Small Business Can Make Money On Cyber Monday Too
It is not news that one of the biggest times of the year for businesses is during the holiday season with an overwhelming amount of sales happening in the 4 days after Thanksgiving. As a small business, you might think that you cannot compete with the big box stores for some of those holiday dollars, but that is where you’d be wrong. According to a recent survey, it is estimated that 20 – 30% of annual revenue for small businesses is generated in the week after Thanksgiving; and although small businesses cannot compete with the rock bottom prices of the big box competitors on Black Friday, the Internet can prove to be a cheap marketing tool for small businesses on Cyber Monday.
This year 40% of holiday shopping will be done online, so why not take advantage of the opportunity and focus on generating sales through your website. As Ryan May of businessdictonary.com states, the only tools a small business needs to have a successful Cyber Monday is planning and creativity. It is no secret that most small businesses cannot compete with the marketing engines of the big wigs—so don’t try. Instead focus on creating a relationship with your target audience through social media and email.
On this site we have stressed how important social media is to growing your business—but never is your online presence more important than during the holidays. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest allow you to reach a large number of people with little to no marketing budget. The one pitfall to watch out for is sounding too pushy. Instead of going for the hard sell, focus on creating useful content that pertains to your business. And don’t neglect to post often!
Email is an invaluable tool because it allows you to cater to people who have already expressed an interest in your company when they signed up for the newsletter. With email, do as the big retailers do and highlight a handful of your best Cyber Monday deals. Customers tend to get overwhelmed when there are a ton of choices, so instead of giving little discounts on a lot of items or services, choose instead to deeply discount just a few.
One thing to take into account before launching a big holiday sale is whether you have the resources to deal with the potential onslaught of orders. Do you have enough product? enough manpower to pack the boxes? and do you have enough bandwidth to stand up to an increase in traffic. Very few people are persistent enough to wait weeks for something they ordered or to try to load web pages that are crashing. More than making a lot of sales, Cyber Monday is about showing off your business and its products and services to make life-long customers that will keep coming back even after the holidays are over.
May, Ryan. http://www.businessdictionary.com “How Your Small Business Can Take Advantage of Cyber Monday”.