Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday & Cyber Monday
21 November 2022If you only pay attention to one week in the social media calendar… This should be it!
I think it’s fair to say we have a lot of our own holidays and special celebrations so a lot of us in the UK don’t really pay attention to American holidays. We’re more aware of them because our culture is becoming blended through social media and a shared language, but celebrations like Independence Day are not really a key part of business planning over here.
So what you might need to know is that Thanksgiving is held on the last Thursday of November. It’s an American national holiday, declared so by Abraham Lincoln during their civil war with the idea of bringing Americans together. For some, it’s a controversial holiday, due to its origins in colonisation, but in modern times, what this holiday has done globally is create Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.
The origins of Black Friday are debatable; some say it was coined by The Factory Management and Maintenance journal in 1951. They wrote about workers calling in sick after the Thanksgiving holiday on the Thursday so they could have a four-day weekend. The History Channel says it refers to the gold crash of 1869 which had devastating effects across the country, or when businesses were ‘in the black’ due to customers spending so much in the sales on the day after Thanksgiving.
Either way, Black Friday has entered into the British lexicon too with shops offering special prices, promotions and getting into the spirit.
So now is a great time to think about an offer that might kick off some pre-Christmas sales!
However, my favourites are the newer national days; Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.
Small Business Saturday started as a campaign by American Express to support small businesses in 2010 (which was during the financial crisis) and became official in 2011 when the President and government supported the day. In 2012, American Express offered financial help with online advertising to its small business customers and the day has grown from there. [1]
It’s a great one to support whether you run a small business yourself or you want to support small businesses in your area.
If you have a sale or are thinking about creating an offer – Black Friday could be great for you. If you’re a small business, shout about Small Business Saturday! If you’re not a small business, I encourage you to support small businesses anyway! If you’re an online business, Cyber Monday could also be great for you…
Cyber Monday was a term created by the US National Retail Federation (NRF) in a 2005 Shop.org press release entitled “’Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year.”
With people looking for presents for their loved ones and ways to say thank you to friends (plus customers) let the world know about your products and services. Or just give a recommendation to a local business that has given you a great service recently.
Marketing is sometimes about creating opportunities to shout about what you do.
If these types of celebrations seem a little overwhelming or you’re too busy to think about how to tie in your business to these types of themes, get in touch. We offer a free virtual marketing tips session to small business retailers and eligible local companies.
Get in touch here to find out more
Source 1. https://www.fbfs.com/learning-center/history-of-small-business-Saturday
