Think outside the box this year for solutions on generating buzz and getting attention for your small business.
Small Business Saturday is November 28 this year, taking place—as usual—the weekend after Thanksgiving. However, that’s about where the normalcy stops as the pandemic has changed the entire landscape of the world around us. In the age of COVID, adapting quickly is a must, and ALG Vacations™ wants to help you do just that.
Ramping up for this shopping day is more important than ever now, because anticipation and consciousness is the key to getting people excited and thinking about your business. In these weeks leading up to Small Business Saturday, there are a few things you might want to do to help generate attention toward your business being one they should put on their itinerary for the biggest #shoplocal day of the year.
Download and share media that supports this messaging.
ALG Vacations™ can help you get started with our Small Business Saturday toolkit, which includes a Zoom background you can use for your video meetings, banners, and suggested post(s) you can proudly display right away. Let people know that Small Business Saturday is coming up by beginning to share memes and statistics about small businesses and how they contribute to the community.
You can easily find these on social media, from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok. Add it to your Stories and put up a new message of support for small businesses every day for the week leading up to Small Business Saturday.
The more you showcase your pride in being part of this group and the more you talk about your place in it, the more you will be associated as a small business people should patronize.
Partner with other small businesses.
Connect with other small businesses in your community and see if they’re willing to share a post of yours in exchange for you sharing one of theirs. Certain business types, like car service, taxicab, luggage, handbags, and gift shops may be more amenable to this.
Even if you don’t approach anyone directly, you should share and like posts with other small businesses you support. Your like is visible to the audience of the original poster, and could lead to them clicking on your business profile. Plus, it builds good will and shows that you’re a proud member of your community.
Finally, on local business groups on Facebook, see if anyone is willing to do a “follow-for-follow” thread, which is when everyone who contributes their Instagram or Twitter handle to the discussion agrees to follow everyone else on it. This is a great way to build reach and a following quickly.
Get ready.
Be prepared for the best-case scenario: lots of bookings. Many small businesses have found it successful to stay open later and market their longer day ahead of time. Sure, we know that you as a travel advisor rarely ever clock out at 5, but the difference with is that you’re advertising it on your social media.
You’ll also want to put together special kits around good sales. ALGV has a lot of good ones going on, including Black Fri-Yay, so it’s best to be prepared to send off an information package and recommendations immediately following any calls. Start an email draft with the right personalized attachments, then duplicate it for any clients that you speak with that day for a semi-customized, pretty turnkey solution.
Follow up and follow through.
Small Business Saturday isn’t just for this one weekend. The practices you employ to get ready for it can serve you well throughout the rest of the year, and any sales leads you may get on the 28th could become lifelong customers. Make sure you follow up with new contacts (and old!) by thanking them for choosing to speak with you and learn more about your small business during Small Business Saturday. After all, the reason why small businesses will always be so important to the tapestry of American is the richness of the relationships we cultivate.
