The Small Business Saturday event launched by American Express in 2010 has been a boon to independent retailers in many communities each November. But in Concord, NC, downtown stakeholders were not content to mark this event only on the Saturday following Black Friday.
Instead, the Concord Downtown Development Corporation carefully crafted a campaign to celebrate one Small Business Saturday a month throughout the year. Launched in January, 2012, Small Business Saturday in Historic Downtown Concord is still going strong and has gained statewide attention.
The event’s success is due in part to the clear guidelines for organizing the program:
- Choose a date that is easy to remember
- Have an identifying graphic used in all promotion of the campaign
- Provide an incentive to shoppers and diners to support the event
- Create a campaign that is easy to administer.
Small Business Saturday continues to be a strong event for downtown Concord almost two years after it was launched.
The full article appeared in our print edition. To always get the full story, read Downtown Idea Exchange.