How to make the most of Small Business Saturday UK
For big businesses, Black Friday is probably the biggest selling events of the year. However, for small businesses, who cannot afford to slash their prices before Christmas (let alone at any other time of year) the same way larger corporates do, it can be a difficult time to stand out.
It’s one of the reasons Small Business Saturday (SBS) was born. Like most big commercial inventions, SBS was created in the US, and takes place the day after Black Friday to give smaller, independent business their time to shine.
The initiative was officially brought over to the UK by American Express seven years ago and usually takes place on the first Saturday in December, which this year falls on December 7th, 2019.
If you are a small or medium-sized business struggling to get noticed among the big boys, here are Air Social Digital Marketing Agency’s tips on how to make the most of Small Business Saturday.
Social Media and Hashtags
If you’re a small independent business no doubt you won’t have a huge budget for advertising but online social marketing is an inexpensive way of getting your message out there. Almost 3.5 billion people now use social media worldwide and that’s increasing at a rate of about one million daily so it makes sense to be using it as a platform for your business. Those looking to buy from smaller independents will also be looking out for the #smallbusinesssaturday so make sure that’s clear in your content.
Share your business story
Everyone loves a good story. Not only will sharing yours help you to make connections and build relationships with customers but it could also be the reason they choose to buy your product or service over someone else’s.
Collaborate
Running a small business can be lonely. You might be a one-man-band or only have a small number of employees with what feels like little resource to come up with incentives or marketing initiatives to make the most of SBS. However, micro-businesses (businesses with less than 9 employees) accounted for 99% of all businesses in the UK last year so you’re not alone. Why not collaborate with another local business on a special SBS event or offer.
Direct email marketing
This is one of the most effective marketing tools for small businesses. Try to think outside the box and always remember to personalise email marketing as much as possible to try and stand out in your customers’ inboxes. But equally keep things simple. Fussy marketing messages are an instant turn off for most people.
Get your target audience right
There’s no point spending time and effort on marketing around SBS if you’re marketing to the wrong people. Take time to research and get to know your audience and what they like. Remember that marketing channels are only relevant to you if your audience is consuming that particular channel.
