Are you ready for Small Business Saturday?

Tucked neatly between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a very important shopping day for small businesses called Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday was started by American Express in 2010 to encourage shoppers to support small businesses when they are making their holiday purchases the weekend after Thanksgiving, which is notoriously one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year in the U.S. This year, Small Business Saturday falls on November 24^th. Are you ready?

If you are a small business merchant here are some things you can do to get ready.

1.       Advertise! – If you haven’t started already, start now promoting Small Business Saturday. Visit the Small Business Saturday Promote Your Small Business page for free tools, ideas, and success stories.  Be sure to post signs in your business, send emails, and post on your social media sites. This site offers many tools to help you and even offers free advertising to qualified businesses.

2.       Offer promotions! – Use this opportunity to offer a special discount or promotion to those who support you on Small Business Saturday. Think about a special that gets people in early, such as a giveaway or extra discount to the first 500 visitors. Think about offering something special like a craft or story time for the kids while mom and dad are shopping!

3.       Combine with other opportunities! – capitalize on this special day with other opportunities, like inviting special guests into the store, holding a ribbon cutting  ceremony, combining with an open house, or launching a new product. All of this can garner additional buzz for a day that’s already being promoted nationwide.

4.       Keep them coming back! – Be sure to have adequate staff to handle the rush of the day and of course put your best customer service faces on. Make the experience welcoming and find a way to get their email or get them to like or follow your social media sites so you can add them to future marketing opportunities. Consider what an opportunity you have for next year if you capture their address. You can send them a personal invitation to your next Small Business Saturday!

If you are a shopper instead of a merchant, be sure to support your local small businesses on November 24^th! Visit the Shop Small Facebook page to learn more about how you can support small businesses.

Let us know how you’ll be participating in Small Business Saturday this year.

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Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff. Visit the ProfessionalEdge website at www.gettheprofessionaledge.com, email info@gettheprofessionaledge.com, follow them on Twitter @profedge, or like their Facebook page.