1. Highlight your best products
With every small business in the country vying for attention on Small Business Saturday, you need to make sure that your company stands out from the pack. Make sure that your marketing materials highlight the stars of your product line, and offer your most popular goods at prices that cannot be beat. By exceeding expectations during this event, you will be more likely to win return customers.
2. Get the word out
The end of November is a busy time for stores and shoppers. Therefore, it is important to find a way to get your message out to both loyal customers and potential new ones. One way to attract business is to send previous customers a special deal via e-mail. You can also place signage in your storefront windows and use the Small Business Saturday logo in your brand's social media posts to let customers know that you are open for business and are offering great deals. The American Express Shop Small website even has free promotional materials that you can use for the big day.
3. Prep your website
Customers will likely be visiting your website to check out your offerings prior to Small Business Saturday. As such, it is important that you add any special sale information and ensure that all of your inventory is up-to-date. After all, you do not want people showing up to your store looking for last season's inventory. If you are seeing large spikes in interest, you may want to prepare your server for higher rates of traffic, as well. Finally, you should make sure that your site can be easily navigated on mobile phones, where the majority of shoppers do their browsing.
4. Do a store walk-through
Many small business owners conduct so much of their business online that they sometimes forget about the first impression a customer gets when visiting their actual stores. You might want to ask your business partners and staff members to walk through your store before the big shopping weekend. As a group, you should examine how easy it is to walk around and whether or not everything is clean and organized. You should also make sure that your prices are clearly marked, your best goods are front and center, and everything looks eye-catching. You may only get one shot with consumers: Make it count.
5. Fortify online security
In the midst of your online marketing efforts, you may find yourself with more customers buying products through your website than walking through your store. If so, you cannot afford to have any web security problems. Reevaluate your cybersecurity before the holiday season. Any site that lacks end-to-end encryption and other high-level security features should be upgraded before the big day. You should also walk through the proper protocol for handling credit cards with your team.
6. Make Small Business Saturday four days long
Most small business owners will focus on having a great Small Business Saturday. But why not plan for a blowout beginning on Black Friday and ending on Cyber Monday? Since you are already investing resources in marketing, inventory, and extra staff members, you should take full advantage of the higher traffic levels.
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