STOP Telling People To "Shop Small"
IT'S A TALE AS OLD AS TIME...
(or really since American Express launched Small Business Saturday in 2010)
A holiday season approaches us (think Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day etc etc), and small business owners everywhere plaster "SHOP SMALL!" signs on their storefronts, on their websites and on their social channels.
Though it's well-intentioned, the reality is that this message is interpreted by your customer as "if I fall prey to the convenience of Prime shipping I'm an awful person" and they feel guilty...
AND GUILT IS NOT THE BEST YOU HAVE TO OFFER.
Now don't get it twisted.
YES - shopping small is so important to our economy and, of course to you, as a small business owner...
BUT THE TRUTH IS THIS:
making this message your primary marketing tool is a BIG MISS.
So then what the heck do you do instead?
Simple. Take it a layer deeper.
Ask yourself: what perks does your customer get when they shop from you, their friendly small business owner, that they don't get when they shop from you're-just-a-number-to-me Jeff Bezos?
Typically, it'll fall into one of 3 categories:
ONE: EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
Does that dang Jeff B know that your daughters will only wear silver jewelry, that your husband is a sucker for anything that makes him look like John Dutton, or that your son has a major Spider-Man obsession? NO! But you do.
Create marketing around the PERSONAL TOUCH that you offer when helping customers gift shop...and juxtapose that with the lack of personal touch they get from a big box store.
TWO: HAND PICKED PRODUCTS + SERVICES
Not to keep throwing Amazon under the rug (#sorrynotsorry), but when you click twice and then magically have a product on your doorstep...the quality of what will arrive is honestly a crap shoot.
But that doesn't happen when people shop with you. You carefully select the items you promote because you BELIEVE IN THEM - so when someone shops with you they can have the confidence that a real, living human whose reputation is on the line stands behind it. SHARE THAT!
THREE: MAKIN IT RIGHT
Are supply chain issues affecting small business owners as well as our big box arch enemies? YES.
But will Bezos print out and hand wrap a gift note for the item that is stuck somewhere on an ocean vessel and can't get into port to make its way to you? NO.
But YOU WILL. You'll always make it right, because you CARE THE MOST...so sell that.
So before you post HASHTAG SHOP SMALL...
Stop, drop and challenge yourself to go deeper.
Highlight the things that you, the exceptionally hard-working, creative and caring small business owner does that Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target et al does not.
IT'S YOUR SPECIAL SAUCE.
Pour that baby all over and sell, sell, sell.
