Encouraging Consumers to Shop Small First and Celebrating the 4th Annual Pink Friday

Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works, from mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts, and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub, and I can't wait to chat.

Hey, guys, it's you and me and it's going to be a short episode because it's a big week and I want to make sure you have time to go out and celebrate what's happening this week around the world in the boutique industry. Four years ago, we sat around a table at the Hub and had a conversation about our love and hate relationship with Small Business Saturday and frankly, the entire Black Friday promotion schedule and all the chaos that comes with it. And I know you guys are right in the middle of prepping for all of these holidays as we speak. Well, here's where the conversation led us. We love the promotion of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, a day to shop small, and the excitement of Cyber Monday for so many of you, and then Giving Tuesday. But at the end of the day, our mission has always been, how do we encourage people to not just shop small, small as an afterthought, once people have already done Black Friday, once people have already been to the big box stores and then they think about, how can I, you know, finish off my Christmas list by going to the local boutique instead? We thought about, how could we really encourage people instead to think about shopping small first before we shop anywhere else, how can I start to fulfill my Christmas wish list, whether it's gifts for my friends, my family, my community, or. Or just the shopping I need to do for myself over the holiday season and the traveling I've got going, how do I do that first? So the idea of Pink Friday was born with the idea to shop small first. Now, every year again, for the last four years, we have been celebrating Pink Friday the Friday before Black Friday, nationwide, worldwide. There are over 5,000 stores this year participating that we know of in Pink Friday promotions. Now, those 5,000 stores that we know of that are participating this year, Many of you have also teamed up with your local community, whether it's through a chamber of commerce or Main street association or just local stores next to you, that you are running a collaboration or a giveaway or some sort of promotion with to encourage consumers to shop small first.

So we are so excited you guys.

About this week, about Pink Friday coming this week, this Friday, and your opportunity to celebrate what it means to shop with a small business first. But strategically, I want to bring you behind the scenes on Pink Friday and let you know how it means even more than just telling people to shop small first. Right. Because I believe we can get so much further than just shaming people into shopping small first if we encourage people with excitement to shop small first. What do I mean by that? I mean, I really want to encourage you to tell people your story, your big why? Why should they be excited to shop with you? And that's why I think Pink Friday has such an opportunity to become a PR and promotion event for your business. I mean, this is your time to collaborate with your local media, your regional media, your newspapers, your women's magazines, your statewide media, and to really tell the story of what it means for you to be a small business owner, what it means to serve out your mission of serving others and how you operate, really in today's economy as a small business owner. It's a PR event. It's a way for you to tell your story, to really build some excitement and encouragement around what it means to be excited about shopping with small businesses and then how to shop small businesses for first. So again this Friday, I'm so excited, you guys, to hear so many promotion plans again for over 5,000 boutiques and small businesses that we know of that are celebrating Pink Friday worldwide. My ask for you this week is just to tell a friend, to tell someone, what does it mean to celebrate Pink Friday? It's not just a day for boutique owners, Right. But it's a day for small businesses as a whole to team up, to collaborate, to tell your story about your business mission, your motto, your why, and to encourage others to shop small first. Now, if you would love more information on Pink Friday and also the Pink Friday map that we've produced at the boutique hub, your opportunity to share with your friends and with your family, hey, where are there great boutiques around the country when I'm traveling that I can shop in person? Or where are there other vetted and qualified and great boutiques online that fit a particular style that I could shop anytime from home? The Pink Friday map has all of these participating boutiques lined out so you can share it anytime with your family and friends. Again, I'll link up all of that and all the information in more detail. Details about Pink Friday in today's show notes. So, you guys, I cannot wait to see what you have planned. All of Your collaborations, your events, your decorations. So please tag us at the Boutique Hub so we can reshare all the things you have going on and celebrate with you over Pink Friday. Each year, you guys, this event gets bigger and better, and I cannot wait to see where it goes in the future. Our goal, if I'm going to just, like, manifest it with you right here, right now, our goal is that someday we have the opportunity at the Boutique Hub to be on the Today show and to tell the world what it means to shop small first and to celebrate being a small business owner today in this economy, in this time, in this changing way of shopping, retail and E commerce, we would love to be able to tell that story on behalf of our global community. So, hint, hint, if you know anyone at the Today show, let us know. It's on our vision board. But it's going to be a great year. It's going to be a huge event and I cannot wait to see what you guys have planned. I wish you all the best of luck in all of your Pink Friday celebrations and promotions. Now, I have to let you in on one last little secret today. So because Pink Friday is such a huge day for us at the Hub, it's a day we get to celebrate you guys. Many people on our team have organized local shopping trips in their area. I have a Pink Friday bus that I take around with about 30 of my friends in my local community. We visit about five boutiques over Pink Friday. There is something even bigger for you as retailers, as small business owners, because it's the one time a year that we at the Boutique Hub actually run a sale and a promotion on all of our products at the Hub. So you're the first to know. This year, we are launching the Pink Friday Super Sale. It is going to last from Pink Friday until the night before Cyber Monday. So on Sunday. And it is a Super Sale. I'm telling you, this is the one and the only time where we take all of our courses, all of our handbooks, and all of our products, with the exception of the Boutique Boss Planner, because that little girl just launched, and the Small Business Marketing Handbook, those are the only two things. And retail Boot Camp, because it's not open currently, that are not involved in the Super Sale. So I'm going to tell you, you have to go to the Show Notes today to get the links to all the products that are all part of the Super Sale. So things like our Holiday Marketing Masterclass, our Instagram Ignite Masterclass, our Content Sanity Masterclass, our How to Buy Wholesale Trade show or I'm sorry, our how to Buy Wholesale Handbook, our small business hiring handbook and brand new never launched before. Three products that we are rolling out for you during our Super Sale. And these products are all for the wholesale community or those of you thinking about joining the wholesale community. So we have a setting up at Trade Show Handbook. We have our Wholesale Marketing Handbook, which is a spin off of our Small Business Marketing handbook. And we have a brand new handbook called Brand Owner Basics for those of you thinking about getting into wholesale or right in the first stages of really building and optimizing your wholesale brand. How to effectively sell wholesale to boutiques. So those three brand new wholesale products are also launching and included in this year's Super Sale. So again, Super Sale from Pink Friday until the Sunday right before Cyber Monday. Well, what's going to happen on Cyber Monday, you ask? Okay, do you want another secret? I'm just telling you so you can mark your calendar because you're going to want to know this. Cyber Monday is the day when Early Bird Boutique Summit tickets will launch. I am telling you what. June 9th and 10th in Dallas, Texas is the 2024 Boutique Summit. We have just announced you guys, one of my absolute favorite authors and speakers. I freaking love following him. He is so smart. He understands the different generations that we're marketing to. He understands marketing, he understands hiring, he understands business. And that's my friend John Acuff is going to be joining us as one of our many keynote speakers at the 2024 Boutique Summit. So Early Bird tickets will be the most affordable ticket price you will have access to, period. And those will be launching on Cyber Monday. So that's it. I'm spilling the deets. You've got all the info. The Super Sale is right around the corner. Launching on Pink Friday. And I cannot wait to celebrate Pink Friday with you guys and to see again your awesome promotions and your collaborations. This is the kind of thing that community over competition is 100% about. It's about teaming up with your neighbors. It's about teaming up with other businesses that maybe aren't even boutiques. Maybe it's you in a local tire shop, but it's you in the local community. Or it's you and a bunch of online boutique owner or small business owner friends teaming up to just drive awareness and promotion of small businesses this holiday season. I cannot wait to see what happens because when two or more like businesses come together, you become a destination. So cheers. Happy Pink Friday. I wish you the best week. I hope you also love this super sale. Watch your emails if you are on our email list, you will get first dibs when all of this opens. Or check out our social media for more. And I of course will have everything linked up for you in the show notes this week. Cheers you guys to a fantastic holiday season and to your best holiday season yet. Cheers.

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