spent. If you want to join their website, which I suggest you should do if you have a retail front, you can join it here: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/Shop-Small/ They have all the promotional marketing materials there for you to use.
Another service that is being promoted as part of this is the 3/50 project, that is dedicated to small businesses and their marketing through smart phone apps. This is a great service as it is being pushed through the Amex network and as part of the Small Business Saturday. Go check them out as well: http://www.the350project.net/look_local_home.html
One thing that you could do, which I am sure you have thought about, is run a special that is for that day only. If you really want to grab the attention of all the Black Friday people and some extra people for Small Business Saturday, then I would suggest a deep discounted item. You don’t have to do that, but I would offer a deal that is good for this one day.
Now with that being said I have to tell you that before you give anyone a discount in your store you make sure you get their email address. You could even say that the discount is dependent on you grabbing their email address. How else are you going to market to these wonderful people again if you don’t have their email addresses?
Email marketing is the key to return customers and a great way to get referrals. So get as many peoples email addresses for your newsletters as you can while you have them in your store! Small Business Saturday is a great event and I hope that your business will participate in it, by either helping promote or by running an offer. Small businesses make a big impact on our local economy and I hope that you are able to grow yours this holiday season.
One of the things that I am going to be covering in my Holiday Cash class is how you can take advantage of shopping days like Small Business Saturday 2012. Plus how you can market your business this holiday season in order to get new people in your doors but also to capture their data so that you can market to them in the future! If you would like to check that or one of the other classes I am teaching out, you can do that by going to http://www.freskosmedia.com/classes
Contact our office at 678-664-4028 to book your appointment today! Appointments must be booked today, with appointment date now through December 5th.