It’s the classic match-up between “The Big Bad Bully” and “The Hometown Hero,” in other words large corporations and local businesses. The time it takes place is during the holidays staging on Black Friday. This year it’s on November 23rd. Large corporations have a size advantage and a time advantage, considering that they have been doing this for quite some time. But local businesses can combat this by banding together and use the precious time from now until then to get ready for the match-up. Let’s break this down a bit.
In the black corner we have the heavy hitter known as “Black Friday,” who has helped many large vendors over the years. A lot of this is due to promoting on a large scale and the consumer accepting this practice. It’s genius. The larger companies have a large spending budget to promote, advertise, or whatever else is needed to gain customer volume. Insiders and outsiders both record statistics and make predictions about this day every year which fuels the fire of the shopping frenzy. Consumers are being prepared for this purposely by big companies, and you know what? It works. But we all know about this so let’s take a look at the opponent.
In the white corner is our hometown hero know as “Small Business Saturday,” who is new to the arena. Some insight can be found at https://www.facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday. This is the third year in contention. To compete in this arena these local businesses need have a plan. Promote in advance to gain awareness and support. Use innovative ideas, persuasive tactics, and mind changing maneuvers as the jabs, hooks, and counter punches. Local businesses need to act swiftly with a strategic plan. Some of these businesses may need a corner man or a manager for this kind of preparation. If they do I suggest they find one quickly. There is a little time left.
So I’ll leave you with some words of encouragement from one of the great announcers of our time – Michael Buffer – “LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!”
