Small Business Saturday Means Sales for Your Store
Shop small. It's the mantra (and tagline) for American Express' second annual Small Business Saturday. Taking place on November 26 (the Saturday after Thanksgiving), the event was created to drive traffic and sales for independent and entrepreneurial retailers.
Check out the official Small Business Saturday website for all the details.
In case you haven't heard about it, let's take a look at some of the benefits of participating.
1. Free in-store signage. When you click on links on the SBS website, it takes you to the SBS Facebook Page where a variety of signage is available. Simply click on what you want and the files are sent to you, ready for display.
2. Ideas on how to use social media to increase awareness. SBS will help you do everything from creating a Facebook Business Page to sharing your story through Google/Amex My Business Story on YouTube. They'll even help you aggregate your social media efforts through YourBuzz, making it easier to manage multiple accounts.
3. Create an offer. The beauty of the SBS Facebook page is that it allows you to share ideas with other small businesses. Click through the "share an offer" link and you'll be taken to a growing list of offers that other merchants are offering. It's a place for indie retailers like yourself to get the dialog going and also to get ideas for what types of offers you might want to offer. You'll also find e-marketing templates as well as an offer for $100 of free Facebook geo-targeted ads.
Now if you think this is some gimmick by American Express to get you to use their card, well, you're right. But take a look at all of the support they have from organizations all over the country.
I'm pretty gung ho for this initiative. Never has a company thought through something like this so clearly, and they are truly helping to make entrepreneurial retailers like yourselves successful. In my mind, you'd be nuts not to take advantage of all this support and free marketing, especially on a day when most shoppers will travel to big box retailers because of the deals.
With Small Business Saturday sandwiched in between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it's the one fighting chance you'll have to get customers away from all the national chains and into your store.
How are you going to take advantage of Small Business Saturday?
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