Small Business Saturday is a great event for small businesses and it is always the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year that falls on November 26.
Small Business Saturday itself was started in 2010 by American Express and is similar to events like Black Friday but is strictly focused on small business. It has gained a lot of traction over the last 7 years. Almost 100 million consumers participated last year and the spending is in the billions.
American Express helps this along by usually running a promotion of some sort. This year it is 2X rewards promotion for enrolled cards. See here to check if your card is eligible and to enroll if it is: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/shop-small-offer/
Sometimes your local town or city will run extra promotions for Small Business Saturday or even create special directories for the event. You’ll want to register for it if they do. First, it’s free advertising and that’s always good. Second, it will generate extra customer traffic for you and that doesn’t hurt either.
Generally, Small Business Saturday also gets a good bit of press from the news, celebrities and even the president! You can tap into that by letting your customers know that you’re going to participate. You can do that through direct mailings or through your Facebook page or via Twitter (there’s even a hashtag: #smallbusinesssaturday ). American Express also supplies some free marketing materials which you can access here: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/
If you really want to pour it on you can run an event on top of Small Business Saturday. You could offer a prize for a lucky customer or support a local charity based off the purchases that day. If you decide to run a sale we have great Price and Promo Stickers and Sale and Promo Tags that you can use to highlight specific items.
Use your creativity, and the possibilities are endless and Small Business Saturday is a great day to be a small business!
