Seven Tips to Maximize Marketing Efforts for Small Business Saturday

Every year millions head out just after Thanksgiving and participate in the tradition of shopping at major retail stores. They generally shop during the wee hours of the night and morning, taking advantage of Black Friday deals and loading up on discounted merchandise. As consumers gear up for their shopping traditions and excitement builds towards finding great deals, they can continue shopping by supporting local businesses on Small Business Saturday. Most locally owned businesses will want to participate in this event to increase revenue, grow their customer base, and get to know their community. According to American Express, Small Business Saturday is a day that is supported nationwide. It was established in 2011 when the Senate passed a resolution to support the day to boost local businesses in their communities.

Consumers will search for local businesses that plan to participate in this exciting event on Saturday, November 26, 2022. Now is the time to start planning and considering how your small businesses can maximize the opportunity and get the word out that you will participate in the event. DaySmart Body Art offers features designed to support your marketing efforts while still being able to utilize other resources. That is why we share seven tips to help your business stand out and successfully market to your community and let them know that you will participate.

#1 Offer Promotions

#2 Email Marketing

#3 Text Marketing

#4 Custom Designs With Canva

#5  Facebook Ads

#6 Google Ads

#7 Social Media Hashtags

#1 Offer Promotions 

Before establishing your marketing strategy, you must determine the promotions that you will be offering. Consider areas to increase revenue and drive consumer awareness towards products and services that clients may not know you offer. Take the time to evaluate your business through DaySmart Body Art’s advanced reporting feature and determine what promotions will offer the most gain overall. A notable example would be if pedicures are a new service offered, create a promotion that includes that service to drive customer awareness. Need some ideas? Here are four suggestions from our experts that will help get the ideas flowing.

• X% off on your next session
• Get X% (or free) aftercare products with your first (or next) session
• Book 3 hours and get 1 hour free
• X% off walk-in flash art on Small Business Saturday

Once your promotions are determined, allow clients to claim the offer at checkout and process any ticket within DaySmart Body Art; just add the promotional discount.

#2 Email Marketing 

Once the promotional options are determined, it is time to get the word out. With 99% of consumers checking their email daily, your business will need to be sure to appear in their inbox. Especially since 59% of consumers are likely to shop directly from their email. With the built-in email marketing feature in DaySmart Body Art, you can send out email announcements promoting your exclusive offers, designate who will receive the message based on client activity, or email everyone in your database. You can use the premade templates built into DaySmart Body Art on or create your own. Need a little inspiration? Look at the email our marketing experts have specifically created for Small Business Saturday to motivate and inspire your campaigns.

Email Header: Shop Local This Holiday Season

Email Subject Line: Get a discount tattoo when you shop small

Preview: Help us help you. Get an exclusive deal when you shop with us on Small Business Saturday.

Hi there,

Join us as [business name] celebrates Small Business Saturday on [date]. When you shop small, you support your local businesses and community. That’s why we’re giving you [your promotion here], so you can help support us while getting the tattoo you always wanted.

Click below to claim your deal

Email Call to Action (Can be Clickable): Claim my deal.

(Or suggest to the client to mention the promotion when booking and present at checkout to claim)

Please visit the DaySmart Body Art Knowledge-Base or reach out to the support team for help in learning more about the feature and how to use it.

#3 Text Marketing 

While email marketing is a great tool to get information out to consumers, text marketing offers a 4.5% higher response rate than emails and a 98% chance of being opened. This will give business owners a more immediate way to reach out to the consumer. Simply implement the text marketing feature in DaySmart Body Art.

This will allow you to send out announcements for last-minute openings, updates on in-store events, and even select the audience that will receive your message. You can also allow clients to respond if you have implemented two-way texting. Be sure you have the features activated in DaySmart Body Art, and keep text messages short and to the point, with only 160 characters or less, to avoid text overages. Here are two simple and easy examples to consider when sending Small Business Saturday text marketing campaigns.

• Text Option 1: Supporting a small business is the perfect reason to get a new tattoo. Celebrate small business Saturday w/ an extra [your promotion here]. Respond to claim your deal.

• Text Option 2: Still thinking about that tattoo idea? Now’s your chance. Don’t forget to sign up for our small business Saturday sale w/ [your promotion here]. Respond to claim your deal.

#4 Custom Designs with Canva 

When running a marketing campaign, it is essential to consider your brand’s image and how it relates to the audience. It can be hard to decide what to say and finding pictures and artwork that align with your logo and salon culture may be difficult. DaySmart Body Art offers built-in premade email marketing templates and a blank template you can fill in with your unique image. Creating your designs may seem intimidating, but great tools are available to make the process less tedious. One of the most popular options is Canva, an easy-to-use, low-cost option that allows you to create unique designs. Apply the completed designs to emails, flyers, social media posts, and more. Below is a step-by-step guide with a template to get you started. Before you know it, you will be an expert!

Canva Template & Instructions

• Click here to access the Canva template shown above.
• Select “edit design” and log into your Canva account or create one for free.
• To edit your background color, select the header image and then click the document color box in the top left-hand corner of your screen.
• To edit your text, click on the text box and type out your preferred text. Change the font, size, and color of your text by also clicking on the option boxes on the top left-hand corner of your screen.
• If you would like to add your logo, you can upload it by clicking the “upload” button and dragging it into your template.
• Once you are finished, click “share” on the upper right-hand corner of the screen, and then click “download.”
• If you have other questions about customizing and designing templates on Canva, please visit https://www.canva.com/help/

#5 Facebook Ads 101 – How to set up a Facebook Ads Campaign

Facebook is the leading social media network and offers the ability to run ads that allow business owners to increase consumer traffic and engagement. Facebook provides options to boost posts or run targeted campaign ads and share insights to help measure the effectiveness of your campaign. The ads are beneficial because Facebook is rich with consumer data and allows you to narrow down the exact audience you want to reach. Integrating DaySmart Body Art with your Facebook page or website lets the consumer learn more and even “Book Now” from your site. All this information can seem overwhelming to busy salon owners. That is why we have included simple steps to follow for Facebook Ads with key strategies to help you move forward.

Facebook Resource: Meta Business Help Center – Getting Started with Facebook Ads

Within this section, we’ll roll through everything your salon’s Facebook page will need to get your Small Business Saturday ad campaigns up and running. Paid advertising using social media can directly impact the reach of your salon. Getting content to go viral requires many factors to align for your business to reap its benefits. Though viral content is great to conjure up, Facebook ads will provide you with a more calculated approach to hitting your targeted audience.

Step 1. Create an ad account

Should you find yourself without a Page for your business, follow these Facebook Steps to create one. Any page you start will automatically have an ad account.

Once you’re all signed up for Facebook, a personal ad account ID will be assigned to you by default. To find this ID go into the Ads Manager and look in the upper left-hand corner. To use Facebook Ads Manager you will need to verify a payment method.

Step 2. Roll through Facebook Ads Manager

All Facebook’s ad campaigns operate through the Facebook Ads Manager tool. We would suggest logging into this account through a desktop or laptop computer for ease of use.

The best way to find Facebook Ads Manager is to click and bookmark this direct link. This will save you time and get you directly into your personal ad account.

To navigate to Ads Manager right from your business page, head to the left sidebar and click on the “Ad Center” drop-down arrow of any Facebook page, then choose “All Ads” from the drop-down. At the bottom of that page, there is an option to click “Ads Manager.”

You will be brought to your Facebook Ad Accounts page, where there will be a quick overview of your ad account(s). If you have access to more than one ad account, select the account where you wish to run ads.

Step 3. Choose your ad goal

To get started with a new ad, click the green ‘Create Ad’ button

Facebook will take you to a page where you will be prompted to choose a campaign objective. These objectives give you numerous opportunities to refine the strategy of your campaign. Have an idea of what the goal this campaign should be. If you’re trying to bring in customers for a specific event you’re likely going to choose “Awareness”. That way you can increase the reach of your campaign and promote your business location.

Once you’ve selected your marketing objective, you’ll be asked to name your campaign. Make sure to make your campaign name something recognizable as this will help later when you run audits of your campaigns for the year.

Step 4. Set your budget

Here are a couple of budget baselines to consider before setting up the budget for your Facebook Ads campaign. The average cost per click, impressions, action across all industries is $0.97 and the average cost per thousand impressions was $13.49 as of July 2022 meaning you shouldn’t need to have a budget above $15.00.

When you set a budget, it’s important to remember that this figure represents the maximum amount of money you want to spend. You can set your budget per day or as a total amount for the campaign.

• Daily: A daily budget sets a limit on what you spend each day on your ads. Facebook will use the criteria you set to find the right place and time to show your ad to your target audience. Once your budget is reached, the ads stop running for the day. The cycle starts again on the next day.
• Lifetime: A lifetime budget is the maximum that you’ll spend during the entire time you run your ad campaign. You give Facebook a number and an end date, and it will spend the money based on ad performance. Once your budget is reached, the campaign ends.

Step 5. Choose your target audience

The most critical part of setting up your campaign is making sure its hitting your target audience. The success of your campaigns will be determined by who you show your ad to. The audience of you campaign are based on the following demographics:

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Behaviors
• Interest

Additionally, there’s a Connections setting that grants you more advanced targeting which allows you to include or exclude people connected to certain pages, apps or events.

Step 6. Select your ad placements

Your ad placement will direct Facebook to position your ads to how you would like your ad to appear for your audience. This positioning is worth A/B testing to discover which placement will garner the most engagement.

If making a decision seems too perplexing, Facebook recommends using automatic placements for the object you previously chose as your intended goal: AWARENESS. By selecting automatic placements Facebook optimizes the post for you in order to get the best possible results at the lowest overall average cost.

Step 7. Create your ad

When creating a new ad, start from a blank canvas and select your preferred format type. By now you’ve likely seen numerous ad types through your own personal feed, but your choice will be pre chosen by the objective you’ve selected for your ad.

Facebook has eight ad formats, and will recommend a couple to you based on the campaign objective you chose in Step 3. There are a lot of rules on the specs for each ad type, it would be wise to become familiar with these specifications as uploading your content outside of their requirements is a sure way to get stuck. To become more familiar with these requirements be sure to review Facebooks technical guidelines for certain formats.

Step 8. Put in your order

To submit your ad, click the ‘Publish’ button at the bottom right-and corner of the page. Your ad will not post immediately, Facebook holds your post in order to properly review the ad to confirm you fit their specs and doesn’t violate community guidelines. Should your ad get rejected, Facebook doesn’t exactly give clear guidance as to why it got rejected, it might be more time effective to just try another ad rather than expecting Facebook to provide you with guidance.

 #6 Google Ads 

When online, consumers are likely to either be on social media or Google searching for the next thing they want to know. That is why your business must be set up correctly with Google Ads so that it is one of the first to appear in related searches. Your ads can appear on Google Search, Google Maps, and across their partner sites, offering a cost-effective way to reach a specific audience. You will have to pay for results, like when people click your ad to call your business, visit your website, or get directions to your store. Therefore, you will need to be sure you are using this option correctly and efficiently. Consider our tips to maximize the opportunities with Google Ads and get started today!

#7 Social Media Hashtags 

We have all seen it! A keyword or phrase that follows a hash (#) symbol. They are all over social media, and you have likely used them too. When targeting consumers for specific campaigns, such as Small Business Saturday, selecting keywords for hashtags may not come easy. It is essential to choose the right words that complement your marketing campaigns. How do you choose the right ones? Check out the designated list that we have created to help drive awareness of your Small Business Saturday event!

If you identify as a small business owner, it’s important to recognize your opportunity in capturing the attention of a niche audience that’s drawn to supporting local businesses/start-ups. As you might know, customers buying from small or local businesses can be some of the most fiercely brand-loyal repeat spenders. The key to running a brand awareness marketing campaign is to let all of those niche customers know their search is over.

*(the number in parentheses = total number of posts linked to that hashtag)

SBS List:#smallbusinesssaturday (2.8m) #smallbusinesssaturdays (29k) #smallbusiness (103m)  #smallbusinessowner (20.9m) #smallbusinesssupport (5.6m) #supportlocalbusiness (9.5m)     #supportlocal (42.1m) #shoplocal (74k) #smallbizlife (573k) #supportlocalartists (2.5m)        #supportlocaltattoo (100) #supporttattooartists (5k) #localtattooartist (32k)

#localtattooshop (5k) #tattoobusiness (5k) #localink (1k)

Industry List: #tattooartist (29m) #tattooartists (1.6m) #tattoolife (16m) #tattoolifestyle (1.5m)

#tattoolifecommunity (26.7k) #tattoos (76m) #tattooideas (13m) #moderntattoo (125k)

#ink (91m) #bodyart (10m) #bodyarttattoo (119k) #instatattoo (8.5m) #instatattoos (563k)

#tattoodesign (12.7m) #tattoodesigns (861k) #tattoodesigner (131k) #tattoodesign (1k)

#tatted (7m) #tattedup (4m) #tattooist (11m) #tattooart (25m) #tattooartist (29m)

#tattooartwork (946k)

Local Hashtags / Geo-Tag

When promoting any event at your salon it’s important to increase brand awareness in your local area by geo-tagging your posts. Keep in mind customers WILL travel for great haircare services, so be sure to extend your reach beyond your local town/city. Use your own city, county/surrounding counties, and state hashtags to target your region.

Create your own Hashtags

Social media communication is always evolving and changing as are hashtags. You could find yourself in an optimal position of creating a new hashtag that goes VIRAL (yes it happens). Having your own branded hashtag helps expand your reach. Make your hashtag a central business tag and use it everywhere online (including every post). If your brand is unique consider making your tagline or slogan your first hashtag.

Take your business to the next level and generate an effective marketing strategy with DaySmart Body Art and the seven tips shared. For more information on implementing the DaySmart Body Art features mentioned in this article, don’t hesitate to contact DaySmart Support.