15 Small Business Saturday Marketing Ideas To Boost Your Sales

Nov 18, 2022 9 min read

A holiday sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday falls on November 26. It's a prime opportunity to highlight the benefits of shopping locally for the holidays to nearby consumers. People can put money back into their community by shopping small, helping local stores and restaurants regain ground after the COVID-19 pandemic.

70% of customers surveyed reported that Small Business Saturday makes them want to encourage others to shop at small and independently-owned retailers. In fact, 51 million shoppers participated in Small Business Saturday in 2021.

The key to boosting sales on the day of Small Business Saturday is to know how to actually attract customers to your small business. Local restaurants and retailers must cater to both online and offline audiences to improve their Small Business Saturday sales. In this blog, we will explore how to attract consumers and encourage people to support your business this Small Business Saturday. Let's start.

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Build community on social media this Small Business Saturday. Promote your business on social media by using the official hashtags for the day, such as #SmallBizSaturday, #ShopSmall, or #SmallBizSat.

Host giveaways or invite your users to like, share and follow your profile for discount codes. This will boost your social media presence and create more hype and attention for your business.

You can even reach out to social media influencers to expand your reach. Use other creative ways to boost your social promotion. Customers will jump at the chance to show off their support for your small business.

Use social media management tools like Statusbrew to manage your Small Business Saturday social campaigns effectively. With Statusbrew, you can post content, schedule six months of social content in advance, manage engagement for different platforms from a single dashboard, collaborate with your team, and extract precise data to know which of your marketing effort is bringing the results.

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Create Special Offers

An exciting and compelling sales offer will give your customers a reason to come into your store on this Small Business Saturday. Here are some sales ideas for you to try out:

  • Discounts on all items
  • Buy one, get one free offer
  • Free shipping
  • Discounts on selected products for upselling purchases
  • Bonus gifts with purchases over a certain amount
  • Discounts for purchases from promotional partners
  • Discounts for joining your shopping club or signing up for your mailing list

Consider creating multiple offer ideas and tracking sales results to see which offer generates the most purchases. Then, you can use that offer for maximum sales.

Hold Contests

You can provide a variation on sales offers by hosting a promotional contest. Consider the types of prizes that might appeal to your target audience.

You can also host contests that involve audience participation, like a challenge to name a new product or develop a new ad jingle. Once you have decided on the nature of your contest, you should develop rules for qualifying and winning.

Hold Contests

Local media advertising provides different ways to promote your Small Business Saturday sale to local customers. This is an excellent opportunity for businesses to boost sales, as the huge brands in your industry don't participate in local media. Such opportunities include:

  • Radio ads
  • Television advertising
  • Billboards
  • Local magazines
  • Newspaper ads

In addition to these paid media outlets, you can use other cost-efficient local advertising methods like posting flyers.

Advertise In Local Media

Participate In Local Events

Many local business communities host events on the day of Small Business Saturday. Getting involved in these events will give you an opportunity to promote your own small business. Check with leading businesses in your area and your local chamber to see what's happening in their community.

Host Your Own Small Business Saturday Event

This one requires some budget and some network leverage as well. You don't just have to limit yourself to existing Small Business Saturday events. You can even consider hosting your own event. For instance, you can network with other small businesses to organize a sponsored Small Business Saturday promotion.

Develop Promotional Partnerships

Develop Promotional Partnerships

Hosting or participating in local Small Business Saturday events will enable you to form promotional alliances with other small businesses that are not your direct competitors. This creates partnership opportunities to do joint promotions for Small Business Saturday events. For instance, your promotional partners can distribute your discount coupons to their customers in exchange for similar consideration.

Offer One-day-only Special Deals

Customers are looking to buy gifts while maximizing their budgets. People can't resist the discounts or deals offered during the festive season, and retailers can boost foot traffic in their stores. That also means they will likely sell other items, too.

Always ensure your deals are truly irresistible. Think bigger, like offering a unique gift with purchases over a certain amount or advertising 40% to 50% off on your bestseller products. Just remember to advertise your massive deals on every social media channel possible.

Partner With Other Small Businesses

Partner With Other Small Businesses

Joining forces with other local retailers and restaurants is a great way to stretch your Small Business Saturday marketing efforts. Small businesses in walkable neighborhoods together can turn this day into a full-blown community celebration as well.

You can create excitement on Small Business Saturday day with balloons or an outdoor tent. Turn the atmosphere into an environment that sparks festivity and joy. You don't need to overspend to grab the passerby's attention. All you need to do is ensure you become visible.

Offer Online And In-store Purchase Options

While the world has shifted online due to the pandemic, several people, even today, are still cautious about shopping in stores. And small businesses can ease out their concerns. For instance, you can showcase your best-selling products through your website or Facebook page. People could then buy them online or by calling and visiting your store.

Small businesses don't need to operate fancy websites or build their own apps to make this work. You only need to get creative and try new solutions for your customers to find you. The easier it is for people to patronize your shop, the more sales you will see.

Small businesses can even fuel communities and define neighborhoods on this day. Generally, consumers want to support small local businesses, but they are not sure how to. So, you can reach out and catch the attention of such people this holiday season with a Small Business Saturday campaign that they will be sure to remember.

Keep The Mystery Alive

Advertising mystery gifts and sales is a great way to get traffic into your brick-and-mortar store. Think of these mystery gifts as rewards you offer your customers for doing business with you. It will keep them coming back to do business with you in the future.

What should these mystery gifts or rewards look like? That's entirely up to you! You can offer a $15 gift card with every purchase. Or you can give a free consultation if you trade in services. You should know what your customers want and if you really aren't sure, ask them. Find your loyal customers and ask them for their valuable feedback. That way, you will have a good idea of how little gifts and gestures impact them.

At the end of the day, your customers will remember how your brand made them feel with a mystery offer. When customers get a reward, special pathways in their brains become activated. This makes them feel good, and this activation leads them to seek more rewarding stimuli. It endears them to you and helps build your customer relationships.

Reward Customer Loyalty

The Small Business Saturday sales might attract plenty of customers to your business. Some of the people who purchase from your small business that day will be your regular, loyal customers. Others will be strangers who might never again decide to do business with you.

So, you should treat your loyal customers with an additional discount or bonus gift. For instance, consider implementing a loyalty program that provides a deal after a fixed number of purchases. That could be like offering 30% off on their next purchase after making about six non-discounted purchases.

Create FOMO Moments

Create FOMO Moments

FOMO is an effective marketing tactic in the online world.

You should structure your sales and announcements to drive urgency and create a sense of FOMO. Highlight your limited-time discounts and emphasize that they will only last for a while. Use pop-ups on your website to make your visitors and shoppers aware of the deals.

Create limited amounts of coupon codes. This way, your customers will prioritize shopping with your business, as they don't want to miss out on your exciting deals.

Don't Just Discount, Add Value

Business owners spend plenty of time focusing on the transactional side of Small Business Saturday, and they need to remember to use this day for building customer relationships.

Entice customers to shop with you when advertising your Small Business Saturday deals. You can provide them customized gift sections in your store or curated gift guides.

Your customers are busy — they are working and trying to ensure they grab a gift for everyone on their minds. But sometimes, they need help with gift ideas.

Help your customers complete their holiday shopping lists efficiently. They will think of you fondly, so you can entice them again to do business with you even after the Small Business Saturday day ends. Whether you are an online eCommerce business or a physical retailer, creating gift guides works.

Participate In The #ShopSmall Accelerator Program On TikTok

TikTok has launched a new #ShopSmall Accelerator program this year, providing small businesses with tips, guidance, and up to $250,000 ad credits to eligible businesses. TikTok has also added #ShopSmall stickers to promote the initiative.

The program provides expert creative guidance from popular TikTok creators, reaching new customers and a way to boost growth.

Make Small Business Saturday A Sales Success

Small Business Saturday gives smaller businesses an opportunity to leverage Thanksgiving sales on the weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Create well-designed offers to lay a foundation for a successful Small Business Saturday campaign. Cross-promote your Small Business Saturday event with your Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing campaigns. Reach out to your own existing customer base and tap into the networks of promotional partners like other local businesses.

Follow the strategies given in this blog to increase your Small Business Saturday sales as well as to make the most of this annual opportunity to increase your year-end sales.

Book a demo if you wish to effectively carry out your Small Business Saturday campaigns on social media.

Try Statusbrew

Statusbrew is an all-in-one social media management tool that supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and even Google My Business.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Here are some commonly asked questions about Small Business Saturday marketing:

What is the goal of Small Business Saturday?

Small Business Saturday is an annual event that encourages consumers to shop locally in person or online at small businesses. It represents a significant opportunity for small businesses to increase sales during the holiday shopping season.

What comes after Small Business Saturday?

Cyber Monday comes after Small Business Saturday, which concludes the Black Friday shopping season.

What should I do for Small Business week?

You can host celebrations for the entire Small Business Week. Advertise exclusive deals every day of the week. Support other small businesses throughout the week or support a cause.

Rushali Das

Rushali is a content writer at Statusbrew. She is fond of writing content that compels people to slow down and look more closely to discover the unknown stories.

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