Giving Tuesday: Why UK Small Businesses Should Get Involved. Plus 4 Digital Marketing Ideas To Help You Amplify Your Giving.

The inspirational Michelle Ovens CBE, founder of Small Business Britain and Small Business Saturday UK, recently mentioned in an Instagram Live that she noticed that many small business owners are reluctant to celebrate their acts of giving, suggesting that they felt it would somehow diminish the impact of their kindness.

We see many businesses who fundraise for charity through their sales being bashful about this meaningful act of supporting good causes. Yet if more of us celebrated our giving and philanthropy the more it would become normal and inspire more people to do good for others.

Normalising kindness by celebrating it can only be a positive thing - imagine the impact and incredible change in society if it was actually odd not to be doing something for others through your business.

A powerful way to tell the world about your generosity, social impact, and passion for good causes is to connect with the incredible Giving Tuesday - the global day of giving.

What is Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday is one of the most positive and uplifting awareness days in the world calendar, reaching millions of people across the world and celebrated in 60 countries. It is unique in that absolutely anyone can get involved, it brings people together, and is an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with people living millions of miles away, from celebrities to politicians to royalty.

Created in the US as an antidote to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it was launched in the UK by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) in 2014 who saw it as a way to encourage giving back in the run up to Christmas.

The impact on charities in the UK alone has been incredible:

• Giving Tuesday holds the record for the most money raised online for charity in 24 hours.
• In 2020 £20.2 million was raised for good causes in the UK.
• Over 360 million #GivingTuesday tweets whizzed around the world on the big day!

Why should small businesses get involved in Giving Tuesday?

Being part of a global movement that drives positive change, kindness, and philanthropy has multiple benefits and will not only make you feel happier but also prouder of your business.

Getting involved with Giving Tuesday is also great for business. Whether you are a sole trader selling through Etsy or a local law firm, using Giving Tuesday’s massive influence is a golden opportunity to amplify your business as well as your giving.

Four Marketing Ideas To Help You Amplify Your Small Business Giving!:

1) Build up the buzz:

The wonderful thing about marketing today is that every brand and person has a platform to use their voice and share stories that create excitement whether that’s on social media, in a newsletter, or in a local networking Facebook group - use these multiple touchpoints to talk to your customers, clients, friends and your team about what you’re doing for Giving Tuesday. But don’t wait for the big day, the key is in the lead up to Giving Tuesday - creating excitement and interest before the day will help to encourage and spread generosity – which is the goal of the movement.

2) Highlight the charities cause or campaign:

Using your social media marketing to shine a spotlight on a cause that you care about and taking the time to support the charity's latest campaign alongside your fundraising demonstrates your values and shows your customers and community that you genuinely care. Talk about the impact the charity has and use your platform to inform people of the work they’re doing and why you’re supporting them. Blog posts and e-newsletters are also great ways to do this.

3) Tell personal stories:

Use Giving Tuesday to show the people behind your brand and let your customers know your personal reasons for choosing to support a particular cause. Telling your story helps to forge emotional connections and can be very powerful, building loyalty and respect in a way that simply showing images of products or talking about services might not - remember people buy from people.

4) Be creative with your social media and digital marketing:

• Host a pre-Giving Tuesday party on Facebook or Instagram Live, invite people to share their own acts of giving, could you add in a raffle in aid of a cause.
• Turn Black Friday on its head and use this massive selling day to ramp up your own giving and your business's sales-based fundraising - perhaps you could increase the amount you are donating to charity through your sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• Are you a member of a Facebook Group? Make sure you use it as a place to talk about your giving, the Giving Tuesday movement to help you stand out.
• Reach out to influencers - it's likely many influencers will be keen to get involved with Giving Tuesday themselves. Could this be your chance to get them talking about your small business giving?
• Reels! Whether you like or hate them - video and Reels is where it is at. So make sure you use them to talk about your acts of giving in your social media strategy.
• Engage on the day. Use the hashtag #GivingTuesday, and tag in the charity you are supporting using any hashtags they have created to promote campaigns. You will have more chance of being seen by the charity's followers as well, reaching like-minded people who share the same values as you.

For more information visit the Giving Tuesday website.

Are you a Small Business Star? If you are fundraising through your sales this festive season please remember to also use the hashtag #SmallBusinessStar and tag in @WorkforGoodUK - so we can work together to spread the word about the mighty UK small businesses who use their business for good.