Small Business Saturday is the first Saturday after Thanksgiving each year. Small businesses have the opportunity to promote their business and reach their local customers on a day that is all about them. Any small business can benefit from this day, from ecommerce businesses to tax preparations, etc. 
 

While American Express does offer free marketing materials with copy, it is important that businesses also create their own posts, flyers, and keep consistent with their branding! If need be, absolutely use the free marketing materials, why not, but make sure to keep it on brand as possible. 

There are free marketing materials, but what about getting started? Here are some actionable Small Business Saturday marketing tips. 

Five actionable tips for Small Business Saturday marketing 

1. Host or participate in an event

A great way to get out in the community and promote your business, and local ones in the area, is to host an event or participate in one. A common event for most small businesses is Trunk or Treat during Halloween. While it isn’t Halloween, you can still capture the spirit of the event with a trunk show.

Another great resource is to check with your local Chamber of Commerce and other business networking groups. This provides you with the ability to work with local businesses that are already connected in the community. 

2. Create a social media strategy 

Social media marketing is one of the most known and renowned ways of marketing in this digital age; however, research shows that one in five small businesses don’t utilize their digital marketing. Another shocking study shows that 1 in 10 small businesses don’t invest in any type of marketing. 

Not only is social media marketing important for special holidays like Small Business Saturday, but social media is a great way to reach out to local customers and businesses. Without customers or other businesses knowing who your small business is, how will you reach a new audience? 

It is important to build a brand identity, continue to nurture it, and help establish a positive brand reputation.

Without both of these, it will be difficult to market your Small Business Saturday events on social media, but you can work with another local small business to get marketing started. 

3. Plan out deals

The best thing to do with any marketing strategy is to plan in advance. This is where a content calendar comes into play in marketing. A content calendar is a schedule of all Small Business marketing strategies that will be published each week, month, or quarter. 

This provides everyone on the team and those who need to provide feedback a simple, but effective way to stay on track and monitor all future content. 

It helps to prevent rookie mistakes, missed holidays, provides consistency, the ability to analyze previous campaigns, and makes every person’s life involved a bit easier. 

4. Send email marketing in conjunction with events and social media 

Email marketing is an effective way to reach consumers and subscribers. Research shows that email marketing can be a more effective channel than others. Ready to get started with email marketing? Here is how to get started. 

5. Get listed on the Shop Small Map

The Shop Small Map is offered to small businesses with a physical location for customers to easily find businesses, especially if customers are searching for new places to shop or looking for places that provide exclusive offers. However, this only applies to a small number of services such as dining, shopping, entertainment, travel, services, and business services. 

While this is a small number of industries, if your business falls into this category, it could be another opportunity to market your business on Small Business Saturday. 

Small Business Saturday might seem like another Saturday, but in all reality, this is a moment for small businesses to capitalize on this opportunity to sell more products and services during the holiday season. 

For more information on digital marketing strategies, contact our experts today.