Tag: Small Business Saturday

5 Marketing Myths Busted by Small Business Saturday

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Today 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
Most marketers are nothing if not deliberate, taking months to conceive, strategize and ultimately execute their ideas, big or small. And 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
Naturally, marketers want to put their brand at the center of their communications, expecting it will be the shortest route to an effective program.  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
In some naïve marketing circles, there is a wishful notion that social media success (like its cousin “viral success”) just happens organically. 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
Some marketers spend as much time trying to control partnerships as they do setting them up. AmEx took the opposite approach, 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 many more will be doing so in 2012.

Friday’s Child: Doing Good Doesn’t Pay Out
Mention a “do good” program and most marketers will discourage discussing its ROI, as if ROI is a bad thing that could somehow diminish their altruistic intentions. Even AmEx’s Krugman tried to convince me that as long as small businesses felt good about SBS, that was good enough for AmEx. He let slip, however, that “card transactions were up 23 percent for merchants that accepted the [American Express] card” on SBS 2011. Sounds like ROI to me.

Bonus Myth: Congress Can’t Agree on Anything
It isn’t news that the U.S. Congress is more divided politically now than at any other time since the Civil War, which makes their unanimous resolution to support Small Business Saturday all the more remarkable. In fact, officials in all 50 states embraced SBS, and President Obama’s personal effort to “shop small” on SBS in 2011 also made the evening news.

Final Note: In addition to talking to American Express’ Krugman, I also caught up with Denise Yunkun, FedEx’s Director of Alliance Marketing, who helped me get a sense of the program’s scale. Yunkun reported that in 2011, “More than 500,000 small business owners leveraged an online tool or promotional materials for SBS.”  You can find my enlightening interviews with Krugman (part 1 & part 2)  and Yunkun right here on TheDrewBlog. (If this article seems familiar, you must have seen it on MediaPost.com).

Marketing Programs That Serve Everyone

Posted on by Drew Neisser

This is part 2 of my extensive interview with Scott Krugman, Director of Communications at American Express on Small Business Saturday.  In this part, Krugman share’s how the program evolved from year 1 to year 2 and offers some hints as to what we can expect to see later this month (November 24th to be exact).  I realize this is a lot of ink to dedicated to one program but if you are a student of marketing, you’ll want to read on because in this you’ll find the secrets to truly great marketing programs–create a win / win / win  situation for consumers, customers & partners and ultimately your own brand will triumph.

Drew: How did the program evolve in Year 2 (2011)?
Year 1 was like catching lightning in a bottle. I think the results kind of blew the expectations out of the water. Year 2, we knew there was an opportunity for it to be bigger. For that to be the case though, it really needed to be more than just about American Express. And I think you saw more corporate partners were engaged. FedEx had a $1 million investment in “shop small” gift cards for consumers. They really did a great job in getting the word out and really mobilizing consumers. There were a number of public officials that rallied around the day and really encouraged their constituents to shop. There was such a groundswell of grassroots support that it went all the way to the White House.

Drew: So, even politicians jumped on the SBS bandwagon?
That’s it, exactly. It’s amazing: in a year where we saw Republicans and Democrats fight over everything—whether it’s the debt ceiling, deficit, you name it—the one thing they could agree on was that, in this particular case, November 26 would be Small Business Saturday. The Senate passed a unanimous resolution making that day Small Business Saturday. But it takes more than just government to encourage people to shop because, let’s face it, with their Congressional approval rating, that’s not exactly the watermark to get consumers to shop.

Drew: Back to Year 2 and the program’s evolution…
We knew that the amplification of the “shop small” message on the day was crucial. So in order for this thing to really be successful, small business owners really needed to own the day. And that meant making special offers around it. So that’s where the Small Business Saturday tool kit comes into play. It allows small business owners to do a number of things. It allows them to do things that maybe some businesses take for granted like help to create a Facebook page. I believe we did the free ads. We allowed them to print out in-store signage because not everything is done via online.

Drew:So, let’s talk about some of the big differences between Year 1 and Year 2 and the increase in partners.
I think there were more than 50 corporate and digital partners (including Verizon, Costco, Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Google) as a part of Small Business Saturday in Year 2. Again, that really more than doubled-down on the commitment and what this day became in Year 2 versus Year 1. But you combine that with the support from public officials, the support from local, state and national groups—whether it’s the SBA, the NFIB (National Federation for Independent Businesses), convention and visitor bureaus from various cities—all of this culminated.

Drew: So, on an earned media basis, the exposure must have been unbelievable?
Year 2, there were close to 10,000 [media] placements and the total circulation was around 1.7 billion.

Drew: Did people end up spending more or simply shift spending from big companies to small businesses?
We’re not in the business of picking winners and losers here, right? The message was, during the holiday season, “Hey, don’t forget to allocate some of that spending to small businesses and discover what’s so special about them.” That’s what happened. Consumer spending was up for the holiday season.

Drew: Back to Year 2. Why did it work so much better?
There was more awareness of the day. More small business owners were able to leverage the tools in the tool kit that they didn’t have Year 1 to promote the day. So there was definitely a stronger message to the consumer. And the consumer was better able to mobilize. Through the Shop Small Facebook page, a lot of the merchant offers were loaded in, so consumers could find merchants that were close to them through this map and find their offers. I think there were more tools for consumers to make it easier for them to shop small.

Drew:So, at this point, do you now say, okay, we’re going to create an entity called SmallBusinessSaturday.org and let it run itself?
Small businesses at this point are free to promote SBS in any way they want, right? It’s their day. So, like I said, we will always support it. No matter how it started, the end result is this day is bigger than any one company. It really is. Local communities last year started block parties around the day to get consumers into their local downtown areas to shop the day. People were inspired by it, and they want to do things around it. It’s not like they’re calling us and asking us for permission—they’re doing it.

It all starts with the idea. No one entity owns Cyber Monday; however, someone created it.

Drew: Right. So nonetheless, you’re American Express, and you either continue to up the ante on something and keep making it better, like you’ve done with OPEN. So, looking ahead?
Needless to say, Small Business Saturday is something that’s very near and dear to our heart. And it’s something that we plan to support for a very, very long time, and we want to continue to surprise and delight small business owners across the country and make this day as special for them as possible.

Drew: Will you be expanding the tool kit?
As far as the tool kit goes, you have to remember now … the tool kit doesn’t just give them the tools to promote the day; it gives them a lot of tools and skill sets that they need to build their business throughout the year. I mean, flattening the learning curve for small business in the social space, that’s going to help them attract more customers year-round. That’s the beauty of what we’re doing on Small Business Saturday. … These tools might be built around supporting a day, but they live beyond the day. And it allows small businesses to make a compelling argument to their customers by shopping small as a year-round proposition.

Drew:There must have been a few skeptics about your involvement with this program?
Unfortunately, there’s always going to be skepticism, and I’m actually surprised there wasn’t more of it. Any time you have a large company involved in something like this, I think it does open it up to some skepticism, especially in the times that we live in. But that’s okay. The detractors are far fewer than the supporters. And when you go to the Facebook page and you read all the comments from small business owners and they talk about the fact that transactions were up 40 percent for themselves on the day—or in some cases, double—you know that it’s worth it. There are probably more detractors for Black Friday than there were for Small Business Saturday, if you think about it.

Drew: Did non-AmEx merchants benefit as well?
Because, ultimately, we’re encouraging people to shop small, no matter what card they use, no matter where they shop, … the small business owner that chose not to do anything for Small Business Saturday might very well get a customer or two they wouldn’t have gotten if the day didn’t exist. I think that’s kind of the irony. It’s the halo effect of the day that makes everyone benefit.

Drew:You must have faced different kinds of challenges in Year 2, given more time to plan.
That’s an excellent question. Year 2, timing is always a challenge. Going out too early. When do you start talking about this in the press?  When do the writers start talking about it, for example? When are merchants ready to start preparing for the day? Too much time is a blessing and a curse, right? It takes a village to create a day, that’s for sure.

Drew: So talk to me more about the balancing act here between helping small businesses and helping AmEx. 
I think it’s not surprising if somebody says, oh, American Express is doing that … to get more sales on their card. That’s not the case. The case is to help support small businesses. And when small businesses are thriving, the economy thrives. Our CEO went on the Today Show and literally said, “I don’t care if you use cash, I don’t care if you use the card or not—just shop small on the day.” I think that was impressive. He’s saying, support your local businesses.  And that’s a simple message and that’s why we’ve gotten so much traffic with it, frankly. If it was just [an AmEx] card play, it wouldn’t have worked.

Drew: As market leader, it’s pretty simple—if small businesses grow, you’re going to grow with them, right?
Absolutely. If small businesses grow, if more are created, that’s a marketplace that we want to thrive. We want them to thrive.  When they’re doing well, we’re doing well. There are plenty of reasons for customers to use their card, and I don’t want this to turn into a commercial for us, but clearly, our customers think of us—we have a special place in their wallet, and we always will. And we know that. But again, we know for Small Business Saturday to be a success, we need to reach more than just our customers. So it’s a conscious play not for just us to reach out to consumers, but for other groups and other entities and other people and influencers and businesses to reach out to consumers as well.

Drew: It’s a much bigger idea than something as self-serving as “shop small businesses with the card.”
Right. It takes a lot of guts for any company to come to that decision. It’s impressive. At this point, it’s the expectation that we find innovative solutions for small businesses. And SBS is delivering on that very high expectation for us.

Small Business Saturday

Posted on by Drew Neisser

As far as I am concerned, Small Business Saturday is the quintessential example of Marketing as Service, achieving the kind of success that most marketers can only imagine.  The service in this case not only establishes a day that puts the spotlight on small businesses and rivals Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but also enables small businesses to be more competitive throughout the year, with marketing toolkits that highlight their distinct advantages over their larger competitors.

With the third annual Small Business Saturday set for November 24, perhaps the most remarkable part of this program is how it is developing a life of its own, with politicians uniting over its significance and more and more small business owners trying to take advantage of “their” day. To better understand the thinking behind this program, I spent a good hour on the phone with Scott Krugman, Director of Communications at American Express.  Here’s part 1 of my interview with Scott.

Drew: So let’s start with the origin of the idea of Small Business Saturday back in 2010.
Well, like all good ideas, in a way, they originate from our customers. AmEx OPEN’s been around now for twenty-five years, and the reason why we’ve been around so long and been so successful is because we really take the pulse of our customers in a variety of ways, and in this particular case, what we found out through research and talking to our customers, their biggest need coming out of the recession was more customers. So that got us to thinking, what can we do to help small businesses get more customers?

Drew: So after identifying the need, what then?
After a number of conversations with a lot of people, the thought came: what could we do to drive business to small businesses during key times throughout the year?  Naturally, that got folks in the room talking about the holiday season. Obviously big-box merchants have “Black Friday.”  Online merchants, more recently, have Cyber Monday.  So we thought there might be something there for small businesses, and the thought here was, let’s give small businesses their ceremonial kickoff to the holiday season.  Let’s get their holiday shopping season off to a strong start.  Let’s create a day for them.  It wasn’t as quick and as simple as I’m making it out to be, but what that ended up becoming was Small Business Saturday.

Drew:  Looking back now, it seems like a no-brainer, but why back in 2010 did you think it would work?
We thought it was the right message at the right time.  There were a lot of conversations that were happening about the importance of small businesses to the economy.  The “shop local” movement was going strong, so we knew that there would be a lot of support.  We also knew through research that 98 percent of consumers said that they wanted to support small businesses.  So we wanted to create something that would take that support and turn it into sales.  And as we started iterating, it became clear that this was a movement.

Drew: So how long did it take to go from idea to execution?
I should point out in terms of the timing element, this was basically getting the concept of Small Business Saturday to market—it had to happen in a matter of a few weeks.

Drew: Wait, let me make sure I heard you correctly. So in 2010, from green light to execution, it took how long?
A matter of weeks!

Drew: Did you advertise Small Business Saturday in Year 1 (2010)?
There was definitely advertising.  There was also a press conference at city hall involving New York City Mayor Bloomberg and our CEO, Ken Chenault.  There was a lot of earned media around it in terms of announcing the day.  It was a unique enough concept where it got a lot of curiosity and a lot of pickup.

Drew: What role did social media play in the launch of SBS?
There was a lot of social media around it.  In just that first year, we saw 1.2 million people liking the Small Business Saturday Facebook page.  That’s a lot of likes in a very short period of time.  We saw 30,000 tweets using the hashtags #SmallBusinessSaturday and #SmallBizSaturday.  I was told this, and I guess it was determined with Google, that it (“Small Business”) was the fastest-rising Google search term over that time period. So, I mean, there was a lot that went into it, but we knew in order for this thing to take off, it really needed to have a strong foundation in social media for it to become viral.  That certainly worked.

Drew: So why do you think this program took off?
We’re looking at four factors that really helped.  One was there was a lot of inclusiveness.  There was national scope.  The message was clear in terms of individuals being able to boost the economy.  This is really key and really important, because as much as we talk about American Express in this—and we’re not always comfortable doing that because we feel it takes away from the day—it became an agnostic day.  For small businesses to participate, they don’t have to accept the American Express card.  For consumers to participate, they don’t have to use the American Express card.  Is American Express making an offer for consumers on the day?  Yes.  But, they’re not limited to using that card in order to make a difference.

Drew: How did small businesses react?
It created a solution to help spur more business for small businesses, and small business owners really took to it.  I think in Year 1, not as much, because there wasn’t a lot of time to get them to own the day.  So I would say Year 1 was probably more about claiming the day.

Drew: So this feels a bit like cause marketing, another idea AmEx essentially invented.
You know, there are a couple schools of thought on that.  Small businesses definitely needed the help.  But at the same time, this isn’t charity.  Small businesses are the engine that drives the economy.  They’re creating jobs.  If people support small businesses, they’re supporting their local communities.  So they’re not just supporting the businesses, they’re supporting themselves.  They’re helping everyone.  It makes the entire engine work, especially as you’re coming out of recession. But the other piece of it is, it’s the discovery aspect of what makes small businesses so special.  And it’s not the fact that maybe they do need the help, but it goes beyond that.  It’s helping consumers rediscover these businesses that have been there all along in their communities: the amazing customer service, the unique selection and the special experiences.

Drew: So how do small business compete against larger rivals in the face of discounting?
They focus on their core elements.  Large businesses spend millions of dollars a year on customer relationship management tools to understand their customer. Small businesses?  That’s an inherent part of who they are.  So it’s a day for them to really leverage those strengths and allow consumers to kind of rediscover what makes them great.  But at the same time, it’s helping small businesses not just own the day, but give them the tools that they need to thrive during the day.  This might kind of take us a little bit into Year 2, but we can always pivot back and forth.

Drew: It must have been tricking to balance AmEx branding and the SBS idea…
This is one of those campaigns where the message was so compelling, and the reason for doing it was so genuine, that people naturally wanted to take part in it.  Again, this is where it needs to become more than just about American Express, because you’re not going to get the response from public officials if Small Business Saturday is owned by any one corporate entity.  You’re not going to get that kind of response.

So that’s why it’s more than just about us.  We might have been the one to push the idea into the marketplace, but in all honesty, it’s the small business owners that owned the day.  It’s their day.  We might have given it to them, but they have taken it and made it their own.  We will always support it.  We will always do things in the marketplace to support the day and to support small business owners because that’s what we do at OPEN.  But it is their day, and that’s what makes it genuine.  And frankly, that’s what’s made it successful.

Drew: Was it hard to relinquish ownership of this idea?
That’s a fair question.  I think it’s one of the tough things when there’s such a good idea on the table.  I think the natural inclination is to want to own and control it.  But that’s the irony here.  For it to be successful, you couldn’t do either.  And I think there were enough smart people in the room to know that.  Ultimately, we realized, it takes a village to create a day.

Drew: AmEx “$25 offer to shop small” couldn’t have hurt the program.
For us to do this right, AmEx also had to be “skin in the game,” so of course the card member offer was critical.  Otherwise, it’s just lip service.  Like I said, Small Business Saturday is what we created for the entire small business community.  But I think our merchants come to expect us to look out for them in ways that others don’t.

Drew: So, did Small Business Saturday drive small business sales? 
Yes, actually.  I can tell you on the record that transactions of—we can only right now measure folks that use the American Express card, right?  That’s what we have available to us.  So for merchants that accept the card, card transactions were up 23 percent on the day.

Drew: How about the softer measures like favorability among small businesses towards the AmEx brand?
I’m limited in terms of some of the metrics that I can discuss.  But let’s say our philosophy is, if you do the right thing, customers are going to recognize that about you.  And I think that there are not many companies that would have been able to do something like a Small Business Saturday in a genuine way.  I think that has a lot to do with the OPEN brand as it relates to American Express, frankly.

Drew: It must help that this is not the first time you’ve focused on small businesses.
Yes.  We’ve been in the marketplace for small businesses probably longer than anyone else.  I believe we had the first business card devoted to small businesses.  I think because of the history we have in this community, there’s an expectation that we are going to be supportive beyond product offerings.  So I think that it’s one of those situations where all those interests are aligned.  Obviously, we have an interest in doing the right thing to help small businesses: it’s what we’ve been doing.  Our customers expect us to help them with their solutions.  So I think you could say, in a lot of ways, Small Business Saturday was a result of us doing what we have always done, and that’s listening to our customers’ needs and trying to find solutions.  It just so happens that we found something, in this particular case, that was massively innovative.  And is there a halo effect from that?  Absolutely.  That’s why I think you see a lot of other companies wanting to be a part of Small Business Saturday as well.

Drew: So is this about doing well by doing good?
Like I said, I think for a company to do the right thing in a meaningful way, it needs to be genuine.  And I think the marketplace, whether it’s small business owners or consumers, are smart enough to know when it’s not.  So I think it needs to start from the desire of wanting to do good and wanting to do the right thing.  That’s where Small Business Saturday is no different.  That’s where it starts.  I think there’s… if you do the right thing in the right way, good things come with that, yes.

Committing to Small Business Saturday

Posted on by Drew Neisser

In truth, there just aren’t that many truly inspiring marketing as service programs out there right now despite all of my drum beating.  Which is one of the reasons I’m absolutely fixated on Small Business Saturday, a program that unites the nation to focus on “shopping small” for at least one big day.  Conceived in 2010 by American Express and their super savvy Open group, the program quickly gathered support from other big companies like FedEx.  That is just one of the reason’s I was delighted to run into Denise Yunkun, FedEx’s Director of Alliance Marketing at the recent CMO Club Innovation Summit in San Francisco.  Denise was able to provide some really interesting insights into why FedEx is involved with Small Business Saturday and the nature of their commitment.  Our Q+A follows. (By the way, Small Business Saturday will be on November 24th this year nestled nicely between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.)

Drew: FedEx has been part of Small Business Saturday from the get go.  Why? 
Supporting small businesses is, very simply, good business.  Small businesses are incredibly important customers for FedEx and they also are the driving force behind a successful and thriving economy.  Small Business Saturday reinforces the importance of independent retailers in building and sustaining vibrant communities everywhere.  The $1 million commitment we’ve made to this effort is intended to go directly back to small businesses.

The importance of small businesses is undeniable.  They employ half of all private sector workers – about 60 million Americans, they have generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years, they account for more than 97 percent of all U.S. exporters and more.  Their success is our success.

Drew: What were the lessons learned from year 1 and 2 (in light of the fact that you really increased your commitment in year 3)?
Aligning to support Small Business Saturday makes good business sense for FedEx as small businesses are such important customers.  Distributing gift cards directly to consumers was a very effective way to engage them and drive them to spend at small business so we are doing it again this year.  Also, it’s an excellent opportunity for us to utilize the more than 1,800 locations in our FedEx Office network for small businesses.  We are providing a variety of free and discounted marketing materials such as posters that can be printed at no cost at FedEx Office Print & Ship locations.  Also, these customers will receive additional discounts when they come in to pick up their posters.

Overall, Small Business Saturday has a strong response last year.   More than 2.7 million Facebook users, 230 public and private organizations, 75 corporations and elected officials in all 50 states and Washington D.C. declared their support for SBS last year. More than 500,000 small business owners leveraged an online tool or promotional materials for SBS and 15,000 businesses signed up for free Facebook advertising to promote their products and services in the run up to SBS.

Drew: Last year, FedEx offered 40,000 $25 gift cards in support of SBS making it a $1.0mm commitment.  How do you measure the success of such a large promotional giveaway?
While we measure this in several ways, it’s important to note that above all, this is an effort to show our  support and appreciation for SMB’s with no strings attached. We do measure engagement and dialogue in social media channels, media coverage etc.

Drew: Will you be running that same offer in 2012 and/or doing something new?  Please provide an overview of your 2012 program (I can hold this until you’ve announced itpublicly)
FedEx will distribute 40,000 Shop-Small-branded $25 American Express Gift Cards to consumers, for free, via the FedEx Facebook page.  The give-away ended on Nov. 3 and  the winners will be chosen at random from the pool of entrants.  FedEx will also provide all registrants with a coupon to Save $10 on a $20.00 FedEx Express shipment, valid through December 31, 2012. Terms and Conditions will be included on the coupon.

FedEx Office® is also continuing its work to help small businesses draw in customers on Small Business Saturday and throughout the holiday season with access to a variety of free and discounted marketing materials.  In addition to the Gift Card giveaway, FedEx Office will support Small Business Saturday by helping independent retailers and other small businesses grab attention on Small Business Saturday and throughout the holiday season. Small business owners can visit Facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday  or shopsmall.com/fedexoffice  to access Small Business Saturday posters that can be printed for free at local FedEx Office Print & Ship Center locations.  Additionally, small businesses who take advantage of this free poster offer will also receive additional discount printing offers when they come in to pick up their posters.

Drew: Marketing partnerships can be kind of tricky.  Why do you think this particular one works so well?
FedEx has worked closely with American Express for over 10 years.  With our mutual focus on the success of small businesses, our relationship really is a natural fit.

Drew: How does FedEx make sure your connection to SBS doesn’t get lost in all the noise created by other SBS partners?
Our commitment to Small Business Saturday is substantial.  It’s also a natural extension of what we do for small businesses every day.

Just as one example, FedEx recently launched its first-ever, nationwide small business grant competition which will award a total of $50,000 to six deserving U.S. small businesses. The top winner will receive a $25,000 grant and the remaining five winners will receive grants of $5,000 each.  The top six small businesses – including the grand prize winner – will be announced in January.  We also create and participate in programs that give small businesses a head start, access to new opportunities and education to handle the challenges of shipping their goods.

Drew: Do you have any words of wisdom for other companies that are considering marketing partnerships?
While there are several factors, it’s important to ensure that your interests/goals are mutually aligned and the brands and value propositions are complimentary.