Pip & Lola’s Homemade Soaps had customers vying to shop at their new location in the Strip District after running a successful Honeycomb crowdfunding campaign!
“Hold on, I don’t even have a small business yet, how can I possibly benefit from Small Business Saturday?” I know, it sounds kind of crazy. But, think about it: Small Business Saturday is really the one day a year that nationwide, people are thinking about small businesses. What if you could use this special day to jumpstart that business idea you’ve been planning all year? Read on to find out how you can leverage Small Business Saturday to launch your new business.
Get your community backing your small business on day one
Honeycomb is a great resource for small businesses just starting out because of the winning combination of capital, marketing, and strengthened customer relationships. Find out more about Honeycomb’s resources for small business owners by signing up for our newsletter below!
Small Business Saturday can help you access capital from alternative financing sources
If you’re in the planning stages of starting a new business idea, you’ve probably already run into some obstacles when trying to access funding for it.
There’s many reasons for this. First of all, the banks that used to fund small, local businesses – community banks – are disappearing, and larger lenders aren’t willing to take the risk for small businesses that aren’t seeking out huge loans. This is especially true if you’re a new business, have been around for less than two years - you’re pretty much out of luck.
But, there are other options to consider when trying to finance your new business. For instance, there is crowdfunding! Crowdfunding through Honeycomb allows you to take out a loan from your community, not a big bank. So, you’re paying back your family, friends, future and current customers instead of a bank that probably will never come to your business as a customer.
Also, did you know that successfully crowdfunding once opens up many doors for financing in the future? If you crowdfund now and get the ball rolling on your business, as it grows it will be easier for you to get loans from banks, or to crowdfund again! Businesses that run second crowdfunding campaigns often have higher rates of success and higher raises.
Take Tall Pines Distillery for example. Their first Honeycomb campaign was to build out an outdoor space for their Somerset, Pennsylvania distillery. Then, in 2021 they came back with a plan to use their Honeycomb campaign to help launch a new addition to their business - an artisan boutique shop. That second campaign raised $75,000 in record time - seriously, in just five days.
The Honeycomb campaign also helped Tall Pines Distillery access new customers who became investors. The weekend after their campaign went live, a Pittsburgh-based investor drove out to the Distillery to meet the family in person for one of their weekend events. This individual introduced himself to owners Keith and Lisa and told them he saw their Honeycomb campaign and wanted to drive out to see the place in person (an hour-long drive). He invested in their campaign the following Monday.
Market your business before you even open with an added boost
Sure, you can launch a new Instagram page or put up signs all over your neighborhood to herald your business’s opening, but did you know that an investment crowdfunding campaign can also do wonders for marketing your new business?
Think about it. What a unique way to introduce the public to your business by allowing them a way to make money off of it? If you’re confident in your business and your product, this is a way to really show that to the world, and start building up goodwill around your business and your brand.
Honeycomb campaigns also tend to attract quite a bit of press attention, especially in markets that haven’t seen an investment crowdfunding campaign before. Local newspapers usually pick up the story, giving your business more of an audience as well as your Honeycomb campaign.
The reason that this is all so important is because it gives you, the business owner, the opportunity to attract, engage, and build relationships with your customers at the very start of your business’s story. Not only can this get people waiting out your door on day one, but it leads to stronger customer loyalty in the long run. After all, your customers have invested in your business, so they want to see it succeed!
Small Business Saturday is the best time to launch your business
So, why now? Well, as we mentioned before, Small Business Saturday is like the Super Bowl for Main Street businesses. All eyes are on small businesses that day, including yours, as shoppers prepare to get their holiday shopping done.
However, investors are also waiting in the wings this Small Business Saturday. We’ve got a stellar line-up of small businesses that are planning to crowdfund during Small Business Saturday. You might think this isn’t a good thing - after all, isn’t it competition? Not remotely! We find that introducing investment options as “cohorts” of small businesses benefits not only investors, because they have a variety to choose from and make investments in, but also the business owners, because they get to be part of a group that’s getting promoted.
Did we mention that Small Business Saturday is the biggest investment day of the year at Honeycomb? Last year, 2020, we raised over $500,000 in small business investments that day alone, thanks to the winning cohort of small businesses that crowdfunded their growth through our platform.
Grow with confidence, grow with community capital
You can get your business’s growth off on the right growth by crowdfunding the capital you need! This can put you in a fantastic position to launch your business and set you up for growth in 2023.
Ready to get started? Sign up below and we’ll get in touch with you about starting your Honeycomb journey!