Ah, Black Friday – The day that hundreds of thousands of consumers rush to the big box stores to fight the crowds (literally) in the hopes of bringing home the big deal that may or may not actually be a “deal”.

What a way to start off the warm and fuzzy holiday season…

$655 billion was spent last year on Black Friday, and the projections for this year are for another rise of about 4%. The problem is, this money is mostly spent with the “Big Boys” – Stores like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc. These stores have one thing in common, they are so large, and they have the ability to slash prices so deep that it is impossible for a small business to compete.

That is why Small Business Saturday was made.

Small Business Saturday is the day after Black Friday and draws the attention away from those big box stores and shifts it towards the local small businesses. This is your moment to shine!

How to make the most out of small business Saturday

1. The Lead-Up – If you haven’t already started advertising for you SBS sale, you should probably stop reading right now and go do that… I’ll wait…. Ok, welcome back! Letting people know ahead of time that you plan on doing something special is extremely important. Make sure to use SMS as your hook – tug at their heartstrings a bit and make people want to shop local! You do not even have to necessarily tell people what your deal is going to be, you can try and leave some mystery if you think that will work with your audience. This is also a  good time to use a little paid advertising. Target people in your community with some Facebook Ads informing them about your promotion and see if you can get something to stick.
2. The Day Itself – When you have guests over to your house, do you leave it a mess, or do you make sure it is extra clean and beautiful? Small Business Saturday should be no different. Remember, this could be your one and only chance to make a good first impression on someone and make them a repeat customer. Whether you are a gym giving a free first month or maybe a restaurant giving out gift certificates, make sure everything is clean and your staff is aware of anything that they need to know around the promotion so they can answer questions and be sure everything goes without a hitch.

Another good idea is to try and collect something for yourself as well. Maybe try to build your email list by requiring an email at checkout, for example. This can help build up your marketing going forward and retain some of those customers that were looking for a deal.

This is also a good time to try some new ideas for your business. Try doing a Facebook live sometime throughout the day to announce a surprise sale or show off how busy your place of business is. Get creative, have some fun, and experiment to see if these are tools that might work well in the future.

Small Business Saturday is a huge opportunity for small businesses of all kinds, not just retail! No matter what your business type is or what product or service you offer, you can find some way to participate and put yourself on the map against the bigger stores. Make sure to participate, give yourself a lot of lead up to reach new audiences, then use the opportunity to your full advantage to grow, not just on that day, but going forward as well!