10 Super Easy Ways to Support Small Business This Season
With Small Business Saturday upon us, it is now more than ever time to rally around our small business community! At Sona Fitness, we have been blessed with a loyal and engaging client base that has helped to keep our business afloat through this challenging year. Over the last several months, I’ve had many conversations with clients and other small business owners about ways to uplift the small business community. From those conversations, here are 9 easy things you can do to support your favorite small business this holiday season!
1. Consider shelving your “let’s make a deal” skills this season. Given this year’s unprecedented stress from COVID-19, most service businesses cannot turn away any new clients right now. They will inevitably cut you a deal if you attempt to haggle with them, but keep in mind your negotiating cuts into their hourly rate thus making it harder for them to recoup any losses from this year. Save the haggling for 2021.
2. Cash is king. Save your favorite local restaurant or store a few extra bucks by paying with cash. Most small businesses absorb the credit card processing fee, so by paying cash, you can spare them a couple percentage points on the transaction.
3. Leave a review. Take a couple minutes to leave an online review for your favorite small businesses. Not only does this build trust and credibility for the business, it also helps
their SEO Results. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) allows for businesses to appear higher on search engines such as Google. Simply put, businesses with more reviews are likely to show up higher on Google.
4. For small e-commerce businesses, when in doubt, purchase from their website. Online merchants tend to pay a higher premium to sell their inventory on third party platforms (marketplaces, discount sites, etc.), so consider foregoing any secondary sites to purchase directly from the source. This will hopefully help increase their margin on the sale.
5. Share on social media. Digital advertising can become very expensive for small businesses so sharing their posts, ads, etc. will amplify their reach and hopefully increase site traffic and maybe even produce some sales!
6. Offer some grace and provide honest feedback. First off, if you receive some questionable or downright poor service this holiday season, keep in mind that the business’s infrastructure may be under intense strain. Maybe they had to adjust to a new COVID-19 protocol, or maybe they had to outsource a certain task to save money. Whatever the case may be, consider giving these businesses the benefit of the doubt as they navigate the ever evolving climate. With that said, small businesses need your honest feedback, so politely share your negative experience with them so they can course correct. By that same token, share your positive experiences with them as well so they can “double-down” on what is working.
7. Support the arts. Instead of grabbing a new accent piece from the bargain bin, consider finding some affordable handcrafted artwork. The quality of the art will be well worth a slightly higher price. If there is a local musician that you love, go buy their album from their website. Some musicians even sell vinyl copies of their albums, which make really cool gifts.
8. Take advantage of all the quality online entertainment 2020 has to offer. Probably the only silver lining of in-person entertainment coming to a halt has been the abundance of video content created. Support these entertainers by tuning into their online performances. You can find a wide variety of types of entertainment and most platforms allow you to directly pay the performer.
9. Plan ahead. Hopefully we are all doing our part to lift up our small business community this season, and sales/orders are flowing. So give your favorite small business some lead time on your order to help prevent stressing their system and to ensure a timely delivery.
10. Splurge on Small Business Saturday Deals! Most small businesses are not looking for a handout this holiday season, they are just looking for an opportunity to serve you, so take advantage of all the Small Business Saturday sales. Opt for a small business alternative to the barrage of Black Friday deals from big box stores and massive companies. You might even find a new favorite local business to support.
To that end, we are offering 50% off for 3 months of our online exercise platform and app, Sona Online. With Sona Online, you’ll have access to weekly live stream classes and hundreds of pre-recorded workouts from fantastic and accessible instructors. You’ll enjoy a platform that is on par with the big dogs...oh and by the way, you’ll love the workouts too! Know that your business directly supports our small team and helps us to further improve our product.
To redeem this offer, simply use promo code SMALLBIZ in the link below:
However you decide to support the small businesses in your community, just know that your efforts are so greatly appreciated. In this holiday season, we are especially thankful for all of the small business supporters out there!