How to Prepare for Small Business Saturday 2020 in the Pandemic

There’s nothing small about Small Business Saturday. In fact, American consumers spent nearly $20 billion at locally-owned businesses and restaurants on Small Business Saturday in 2019 alone!

Whether you’re looking to build brand awareness, drive sales, or engage your customers, Small Business Saturday is a golden opportunity to promote your business.

But just like everything else in 2020, things aren’t really the same this year. With many shoppers stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, how are you going to innovate and seize the day to promote your small business?

We’ve got 12 tips and strategies that you can try out this Small Business Saturday!

The first thing to figure out for Small Business Saturday

Before you decide on what you’re doing on the day of Small Business Saturday, it’s important to gauge your capacity for running special promotions during the pandemic. You have the choice of opening in-person, creating a virtual promotion, or doing a blend of both.

With the pandemic happening this year, you’ll need to do some extra planning for each of these promotional structures.

If you plan to open in-person during the holiday, then preparing sufficient PPE and scheduling employee hours early will be a top priority. If you expect a big jump in online sales, then you should make sure that your online shop is functioning properly—or perhaps it’s time for an entire revamp.

Once you’ve figured out your structure, it’s time to start strategizing!

Small Business Saturday strategies for your business

1. Remind your customers often

If your goal is to drive sales during Small Business Saturday weekend, then telling your customers about the holiday and putting your exciting plans front-and-center is your top priority. Building buzz takes multiple touchpoints across multiple channels, so if you’re doing something interesting, don’t be afraid to reach out to your customers more than once.

Make sure to start early and leverage all of the channels at your disposal: your email newsletter, website, social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.), and more. We also recommend tapping into local forums in your area, whether it be your city’s Reddit thread, neighborhood Facebook groups, or local newsletters.