It's a bargain hunter's dream; a salesperson's nightmare : Black Friday, the one day of the year where people get up in the middle of the night to hunt down great sales. 2011 has been a crazy year for television advertisements with the Target lady doing pushups and stretches to get ready for when the clock strikes midnight and the Home Depot commercial announcer shouting "on" before every appliance brand as if he was calling Santa's reindeer. These big companies have a job to come up with something fresh and creative every year for Black Friday advertisements but their work is halfway accomplished as consumers know about the company beforehand.
What about those small businesses that not many people know about that have discounted items for sale on the day after Thanksgiving, too?
An article titled "9 Small Marketing Business Tips for Black Friday" lists some things a small company can do to keep their heads above water to compete with the Targets and Home Depots. Numbers two and three caught my eye the most : Offer Extended Support and Service and Reward Your Most Rewarding Customers.
One advantage that small businesses have over bigger companies is the ability to connect with the customers on a more one-on-one level and helping them through the purchasing process. On Black Friday, many of the deals are non-refundable and if it doesn't work once the customer buys a product and gets it home, they are out of luck. A small business has the opportunity to work with someone making sure they have the right cables and connectors for an electronic purchase, for example, before taking it home and saving some headaches.
Another advantage small companies have during Black Friday is the ability to reward frequent customers with coupons or other incentives for coming in and purchasing products. A bigger company is more worried about the total amount of revenue they are able to bring in or even that customers don't end up in the hospital after a brawl over one of their products!
Before reading this article, I always thought that because bigger companies were better known, they had a better advantage on Black Friday and other holidays. Now I know that even if there's not a lady like on the Target commercials advertising for them, a small company will do just fine. What are some of your thoughts?
I agree that small businesses have the opportunity to create a more one-on-one atmosphere, but to a certain extent. Every store is capable of this, it just depends on how well the store is maintained as well as the customer service availability, especially on Black Friday. The most important benefit that I have received from small businesses are that they are more approachable and welcoming when there is an issue with the product that was sold because they take pride in their store name and have to deal with their customers in an appropriate manner or else people talk and get the word out. A chain store such as Younkers is a little different because there name is already well-known, and to be honest, their company's name isn't on the line as much as a small business.
ReplyDeleteSam hit the nail on the head when she mentioned that most companies have half the battle won because people already know their name. That's the bigger problem for small businesses is that people simply do not know what they are offering. I personally can tell you I have no idea what the small local businesses were offering in my hometown, but I knew exactly what Walmart and K-Mart would be offering and that they were open. What small businesses should focus on the most is just using Black Friday as an opportunity to get their name out there so they have name recognition with their potential customers. If I was a small business owner I wouldn;t try to get any more sales then usual on Black Friday, but I would hope to gain a lot more customers druing that time by showing people what your business offers the whole year.
ReplyDeleteThis article was interesting because I have never thought about a small business marketing strategy on Black Friday. I do pay attention to the businesses in the small town that I'm from, but it's mostly because my aunt is a small business owner. It's definitely true that small businesses have an advantage because they can create a relationship with their customers. I think Alex made a great point when he said that it should be a time to increase customers, and maybe not so much on increasing sales. Increasing sales may happen anyways, but it's a great time to build customer loyalty.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Black Friday sales, I still think that larger businesses have a leg up on the smaller businesses. Obviously the advertising is a big deal. But one thing that could be looked at is the amount of money off that these businesses offer. When small businesses don't have
ReplyDeletelarge sales numbers, they will be less inclined to possibly lose that money if they aren't gaining repeat customers.
Another thing is the amount of employees that small businesses have. If the store is being flooded with lots of customers, then there are a lot of customers not being attended to by the employees.
In order for small businesses to take advantage of Black Friday, there is one thing they need to do, and that is follow up (#6) with the customers. The big goal is to attract new customers, and small businesses need to try and keep them coming back.
I would say the biggest piece of advice for small businesses would be to utilize free ways of marketing such as social media. This isn't an instantaneous reward. The small business is going to have to take the time to build a community on Twitter and Facebook or any other social media outlet to get people to see there deals not only on Black Friday but any time of the year. Another type of social media that can be free is developing a Wordpress or Blogger type blog. Our class started a blog for the purpose of integrated marketing and a small business can do the same. The big thing will social media is the consistency so you have to be willing to devote your time to it.
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