Did you know that COVID 19 was responsible for the temporary closure of 34% of small businesses in America? Many of these small businesses are actually still closed today. On top of this, the impact of COVID-19 has even discouraged many Americans from starting their own small businesses.
This is why it is more important now more than ever to show your support and shop small this holiday season.
Celebrating Small Business Saturday
Every year, since 2011, Shop Small has encouraged us to celebrate Small Business Saturday on the first Saturday following Thanksgiving. This day has only become more popular over the years and has secured its place amongst other holiday traditions like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
If you’re interested in reading about the origin story of the Shop Small movement, check out our coverage of the event just four years ago.
Community Over Competition
In honor of Small Business Saturday, Waypoint Writing created a guide to share some shortcuts for businesses to maximize their time and efforts in celebrating their small business. This guide was created in 2019–but has been updated since then!–as a way for us to show some support to other small businesses.
As a small business owner myself, I understand the unique challenges and benefits of owning one and wanted to share what I have found helpful over the years. It is important for small businesses of any kind to support one another.
In the world of small business, community is much more important than competition.
How Exactly Did COVID Affect the Small Business Industry?
As with so many other things in the world, the small business industry experienced significant changes during the COVID pandemic. When the quarantine lockdown of 2020 happened, many small businesses shut their doors and never opened them again.
Although there were a number of small businesses that permanently closed, there were even more that were able to reopen, but could use some serious support. What better way to do that then by celebrating small business Saturday this upcoming month!
How You Can Participate
There are many ways that you can participate in small business Saturday, but the main one is to shop small! Find participating small businesses in your area and make it a goal to check them all out.
It can also be helpful to small businesses if you share their posts and information on social media. This helps direct traffic to their business and is an indirect way that you can help send customers their way.
Importance of Showing Your Support
Supporting small businesses is something that you should try and make a habit of–not just on small business Saturday!
Why you might ask?
Small businesses…
- Give back more to your community
- Make a major economic impact
- Provide better customer service
- Create a sense of community
And above all, it’s going to make YOU feel good!
Small business owners, we salute and support you! If you need help leveraging your marketing to make the most of Small Business Saturday, contact our team!
