With the holiday season beginning and the new year not far behind, take a moment to energize your business strategies so you can capitalize on the opportunities ahead. This edition of Business in Action aims to help you do just that by equipping you with tactics for elevating your brand through unconditional marketing, maximizing your Small Business Saturday sales, cultivating a visionary approach, and preparing your company for a thriving 2025.
If you're looking for fresh ways to break through the noise next year, taking a unique approach to your marketing may just be the answer. Inside, find unconventional tactics to add to your arsenal; with them, you'll be sure to stand out from the competition and leave a lasting impression on potential customers.
Over the years, Small Business Saturday has turned into a major shopping holiday, offering potentially lucrative sales. Take advantage of it with the strategies inside, which can help you capitalize on the increased foot traffic and boost your business significantly.
Cultivating a forward-thinking perspective can enable you to propel your business forward no matter what challenges may arise. The enclosed article breaks down step-by-step how to create a strong entrepreneurial vision that will guide your success.
Before the year comes to a close, take stock of your current company’s position and assess what strategies you could implement to empower your employees and facilitate great productivity. Inside, discover ideas for being proactive with your planning and preparation, allowing you to position your business to thrive in 2025.
Here’s to remaining focused on driving your business forward. As always, it’s a pleasure to send you this magazine.
In the current marketing landscape, consumers are bombarded with an unrelenting assault of the same old strategies: tailored commercials, social media blitzes, and SEO tweaks. So how do you differentiate your brand from this chorus of monotony? The solution: unconventional marketing techniques. Ahead of the new year, consider these ideas meant to challenge the status quo and drive your business to the forefront of consumer awareness.
When it comes to doing business, authenticity and interactive experiences are king these days, so if you’re constantly pushing a sale, your customers will notice. To truly expand your customer base and grow your business, you must engender brand loyalty—and a foolproof way of doing so is offering free products or services. Include instructional materials with your email campaigns, offer useful tools like downloadable checklists on your website, or even organize events featuring prizes or complimentary food to connect directly with consumers and position yourself as a pillar of the community. Prioritize value over sales presentations, and you’ll build a community of brand champions.
Consumers today are drawn to companies who support a cause, but it’s not enough to simply lean on celebrity sponsorships or conduct passing hashtag campaigns. Instead, engage in the strategy of causevertising, which involves creating long-term alliances with grassroots projects that handle important social concerns in ways that directly complement your business’s basic principles. For instance, if you’re a food delivery firm, you could work with an urban gardening nonprofit to support local food security initiatives by donating extra product. These partnerships can result in win-win situations by enhancing your brand image, drawing in socially conscious customers, and raising awareness for important causes.
Games appeal to our inherent drive for success and rivalry, thereby acting as strong motivators. It’s unsurprising, then, that gamification marketing is becoming an increasingly popular approach. It involves leveraging principles of gameplay, such as point scoring, competition, achievements, and rewards, to generate more consumer engagement. This could be put into practice in a number of ways—post industry-relevant quizzes on your social media, reward customers with points for purchases they can redeem for prizes, or put a spin wheel on your website they can play for discounts. These tactics can not only boost brand recognition and interaction but also produce useful user data and a feeling of community around your business, in turn strengthening the customer relationship.
There’s no doubting the power of mega-influencers, with their millions of followers and well-crafted feeds. But there’s equal value, and potentially less cost, in microinfluencers, those who have smaller, more involved audiences. Within their communities, these niche experts have huge impact thanks to their greater ability to connect personally with their followers. Collaborating with ones who fit your brand enables you to leverage the trust they engender to create focused marketing that builds confidence in your own company among like-minded consumers. Through such partnerships, you can exponentially grow your online presence and, ultimately, bring in more business.
Hyperlocal marketing refers to when a brand or company targets customers in a highly specific geographic area. The primary goal is to populate your brand on potential customers’ feeds and appear at the top of the list when they search for “near me” options in your niche. You can accomplish this through online strategies like creating a Google Business Profile and optimizing your website for local SEO. In addition, create and share hyperlocal content, such as in a blog or newsletter, and offer discounts centered on your area. For example, if you own a pet store in a town that’s had wet weather for two weeks running, you could discount chew toys by 14 percent, showing that you’re dealing with the same weather your customers are. This narrow focus will make them feel understood and appreciated, providing a seamless brand encounter in their daily lives.
Unconventional marketing strategies are not without risk, even if they grant the possibility of spectacular returns. Keep these notes at the forefront of your mind to help you maximize your strategy.
The strategies discussed here are only a starting point. Be willing to experiment, think outside the box, and question the status quo to find new ways to expand your brand and inspire your audience. After all, it’s often the most unusual ideas that produce the most revolutionary outcomes.
TAKE ACTION:
Review your marketing plan for the following year, and identify ways you can shake it up to draw new customers to your brand.
The winter holidays are on the horizon, bringing with them an energy of excitement and generosity. But if you lead a small business, you may have another major date circled on your calendar: Small Business Saturday.
This occasion calls on community members to eschew visits to large corporations and instead explore shopping opportunities within their own neighborhoods. And since its inception in 2010, it has been a rousing success for Main Street organizations—according to American Express’s Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, shoppers drove around $17 billion in revenue in 2023 alone.
Naturally, you won’t be the only one happily opening your doors to patrons come the holiday. As with any other sales opportunity, you’ll have to gain exposure if you want to rake in your share of those billions of dollars up for grabs. Try the following marketing strategies to distinguish yourself from the crowd and get consumers to pull into your parking lot this November 30.
It may come as a surprise, but this credit card company actually originated Small Business Saturday as a tactic to encourage members to swipe their cards with gusto at their local stores. They have since developed an entire Shop Small movement, which includes a Shop Small Map that helps the public find companies near them to support. If your business accepts Amex cards and meets the other credentials, you can have it featured on this map by logging in to your merchant account, going to your location page, and checking the box indicating you wish to do so. This simple action can promote your business in front of a vast amount of local consumers.
American Express also offers other tools to help small businesses prepare for this shopping holiday, including an informative analytics app and downloadable marketing materials. To explore these and more, check out the #ShopSmall Accelerator on its website.
Nothing attracts hungry patrons like a good deal, so consider slashing prices on certain products or services or even bundling them alongside a free gift with a purchase. Focus on your most popular offerings along with those that would best showcase your brand and its unique charm to new patrons. Then promote your get-it-before-it’s-gone deals through social media, marketing emails, physical advertisements, and other omnichannel tools to ensure that they get in front of as many eyes as possible.
To protect your revenue, though, you’ll need to proceed wisely. With any good or service you’re considering discounting, calculate your net sales for it, subtract your cost of goods sold, and divide that figure by the net sales, multiplying the resulting number by one hundred. This process will reveal your profit margin and how much wiggle room you have to reduce the price by a certain percentage or dollar amount.
Upholding a strong social media presence across various platforms is crucial year-round for building brand awareness, but it’s especially vital ahead of Small Business Saturday, when shoppers are eager to connect with the human element behind local endeavors. And what better way to help them do so do than to post content that puts you and your staff front and center?
For example, you could upload a Q and A in which your team answers questions like “Which of our products do you use most?” or “Why do you enjoy working for a family business?” You could also film demonstrations of your products or services or give a tour of your business that delves into its history. Such content will communicate that you aren’t a cold corporate enterprise headquartered in some far-off metropolis—you’re a family that staffs your community’s neighbors and has roots in the local culture.
Post this content across various platforms, adding the hashtags #ShopSmall and #SmallBusinessSaturday. These terms are simple to search, and American Express may also share or feature posts with them to grant you even more exposure. And don’t forget to check back often to respond to any engagement, which can make your business feel even more relatable and convince curious shoppers to pay you a visit.
Not all Small Business Saturday shopping occurs at brick-and-mortar stores. In fact, many consumers may prefer to support local companies via their electronic devices. So just as you should keep a clean, attractive product floor in your storefront, aim to optimize your website for simple and satisfying online browsing.
Leading entrepreneur and influencer Neil Patel recommends these housekeeping tasks to achieve this:
Be sure to incorporate links to your website on all your socials too. But don’t just direct prospective customers to your homepage—guide them to your digital store or a landing page designed for converting leads (e.g., a “Schedule Your Free Consultation” form).
While you should always be promoting your products or services, go a step further this season by marketing yours as the perfect gifts. Using a graphic design tool such as Canva, write up a holiday gift guide that highlights some of your best offerings, using alluring seasonal imagery and persuasive copy that will hook your audience. Don’t forget to include your address and a miniature city map if you primarily make sales in person. Once the guide is finalized, share it on social media, in your email campaigns, and on print ads.
This tactic isn’t just for B2C retailers either. Even if you sell a good or service that doesn’t typically wind up wrapped in a bow, you should still remind your consumers of the needs you fulfill. For example, a roofer can offer protection against winter home perils like ice, while a B2B software company could highlight its ability to help make productivity a breeze for other local businesses amid hectic holiday demands. Think of what makes your offerings essential this Small Business Saturday, then work this into your promotional materials; do so successfully, and your community will happily give you their business.
TAKE ACTION:
Adopt these strategies to generate community excitement and make this Small Business Saturday more lucrative.
Starting and subsequently running a business is no easy feat. It requires investing countless hours and resources into transforming ideas into reality, navigating the complexities of the market, and building a foundation for success. Central to this endeavor is a clear and steadfast entrepreneurial vision. Not only will it guide you through the challenges of the startup phase, but it will also serve as a beacon for future growth and innovation.
Whether you need to build a central tenet from scratch or are looking to rework your current one, this guide will walk you through the steps to help you craft it, hone it, and bring your team on board with your big dreams.
Your entrepreneurial vision is essentially the overall purpose that initially motivated you to pursue your business venture fine-tuned into a concise, forward-thinking statement. It may not feel easy to boil down what drives you so succinctly, but doing so will help you create a strategic framework for your organization that aligns all your efforts toward a common objective. When you have such clear direction, you can more confidently make daily decisions for both you and your business and develop a concrete plan to keep you on the path toward your short- and long-term goals. Without it, you may instead end up floating aimlessly, leading to stagnation or, even worse, failure.
On a more micro level, having an entrepreneurial vision enables you to better inspire everyone you work with and foster within them a greater sense of collaboration and commitment to your company’s objectives. The better an employee understands the “why” behind what they’re working toward each day, the more focused and driven they may end up becoming in their efforts. Such dedication can help boost productivity so you can reach greater and greater benchmarks, in turn making your initial inspiration a tangible reality that creates a real difference in the world.
A vision doesn’t just happen—it takes time and effort to establish one that focuses all your strategies and creates more opportunities for success. Follow these four steps to help you examine your greater purpose and establish a visionary outlook for yourself and your organization.
Examine your why
First and foremost, you need to pinpoint what motivates you as an entrepreneur. What need did you set out to solve when embarking on your business venture? What core values, such as sustainability, transparency, or education, are at the heart of everything you do? Get a firm grasp of these foundational elements, and they can serve as pillars for your organization, giving you something to both establish cohesive business practices around and fall back on in the face of setbacks.
For instance, if you value transparency, you can make it a primary point of emphasis with your employees to prioritize open communication with both fellow team members and clients. This way, should something go awry with an order, you have a road map to follow for smoothing it over and keeping the customer: clearly address the issue with them, acknowledge their feelings, and lay out everything you plan to do to fix it.
Look to the future
A vision is inherently about the future, so yours should be ambitious and push the boundaries of what’s currently available in your market. Say your initial idea was to improve the way real estate agents market to potential homebuyers. What can your tools do to keep them top of mind that other businesses can’t? How are you going to solve their biggest challenges in getting repeat business or referrals? Being forward-thinking can help you discover new avenues worth exploring and establish your organization as a key player within your niche.
As you look ahead, strive to strike a balance between aspiration and feasibility, but take care not to limit your vision too much, instead painting a vivid picture of what success would look like in the long term. Dream big and imagine the greater impact you hope your organization will have, making sure you’re always considering how it can transform people’s lives.
Research your market
During this process, it’s essential to evaluate your industry and the current trends within it. Understanding external factors such as who you’re up against and who you’re marketing to will help you craft a vision that’s relevant and responsive to the opportunities within your niche. However, keep it broad to allow for flexibility as the landscape evolves, enabling you to stay one step ahead of the competition and adapt according to shifting customer needs. This way, you can better position your business to seize emerging opportunities and become a potential solution to challenges in your field.
Share it with everyone
Once you have your vision, communicate it consistently across all levels of your organization to integrate it into your company’s culture. Bring it up at the start of every meeting, or include it in your company-wide emails; these regular reminders will keep it alive and top of mind for everyone involved. Further, by engaging your team in your vision, you may unlock unique insights and perspectives that can help enhance it and allow each person to find their role within it.
Establishing a powerful entrepreneurial vision is a crucial step toward building a successful business. When you understand your core motivators, you can funnel your passions into more focused and aligned efforts, better ensuring that your business always continues to move upward.
TAKE ACTION:
Reflect on your personal values, and determine how you can establish or enhance your entrepreneurial vision to help your team and business succeed.
The year’s end offers a prime chance to hit pause and assess your company’s performance, focusing on what you did well and where you fell short and strategizing how to ready it for upcoming opportunities. Consider these tactics to help you and your team successfully prepare for the new year, enabling you to tackle your objectives with confidence.
Set some time aside to review your company’s progress over the past months, starting with its successes. Pinpoint the business strategies, marketing campaigns, and team dynamics that fueled your accomplishments, noting what made them so effective, and consider how you can reuse these tactics in your plans for 2025.
Then analyze your setbacks. Focus on identifying what caused them—whether it was market shifts, missed opportunities, or a lack of resources—and develop solutions to prevent similar roadblocks from occurring again. Embracing your failures will help you learn from them and convert them into useful stepping stones that may lead to greater success in the future.
Many companies are now leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline operations, boost productivity, and cut costs, so explore how you can integrate it into your own processes. For instance, you could employ AI-powered chatbots to answer basic online questions from customers or use AI platforms to more easily extract and analyze powerful customer insights. Some programs, such as Salesforce, also offer tools to help you personalize your marketing campaigns for better engagement and identify trends to fine-tune product development. To learn more about how specific AI platforms can benefit your business, consider enrolling in an inexpensive online course, such as one offered through Coursera.
Your employees are undoubtedly among your best assets, which is why you should do what you can to foster engagement, boost morale, and enhance their enthusiasm for your company’s mission. This can range from offering professional development workshops to holding fun team-building activities, such as an escape room challenge or a volunteer day. The former can help them expand their skills and feel valued, while the latter can go a long way toward encouraging collaboration and building camaraderie.
In addition, make sure to listen to your employees’ needs and concerns. Conduct surveys or listening sessions on pertinent topics like workplace culture, internal processes, or even your company’s goods and services. Addressing their doubts and incorporating their feedback can not only benefit your business but also demonstrate your appreciation for their contributions and instill in them a renewed purpose, in turn encouraging greater productivity.
Besides your employees, you should also connect with your clients to determine whether your products or services are meeting their needs. Consider putting out a customer survey, such as through email campaigns or on social media, with targeted questions about their most significant challenges and goals. Using their responses, you can then tweak your offerings to best match their expectations.
For example, if a poll indicates that a majority of customers find your onboarding process too slow, you could try starting it earlier in the sales funnel, automating part of it, or creating a bigger onboarding team. By being more responsive to your clients’ feedback, you can demonstrate your commitment to serving them and building stronger connections with them in 2025 and beyond.
In today’s digital world, having an online presence is essential to running a successful business, and your website plays a vital part in that. Ensure a seamless user experience by running testing to identify problematic areas for your site’s visitors—you may drive them away if it’s challenging to navigate. In particular, search for 404 errors and other broken links, which are not only frustrating for users but can also negatively affect your ranking in search engines; you could utilize a 404 redirect plugin to fix such issues. Other steps to take include updating your contact information and backing your site up regularly to protect it from risks like server failure and cyberattacks.
Your office’s design can significantly affect your team’s productivity, happiness, and wellness, making it worth the investment to enhance it. Even small changes can make a big difference: installing adequate lighting and switching to new or ergonomic furniture can help combat fatigue, while incorporating plants and natural light can mitigate stress. Poll your employees to determine what design features they’d prefer before initiating changes. Additionally, if it’s in the budget, aim to update any outdated technology you may have—it’s well documented that faulty and aging tech can gum up the workflow and result in frustration.
Use the next couple months to give your business a refresh, and you may soon see significant results, including a revitalized team, optimized operations, and strong connections with your customers, all of which may lead to an ultrasuccessful 2025.
TAKE ACTION:
Look back over your company’s successes and setbacks from 2024, and identify strategies that can help boost your progress in the new year.
