Small Business Saturday (SBS) is right around the corner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 24th. It offers businesses the opportunity to capitalize on the momentum of Black Friday and create some excitement of their own. For some companies it will be a way to start off the holiday shopping season, for others, it may be even more important.
Small businesses that are more seasonal in nature, especially those with traditionally spring and summer products or services, can use SBS to offer a special promotion for consumers to consider their offerings during a time they otherwise would not. It can play an important role in facilitating business all year long.
Not sure if it’s worth pursing? Consider the data from last year’s SBS. According to the 2017 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, by the National Federation of Independent Business and American Express, 70 percent of U.S. consumers are aware of Small Business Saturday. Additionally:
- Approximately 108 million consumers reported shopping or dining at local, independently-owned businesses last year generating nearly $12 billion in sales.
- Shoppers not only turned out to visit local retail stores, 35 percent reported shopping online
- Close to three quarters shopped with family and friends; and
- Nearly half of consumers who participated in Small Business Saturday reported visiting a business they had not previously been to
Participating in SBS provides your company with a widely-accepted, memorable, marketing strategy to attract attention to your business. A wide number of adults space out their holiday shopping endeavors to help their budgets, and this provides them the perfect opportunity to make a November purchase.
Companies use the Shop Small Studio to download ready-to-use or customizable marketing materials to help them promote their participation in SBS. Ready-made marketing content in Spanish, including social, online, and physical location materials are also available this year, after being successfully piloted last year.
Use your promotion or event for SBS to reach out to your first-time customers through an email campaign to bring them back with a great sale on a complimentary product or service. You’re letting them know you appreciate their business and want to keep them as ongoing customers. Studies also show it costs less to market and sell more to an existing customer than to acquire a new one.
You can also promote your SBS participation in blog posts and tweets. It’s a convenient way to tell your company story and how it relates to the community you’re serving. You can build up to the event by writing a few posts that show customers how your products or services help with common problems they may be experiencing. Social media posts can include customers displaying their favorite product, a special event and activities you hosted for the day, or your employees thanking customers in your community for their support.
Informed with data from last year’s SBS, Modern Marketing Partners can help develop a quick add-on campaign to support your SBS effort or create a push notification plan for your website or social platform to help you get more and better customer engagement and conversions on SBS and the weeks following.
