5 Marketing Myths Busted by Small Business Saturday
November 24 marks the 3rd annual Small Business Saturday, a day in which the nation is encouraged to “shop small” and, in fact, does just that. Nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, SBS is a powerful example of “Marketing as Service” from American Express, a company that has been taking this approach successfully for the past 25 years.
But look carefully at Small Business Saturday, and you will also see a work week full of marketing myths busted, one day at a time, before you can tweet “#MarketerMonday.”
Monday's Child: Big Ideas Take Time
| Given the audacity and complexity of establishing SBS as a new holiday, it is reasonable to assume a lengthy planning cycle, right? Wrong. According to Scott Krugman, Director of Communications at American Express, SBS went from idea to execution “in a matter of a few weeks.” | ||
Tuesday's Child: It's About My Brand
| With SBS, American Express asserted the counterintuitive brand position, “It’s more than just about us.” By putting their customers at the center of an entire program, AmEx “created a solution to help spur more business for small businesses, and small business owners really took to it,” Krugman reported. |
Wednesday's Child: Social Media Just Happens
A careful look at SBS, which became huge on social media by any measure, including reach and engagement, reveals that AmEx kickstarted every social channel with paid media, along with a carefully orchestrated PR effort that generated a surge of earned media. Facebook even threw in free ads for small businesses on their network to encourage even more social promotion.
Thursday's Child: Partnerships Must Be Controlled
| AmEx took a laissez-faire approach to forming partnerships, allowing anyone and everyone to participate in SBS. Explained Krugman, “For small businesses to participate, they don’t have to accept the American Express card.” Seventy-five other companies, including FedEx, Facebook and Delta, ended up joining the “shop small” movement in its second year and even more are participating this year. |
Friday's Child: Doing Good Doesn't Pay Out
| While Krugman tried to convince Drew that, above all, AmEx wanted small businesses to feel good about the program, he also mentioned that “card transactions were up 23 percent for merchants that accepted the [American Express] card” on SBS 2011. Sounds like a good day all around! |
There’s a lot more to SBS, as you’ll see in Drew’s article on FastCompany.com and his interviews with AmEx’s Krugman and FedEx’s Denise Yunkun (with whom he caught up at The CMO Club Summit), both now on TheDrewBlog.com.