3C Insider: Small businesses prepare for the holidays amid uncertain times

As a small business, you know the holiday season can be a crazy time. But this year, it’s an uncertain time as well. Inflation is high. Supply chains are snarled. Economic indicators are all over the map. And consumers are hard to read. But we have good news for you! Despite the troubled economy, a new survey from QuickBooks shows 70% of small businesses believe they’ll make more money this holiday season compared to last year. 

To help you prepare for the surge in holiday business, we compiled a list of helpful tips to maximize your holiday sales. Leveraging online sales and ads to reach customers all over the world, and using powerful analytics to maximize ads and sales can be a huge difference-maker. 

Looking beyond the holidays, 3C is preparing our strategy for 2023 to ensure policymakers continue to appreciate how digital tools and online marketplaces help small businesses succeed every day. As always, we want to hear your stories of digital empowerment to help make policymakers understand the value digital tools bring to small businesses.

Be sure to join us for our upcoming webinar Views from Capitol Hill on Wed, Nov. 16th at 3 PM ET where we’ll talk about what issues Congress considered this year and is planning to consider in 2023 when it comes to tech policy and small business issues. We’ll also hear from small business leaders from across the country talk about what inspired them to get involved in becoming an advocate and how they’re continuing to make a difference by cultivating a policy environment that considers and respects the interests of today’s small businesses.  

Hope to see you there!

Rob Retzlaff 

Executive Director

The 3C Community

At 3C, we’ve been hosting some incredible events to help small businesses make the most of using digital tools and online marketplaces. Here’s what you missed in the 3C Community last month. 

We hosted a very informative roundtable on how small businesses can get started with selling on Amazon. The panel featured two small business owners who both have seen impressive success. Scott Moller, cofounder of Year5, which helps businesses make the most of Amazon’s selling potential, and Manasi Gangan, founder of Nested Bean, a consumer goods startup that sells a sleeping system to help infants sleep through the night. 

Each offered their own tips and tricks on where to begin and how to best reach customers on Amazon, discussing online advertising, subscribe-and-save, product positioning, how to effectively list products, and more. 

To join the 3C Community, please complete this form and we will send you an invitation!

I am 3C – Small Business Stories

Lawmakers need to see firsthand how digital tools make running a business easier. These “I am 3C” stories give policymakers insight into how important digital tools are to your success. If you are interested in sharing your story, simply let us know here.

Prados Beauty

In honor of #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth, we wanted to highlight an incredible small business owner Cece Meadows, founder and CEO of Prados Beauty in Las Cruces, New Mexico. As a Chicana/Indigenous woman whose ancestors are of the Yoeme and Nʉmʉnʉ people and as a natural philanthropist, Cece is bringing Indigenous representation into the beauty world.

Back in 2018, Cece worked backstage for New York Fashion Week and was the first Native American makeup artist to head a show. After using her products on some of the models, she started to grow her company and started selling online.

Flash forward to today, Cece donates a large portion of her profits back to Indigenous communities, veterans, and children with special needs. She’s even launched a nonprofit called Prados Life Foundation, which raised money to help Native American communities and fire and police departments on reservations.

In Cece’s words, “I created Prados Beauty to bring light and awareness to Indigenous peoples, our stories, our true history, resiliency, and beauty. Creating space for Indigenous peoples throughout Turtle Island in the beauty space is my mission, and I take great pride in that opportunity.”

To donate (or to shop her makeup line), head to: https://pradosbeauty.com/pages/new-prados-promise 

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Views from Capitol Hill

Wednesday, November 16th

3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT

With the midterm election almost upon us, it’s time to start thinking about the agenda for the new Congress Americans will elect in just a few days. Join us for a webinar discussion about the tech and small business issues the outgoing Congress considered in 2022 and which issues the new Congress is likely to consider in 2023. We’ll also hear from small business leaders from across the nation about what sparked them to get involved in becoming an advocate and how they’re making a difference in Washington and beyond. 

Sign up here! 

Your Quick Digital Fix 

A new report from Intuit QuickBooks forecasts that, despite the troubled economy, Americans could spend $88 billion with small businesses this holiday season. So what can small businesses do to handle the heavy traffic and improve customer checkout? The company recommends  employing an integrated payments solution like QuickBooks Payments to facilitate the acceptance of customer payments in a variety of ways, including online invoicing, mobile payment apps, and in-person card readers. The company also suggests using Mailchimp to set up Abandoned Cart Automations for those shoppers who don’t quite make it to checkout—and might need a reminder to complete a purchase.

For more tips and conversation, head to the 3C Community! 

Here are 5 things you should know:

(From our 5 Tips for Holiday Sales)

1. Tap into online markets and webstores 

Setting up an online store and selling on marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart and webstores like Shopify are fast and easy ways to find new customers before the holiday rush. Rural small businesses are already leveraging e-commerce to sell their products far beyond their local areas. Check out the recent roundtable we hosted with tips from other small businesses on how to start selling on Amazon and making the most of it.

2. Advertise online 

Investing in digital ads can help you reach more customers cheaply and at their convenience. They allow you to find potential customers who are more likely to love what you offer and purchase it as a gift for themselves or a loved one. Digital ads featuring holiday specials can bring people to your website to make purchases and offer small businesses an affordable way to expand their customer base.

3. Leverage analytics 

A major benefit to using digital advertising is all the free data and analytics from platforms like Google. The data they provide can help you discover which ads work best for which audience, where to improve, and how to decrease conversion costs. Check out this tutorial on how to maximize web analytics.

4. Host a holiday event 

People love to socialize and shop. If you’re a local store with a brick-and-mortar, trying out an in-person “Sip and Shop” may bring in new customers right in time for the holiday season! If you’re exclusively online, offer some early bird holiday discounts. Whatever you do – get it in before people get bogged down by holiday parties & sales!

5. Find where to improve 

Even small businesses that use all the incredible digital tools at their disposal can still improve their online presence. Did you know that we offer a digital assessment tool that can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses as an online business? Using this tool will put you on a one-way street to improve your sales.Do you have a small business story you’d like to share with us or any questions or concerns you’d like us to address? Email us at membership@connectedcouncil.org