Good Things Come in Small Packages – Preparing for Small Business Saturday

Now that you know consumers want to shop small, how do you prepare your business and lure in some new crowds?

Stay True to Yourself

While Small Business Saturday falls in between two other heavy consumer shopping days (Black Friday and Cyber Monday), know that you don’t need to compete the same way as the big retailers. While it’s important to make your sales and promotions known, you shouldn’t feel pressure to do it on the same scale as larger stores. As the stats we shared in our first Small Business Saturday post-show, consumers want to support small and local businesses. Small businesses are often able to provide a specialized product or service and are perfect for finding a unique, thoughtful, hidden gem.

Be Strategic in Your Deals

The beauty of Small Business Saturday is you know people are already out shopping for the holiday season and they are excited and ready to swipe their credit cards. Similar to staying true to yourself, think about the kind of offer you want to showcase. Perhaps you offer a limited time coupon or a free sample of a best-selling product. Gift certificates are often a popular holiday gift, which could lead to a unique opportunity for you to offer a promotion around those, such as a free gift card after the consumer purchases $50 or a buy one, get one half off promotion.

You don’t need to offer the biggest price cuts to get people in your doors; think about what the customer would really want but also makes sense to you.

Show Off Your Size

Let your customers know that you are participating in Small Business Saturday. The American Express Small Business Saturday website offers a variety of free information and marketing materials to help your business stand out. Do you want some images for your social media accounts? Are flyers and posters more your style or do you tend to be email heavy? However you enjoy doing your marketing, these resources can get consumers even more engaged in your business and offers.

Embrace Your Community

As we've already discussed, a neat component of Small Business Saturday is that multiple small business owners come together. Team up with other business owners in your town or near your location and see if there is a way you can all work together. One idea might be to create a passport or map of every business participating in the big day. Perhaps by having this handout and going to the different businesses, consumers will get an extra discount or freebie at each stop. Knowing the promotions your surrounding business owners are running is also helpful and might present cross or co-marketing opportunities. By talking to consumers or overhearing conversations, you may be able to help people and give them ideas to shop somewhere else if your business isn’t a match for their needs.

Bottom Line

Start getting excited and prepared to take advantage of this awesome day for small business owners. This is a great way to create some new customers, and strengthen bonds with existing customers and your fellow business owners. We hope these ideas help you show your customers that sometimes the best things comes in small packages.

Do you have other ways you prepare for Small Business Saturday? Share your tips and success stories by tweeting us @SurePayroll.