Getting Ready for Small Business Saturday and the Holiday Rush on Long Island
Jean owns a small gift shop and every year the same thing happens: the week after Thanksgiving arrives, foot traffic picks up, and she realizes she should have started promoting her holiday selection weeks earlier. By the time she gets a gift guide email out or updates her window display, the biggest local shopping moment of the year is already half over.
The businesses that do well during the holidays aren’t reacting to the season. They’re already set up for it before it starts.
Why September is the actual start of holiday prep
Small Business Saturday and the local holiday shopping push that follows it feel like a late-November event, but the groundwork, building an email list, planning gift guide content, lining up inventory, deciding on promotions, needs to happen weeks before that. Waiting until Thanksgiving week to start means competing for attention during the busiest, most crowded marketing window of the entire year with no head start.
What to have in place before the season hits
An email list worth emailing. If the list has been quiet all year, the first message that goes out shouldn’t be a hard sell. A short, genuine “here’s what we’re excited about this season” note in October warms the list up before the actual promotional push in November.
A simple gift guide. Doesn’t need to be elaborate. A short page or post organized around “gifts under $25,” “gifts for the person who has everything,” or by recipient type gives customers, and search engines, something specific and useful to point to.
Updated Google Business Profile hours and holiday info. Extended hours, special holiday events, and any Small Business Saturday participation should be reflected in the Business Profile well before the season, not the week of, since that’s exactly where a lot of last-minute local searches land.
A plan for Small Business Saturday specifically. The day works best when there’s a specific reason to visit that day, not just a generic “shop local” message. A special promotion, an in-store event, or a limited-time offer gives people something concrete to act on.
Restaurants have their own version of this
For restaurants, the equivalent prep is around holiday party bookings, gift card promotion, and catering inquiries, all of which start ramping up in late October and need a page, a clear pricing structure, and an easy way to inquire ready well before the calls start coming in.
The advantage of starting early
None of this is complicated. The businesses that benefit most from the holiday season aren’t doing anything customers haven’t seen before, they’re just doing it three or four weeks earlier than the businesses scrambling to catch up once the season is already underway.
Soundview Marketing Group helps Long Island retail and restaurant businesses build a holiday marketing plan that starts before the rush, not during it.