Small Business Saturday ideas for success
Each local economy relies on its small businesses. Yet, small and independent businesses can often go under the radar.
Small Business Saturday is a once-yearly date that benefits both the local community and small local businesses. Consumers can find great deals and businesses can take advantage of a wide range of business opportunities.
Read on as we look into why this annual shopping event matters to small businesses and the digital and non-digital strategies these businesses can adopt to position themselves to win big.
Small Business Saturday: An overview
Small Business Saturday is an annual event that takes place on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, where shoppers are encouraged to support local and independent businesses. Initiated in 2010 and popularized by efforts from the Small Business Administration, this day within the holiday shopping season is positioned as a counterbalance to the large-scale promotions run by big box store owners on Black Friday.
It promotes the idea of "shop local" by spotlighting small local businesses, intending to drive increased sales and prospectively increase ongoing small business consumerism throughout the year.
Why Small Business Saturday matters to businesses
If you run a local small or independent business, Small Business Saturday deals and promotion strategies can go a long way to both increase seasonal sales and your customer base.
Just last Thanksgiving weekend, U.S. consumers spent over $17 billion on Small Business Saturday. Sales persist beyond Thanksgiving, however, with 61% of Small Business Saturday shoppers saying they found a small or independent business they're likely to return to as a regular customer. Increased sales are also tied to the family and community nature of the day, as 41% of shoppers reported going with family, friends or others in their community.
Small and independent business owners plan well in advance to capitalize on the stream of ready-to-engage potential customers.
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3 digital Small Business Saturday ideas
Below, we’ll cover the three primary marketing campaign strategies: paid, organic and earned. These categories each contain a wide variety of sub-strategies you can tailor to your small business.
1. Paid marketing
Paid marketing means paying individual social media or search platforms in return for the use of their algorithmic targeting capabilities. Each platform comes with different targeting capabilities, algorithm strength (i.e., how proven the platform is at placing your ad in front of the right people), regulations and costs.
The main paid marketing channels are:
- Meta Ads, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ads.
- Google Ads, Google Search and YouTube ads.
- TikTok Ads
- LinkedIn Ads
- Pinterest Ads
While each platform differs, setting up a paid campaign generally involves three levels — objective, ad set and ad. You can tailor each step according to your specific Small Business Saturday goals.
- Objective: At this level, you tell the platform what your goal is for the campaign. Some platforms offer the three options of brand awareness, consideration and conversions, while other platforms offer a more extensive list. Based on your campaign objective, the platform’s algorithm will place your ad in front of users who align behaviorally (i.e., if your objective is set to conversions, the platform will likely place your ad in front of users who have a conversion history or demonstrate behaviors that are indicative of a likelihood to convert).
- Ad set: It’s here you can set your targeting parameters. Targeting options generally include location, age, behaviors and interests, while excluding religion and political affiliations. More nuanced platforms, like LinkedIn, can offer more out-of-the-box targeting options, such as industry, position title, company and seniority. Generally, it’s also at the ad set level where you tell the platform where you would like your ads to be placed (i.e., for Instagram ads, would you like story ads or reel ads? Or, would you like the algorithm to decide for you?)
- Ad: Here, you upload your ad, write the copy and click “go live.” Depending on your platform and objectives, you may have the option to include variations of ad copy and content, allowing the algorithm to run tests that determine the effectiveness of each for you to reallocate resources accordingly. It’s also at this level where the platform will indicate whether there are any errors in your campaign setup.
Tip: If you’re starting with paid ads, research which one social media platform your audience is most commonly on and learn the ropes for that individual platform — rather than initially allocating resources across platforms. If you’re in doubt about your budget and campaign length, a good framework is $10 - $20 per day for three weeks or more. This is because the amount of ad spend and length is sufficient for the algorithm to learn and optimize your campaign.
2. Organic marketing
Organic marketing refers to posting on social media or search platforms without any associated costs — it also extends to email marketing. More technically, it refers to the natural building of an online audience and/or search algorithmic positioning that leads potential customers to your brand without overhead costs. Consider the natural building of an Instagram account’s follower base or taking the steps necessary to have your website display No. 1 on Google Search without costs attached.
Generally, the value of an organic digital marketing strategy is increased over time by consistently posting high-value content. Through these actions, a brand can build a genuine and loyal following, enhance its visibility and engagement, and establish a strong online presence that attracts and retains customers.
On search engines, organic marketing is generally referred to as search engine optimization, or SEO. Like all forms of organic digital marketing, it takes time to build momentum and see significant results. Google themselves say that, for retailers looking to rank highly in Google and receive ‘organic’ (not paid for, in other words) traffic, an SEO strategy can take months to prove effective.
Done correctly and consistently across time, an organic marketing strategy can be a central part of your campaign that drives Small Business Saturday Success. Let’s say you have an Instagram following of 1,000 engaged users — people who know and love your business and have decided to follow along. Making a free Instagram feed post to this engaged, warm audience statistically proves very effective. Yet, it takes time, effort and some social media expertise to build such an online audience — which is why it requires planning.
3. Earned marketing
Earned marketing refers to user-generated content, word-of-mouth and uninitiated media coverage. It encompasses types of marketing material that are not paid for or owned by the brand but are created by third parties such as customers, journalists, bloggers or other influencers — with some arguing that earned marketing is a facet of organic marketing.
Earned marketing is both a strategy and a collateral effect. It’s a collateral effect in that with increased prominence comes increased visibility and credibility. This generally leads to more organic interactions and sharing among consumers and media entities without the business’ input.
Yet, your small business can strategically leverage earned marketing by:
- Asking for testimonials: These can be used as social proof on your website, a means of engagement on organic social media posts, and as a way to establish credibility more generally. For Google reviews, this form of testimonial increases your algorithmic positioning and inclines searchers to shop with you.
- Initiating a social media trend: Consider the effectiveness of influencer marketing in your Small Business Saturday campaign strategy. Small businesses can engage with local influencers to promote their products or services — better yet, businesses can request that the influencer call on a response from their audience related to your product, creating a trend. You’ve likely seen this, where influencers will ask their audience to create content and tag them in the description, generally with a promise or special offer attached to it, such as a repost, lottery or similar.
- Tying your promotion to online exposure: Leading up to Small Business Saturday, independent business owners can ask that buyers post online about their product — generally via a pamphlet that comes attached to the purchase or in the bag. While most won’t, some may — and even a small amount of organic, earned online exposure can go a long way toward increasing sales.
Make sure your Small Business Saturday promotion is heard
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3 non-digital Small Business Saturday ideas
Given the local nature of Small Business Saturday, compared to more global events like Cyber Monday, small businesses often adopt a mix of online and in-store promotion ideas.
The in-store promotion strategies you can leverage include:
- Signage: On Small Business Saturday, local community areas often come with a significant increase in foot traffic. Those passing by who are either unaware of your business or its promotions can connect with you via signage. Your signage should be easily readable from a distance, positioned in an area most visible to foot traffic and effectively communicative of your seasonal deals in a way that is easily digestible.
- Partnerships: Consider teaming up with other local businesses in the area to create combined promotion offerings. Ideally, those you partner with should offer a product or service that your customer base finds relevant and valuable.
- Traditional marketing: You can effectively reach your local target market through non-digital marketing avenues, such as radio, billboards and TV ads. Particularly if your product or service isn’t specific to any one demographic, a locally placed traditional marketing asset can help to build awareness and credibility in your community.
Small Business Saturday promotional best practices
There’s no end to Small Business Saturday campaign optimization efforts. For some, a simple Instagram ad will suffice. For others, an omnichannel, data-driven approach is the way to go.
No matter how many thoughts and resources you plan to put toward your upcoming campaign, you can leverage the following best practices.
Understand tried-and-true Small Business Saturday promotion types
The tried-and-true Small Business Saturday promotion types include:
- Buy one, get one free (BOGO): These deals are effective due to their familiarity among consumers and their instant and seamless ability to communicate value. The rule — the free item should have the same or less valuable products within the same category.
- Flash sale: A flash sale is a limited-time promotion offering substantial discounts. Their objective is to quickly draw attention and drive immediate sales.
- Discount codes: Discount codes — special strings of characters that consumers can enter at checkout to receive a specific discount on their purchase — are effective for both eCommerce and in-store promotions.
Other methods include gift card giveaways, loyalty program rewards and special offers for first-time customers.
Streamline the consumer process
A streamlined consumer experience is directly tied to increased sales. For eCommerce, ensure your site is easy to navigate, features fast loading speeds, clearly communicates promotions, offers secure transactions through multiple payment gateways and provides clear, high-quality images along with detailed product descriptions.
For in-store operations, implement line-busting strategies, provide multiple payment options, ensure easy navigation, clearly communicate promotions through signage, incorporate automated POS systems at checkout and maintain adequate staffing levels.
Make sure your Small Business Saturday promotion is heard
Fill out our short form and gain a logo and banner that you can use online or on print — making sure your promotions reach your audience.
Trust data
By understanding past data, you can optimize your next Small Business Saturday campaign. The questions to ask in this regard include:
- Do we have digital marketing data from previous campaigns that can help us understand where our consumers are online, the types of content they engage with, which demographics are most responsive and other key insights?
- Can we look into our POS system data to help us understand sales trends, product performance, customer frequency, average transaction values, peak shopping hours and customer buying patterns?
- What has worked well for our competitors, and what hasn’t?
The answers to these questions can help inform how you should orient your Small Business Saturday efforts. Even small changes — such as a minor demographic targeting change based on past engagement, or an adjustment in signage font size based on competitor success — can make a big difference. The goal is to determine what has and hasn’t worked and optimize your efforts accordingly.
Drive Small Business Saturday success with Sekure Payment Experts
A POS system, tailored to your specific needs, can be the key to success on Small Business Saturday and any day. It offers you actionable insights, streamlines the customer experience and allows you to offer next-generation payment options that meet increasing consumer demands.
By partnering with Sekure, we’ll match you with a POS system tailored to your needs — at low costs. Whether your operations are online or in-store, our Payment Experts can help.
Learn more about how you can ensure a seamless, high-quality transaction experience for your local customers with Sekure.
