Yes it’s small business week again, brought to you by the SBA. Like many other designated days, weeks or awareness months, Small Business Week is designed to bring awareness to the need to support small local businesses.  Small Business Week has grown over the last 50 years out of a Presidential Proclamation and like many of those proclamations, it’s the kind of sentiment that we call can agree and feel good about. The problem, of course, is that there’s a big difference between a feel-good concept and getting people to change their buying behavior, which is really what the week is supposed to be about.

People’s buying behaviors have changed dramatically over the last 20 years, driven by price, online reputation and convenience, and those trends will only grow stronger (especially during the age of COVID, you can read more about that in my post here).  It’s not so much that people are forgetting Main Street, it’s more that Main Street is everywhere now and we don’t have to leave our homes to visit it.

So how can you stand out and grab your share this week and every week? Here are a few things to think about:

• Visibility: This is the number one factor. If people don’t know that you’re around they can’t do business with you, and today people find out who you are, where you are, how to reach you and learn more about your reputation through online local search. And being seen in local search begins and ends with a strong Google My Business presence with lots of reviews (look for a future post with more details on how to build this).
• Convenience: It can be hard to compete with Amazon when people can order from Amazon in their pajamas and the truck with that smiley, arrow logo on it arrives the very next day, or even the same day. But as a local small business, you can still offer an online ordering option on your website, pre-ordering or reservations, and you can make the in-store experience as smooth, pleasant and enriching as possible. There’s nothing more convenient than that.
• Selection: It’s true you can find just about anything there is to be found online but it takes time. If you have something unique to sell, let people know you have it and how convenient it is to get it. I can help you with that (it is Small Business Week after all).
• Personable knowledge and expertise: Sure you can review online reviews and such or chat, but there’s nothing like stopping by a local store and getting advice from a real human that you can relate to.

Small Business Weeks are unlikely to move the needle. That’s up to you. Give people tangible reasons to choose you.