Thanksgiving weekend—most notably Black Friday—used to be the primary focus for holiday shopping. However, sales periods have expanded in recent years to also include Small Business Saturday, which focuses on local support, and Cyber Monday, which is centered around online sales. These new small business opportunities can mean big sales boosts for companies that take the time to prepare. Here's a closer look at how to capitalize this holiday season.

3 Tips to Boost Holiday Sales Beyond Black Friday

1. Keep It Simple

While larger corporations may have multilayered sales where different discounts occur at different times, this generally isn’t recommended for a small company. Focus on one sale for the entirety of Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday. This will make transactions and promotional advertising easier for your customers and your staff.

2. Test Your Site Infrastructure

If you’re running an attractive sale, you're likely to get far more web traffic than normal at the kickoff of the holiday shopping season. However, it could be a big blow if your site crashes from too many visitors during these peak hours. Performing load testing before the big sales will help you make any needed fixes in advance to keep your site from slowing down or experiencing other issues that might drive away shoppers.

3. Ramp Up Advertising

As with so many other small business opportunities, it's essential to get the word out to attract customers. Start building buzz for your sales a few weeks ahead of time. 

Optimize online ads and blog posts with SEO keywords related to the products you wish to promote, as these will boost your presence in search engine results. Make use of multiple ad formats, including social media, email lists, and direct mail, to attract local customers. Make sure your website prominently features links to your sales items so that visitors can quickly navigate to their desired purchase.

For networking events, business development seminars, and other small business opportunities, turn to the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce to help your company thrive. Serving East Point, Union City, College Park, and other regions in Southwest Atlanta, GA, since 1947, the Chamber helps local businesses succeed and adapt to changing technology and trends. To learn more about their benefits, call (770) 964-1984. Get started by becoming a member online.