Vertz Marketing of Milwaukee had many of its small business clients participate in Small Business Saturday this past weekend. You have probably seen some of the national TV commercials used to promote Small Business Saturday in the past few weeks.
Small Business Saturday was started by American Express in 2010 to promote small businesses and of course, increase usage of the American Express card. First held on November 27th, 2010, Small Business Saturday is sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a focus to encourage American consumers to shop at locally owned small businesses. As Black Friday is focused mostly on national chain stores and Cyber Monday is focused on e-commerce type businesses, Small Business Saturday is a welcome campaign to promote locally owned small businesses throughout the country that often don’t have the resources or the marketing budgets to compete with much larger companies.
How important is small business to your community? One out of every two American workers either work for or own a small business according to the Small Business Administration (SBA). Also keep in mind where your hard-earned money ends up when you spend it this Holiday season. When you spend your money at a nationally owned chain store, only 14 percent of the revenue stays in the local area. When you shop at locally owned small business, 52% of your money stays in the local economy. Almost 4 times as much of your money will be staying in the local economy by shopping at a locally, owned small business in Milwaukee!
American Express has invested well over $10 million in 2012 on Small Business Saturday. From TV commercials to radio, print, and extensive social media marketing, Small Business Saturday is becoming a very important day for locally owned small businesses. Over 100 million people shopped during Small Business Saturday. President Obama even helped out and showed his support for Small Business Saturday with a special visit to a locally owned bookstore in Arlington, VA.
Vertz Marketing was proud to be an agency partner with American Express for Small Business Saturday. Our clients that participated in Small Business Saturday received special perks from American Express including free advertising, marketing collateral and even a free welcome mat for their business. Shoppers who visited these businesses even received a $25 rebate if they used their American Express card at participating businesses.
Small Business Saturday is a great event for locally owned small businesses and helps them improve their long-term marketing skills throughout the year.