Every local business struggles with how and when to promote themselves online during the holidays.
We get stuck wondering things like, “when should I start my marketing plan?” or “which sales days should I even participate in?”
When you’re unsure what to do, it’s hard to move forward, and too often, business owners tell me they end up taking no action until the last minute.
The good news is, you can easily bring order to the chaos by following these easy components for your personal best timeline for Small Business Saturday promotions.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the key differences between Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, while also providing a simple timeline to help you plan your social media content. My goal is to give you a clear roadmap so you can jumpstart your holiday marketing and enjoy a stress-free season that boosts your revenue!
Comparing Small Business Saturday and Black Friday
Should you offer a sale for Small Business Saturday? Or do you prefer to participate in Black Friday? Both can be used to draw foot traffic, clear inventory, build brand recognition or loyalty, and boost sales. But there are also some differences:
| Small Business Saturday | Black Friday |
| More values-driven creating a positive brand image | More main-stream |
| Might need more effort to promote, unless it’s a big thing in your community | Customers are on the hunt for sales and many plan to spend $$ this day |
| Small shops are highlighted but the day itself can be overshadowed by Black Friday | A small shop can be overshadowed by larger retailers |
In other words: you decide whether to participate in a Black Friday sale or a Small Business Saturday sale.
The added benefit is that you set the goals and identify how the promotion aligns with your business goals, target audience, and available resources.
Create a Strategic Sale or Deal
A strategic sale or deal means that it’s one that will help meet your goals.
This is a crucial component because the wrong deal won’t get you where you want to go.
Many people who are new to business and marketing, start out on the right track but then get stuck because they’re using the wrong technique.
They wind up running discount after discount, and never getting ahead on their overall goals.
The key to strategic sales and promotions is to set one measurable goal for the day and build your promotion around that.
Then you choose a strategic offer to help you meet the goal you chose and adapt it to your specific customers so it’s irresistible to them.
To get started here, jot down a goal you’d love to still meet this year, and brainstorm some ideas for holiday events or promotions to meet that goal.
Need some help with specific goal or offer ideas? My Marketing Calendar will help you with specific ideas for goals and promotions (including ones that aren’t discounts), as well as sample marketing timelines.
Promote Your Deal in Phases
Promoting it just means to tell everyone all about it. I like to promote in phases to keep it fresh and help make sure my clients and I do enough repetitions. This is my favorite part, friend.
If you’ve spent hours wondering what to post and when, but something still feels off – like you’re not getting results, this is likely the piece that’s missing.
Without this, you can feel like you’re posting nonstop and still not get the foot traffic you wanted on the big day.
What can you do?
A really useful technique for creating your content is to think of it in phases:
- Warm up your audience. Reminding them that you’re there, who you are, and why they love you. This is especially important for your email or social media if you haven’t been active in a bit, and doesn’t have to be related to your promotion.
- Tease it by tell them something is coming, you think they’ll love it, and you’re working hard on it
- Reveal the event or sale! Share about it on all your platforms, this is SO fun! Remember that not everyone sees everything you create, so they won’t be tired of it yet.
- Include a few last-minute reminders for the folks in the back and those who are afraid of commitment.
My preference is to prepare this content in advance so that I don’t chicken out of actually sharing it.
The (Marketing) Calendar
I’m talking about a literal calendar here. Identify when your promotion is, in our case, we’re talking about The day(s) after Thanksgiving.
Here’s where you’ll really start to build the timeline for your marketing plan.
Of course, this depends on when you read this blog and how much time is left! Consider just working backwards from the actual promotional day.
The approach you can use to make your own perfect timeline is:
- Circle the date of your promotion
- Then mark when you’re sending/posting reminders, when you’re sharing about the actual sale, when you’re teasing it, and when you’re warming up the audience.
- Then, in order to really ensure success, just start making a list of actual posts and emails that you can send during those times so that you’re ready when the time comes.
Once you’re done, you’ll be well on your way to meeting, and exceeding, your business goals for this holiday season.
Putting it All Together for Your Perfect Holiday Marketing Plan
There you have it! The 3 components of your perfect Holiday Marketing Plan.
It may sound like a lot, but like most things practice makes perfect. Just focus on choosing a promotion that helps meet a goal for your business. This will help you create content that is effective and helps to start meeting your holiday business goals.
What’s next? Download Your Marketing Calendar
If you need help getting started, my Marketing Calendar will help you with specific ideas for goals and promotions (including ones that aren’t discounts), an ideal timeline, and a shorter timeline, so you can get started on your promotions today!
Ready to take your holiday marketing to the next level? My Holiday Marketing Kickstart has everything you need to succeed.
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