A newer American celebration has crossed the pond—and it’s one we can really get behind. This year marks the UK’s first ever Small Business Saturday. Held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the U.S., Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to support their local businesses and “shop small.” It has taken off quickly since its inception in 2010.
The UK’s version of Small Business Saturday will take place this year on one of our most busy Christmas shopping days, the first Saturday of December—this year falling on 7th December.
For UK consumers the call to action is simple—get out to your local high street, market, or independent online business and shop small! It’s not exclusive to retail businesses either, service and business-to-business organisations are encouraged to join in too.
For the small business people navigating this event for the first time, the next steps might not be as clear. There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle, but no need for panic. Through leveraging a combination of online marketing channels before Small Business Saturday promoting your efforts, and offering a great experience on the day, you’ll be on your way to a successful first Small Business Saturday in no time. Following are six easy steps you can take to get you on that path to success:
1. Set specific goals
Your first step should be determining exactly what you want to get out of participation in Small Business Saturday. These goals should be attainable and quantifiable, e.g. a specific amount of revenue, or a particular number of new customer contacts attained.
2. Make your participation known
Educating your customers about your participation should be an important part of your strategy. This is especially important given this is the first Small Business Saturday in the UK. The official Small Business Saturday website has some great materials to help you do just this – you can sign up to receive posters, badges and stands, as well as download logos, banners and other materials to use in your online communications.
Once you’ve collected all the content, it’s time to get the word out! Use a cross-channel approach to reach customers in all of the places they connect with your business: send an email to your subscribers, post to your Facebook Page, Tweet out information, etc. Make sure that your business is easily found when searched online, and get the Small Business Saturday signage hanging in your shop window, to help your business be easily found on the day of the event.
3. Take your customers into consideration
When it comes down to it, Small Business Saturday is about local businesses and their customers mutually benefitting one another. The customers are doing their part to support your business by shopping small, and you should reciprocate by providing value in return. Determine what it is about your products or services that improves your customers’ lives and makes you the logical choice over the competition.
4. Come up with a special offer
One of the best ways to generate foot traffic into a shop for Small Business Saturday is by running a special offer. And no, this does not mean that you have to offer your products or services at a steep discount. Instead, get creative. Think of your customers wants.What would incentivise them to take action? What could you do to add value? This could be something as simple as offering free gift wrapping, or providing free coffee for shoppers.
When you’ve settled on what the offer is going to be, try adding a referral component. Include a special incentive for customers who spread the word about the offer to friends and family, and you’ll be sure to maximise shop traffic.
5. Go mobile
Mobile is anticipated to be a huge part of Christmas shopping this year. On-the-go consumers will be looking to their mobile devices to locate nearby businesses, find offers, and compare prices. Those looking specifically to shop small for this holiday will certainly be leveraging their mobile devices to hunt down local businesses. Make certain that your business is easily found through mobile searches, your emails are mobile optimised, and you’re taking advantage of communications on social media channels that people frequent when on mobile devices.
6. Follow up
Small Business Saturday is a fantastic opportunity for a quick boost in sales, but be sure to take advantage of this day as a way to create ongoing success moving forward as well. Accomplish this by making sure that your customers have a fantastic experience with you, and then asking permission to maintain the connection via email or social media. This will allow you to further engage them throughout the year—and you may find your next best loyal customer.
If you can do these six things then you should be on to a winner for Small Business Saturday this year.
