How Small Businesses Survive the Discount Season

Ethical Holiday Marketing for Small Businesses

The holiday season often feels like a sprint for small businesses and charities. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other heavily promoted sales dominate attention and budgets.

It’s easy to feel lost in the shadow of giants like Kmart, Temu, or Shein — retailers that thrive on sheer volume. We need to remeber that a large portion of their products are returned, and loyalty is often fleeting; customers are chasing deals, not brand connection. Comparing your small business or charity to these models can be misleading and even harmful. Instead, the key lies in understanding your own strengths and building strategies around what your audience truly values.

Over years working on fundraising, engagement, and sustainability-focused initiatives, I have seen how smaller organisations can not only survive the holiday pressure — they can flourish — when they lean into strategy, values, and a 360° approach across every touchpoint. I have worked with small businesses and charities to design campaigns that connect audiences with purpose, build engagement, and maximise limited budgets. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to thriving this holiday season.

1. Competitor Analysis — Compare the Right Way

It’s tempting to benchmark against big retailers, but that sets unrealistic expectations.

Working with organisations passionate about impact has taught me how to identify competitors that share similar values, target audiences, or mission-driven goals — and how to extract insights without copying them. For one project, I guided a small ethical retailer through a review of peer brands’ loyalty programs and sustainability storytelling, then applied these insights to design a campaign that reflected the retailer’s own mission.

For example, Matt & Nat, a vegan leather brand, combines storytelling, sustainability, and recycled materials in a way that resonates with ethical consumers.

Focus on mission-driven differentiation

By analysing these elements, a small ethical retailer can take inspiration for its own campaigns — focusing on mission-driven differentiation rather than trying to match giant retailers on price.

2. Lead with Purpose, Stay Consistent

People respond to meaning, not just savings. You’ve got to keep saying it, over and over, so it sticks.

The campaigns we ran, showing exactly how each purchase or donation makes a real impact, worked really well. Every touchpoint — from website to ads, customer service, and transaction receipts — carried a consistent, aligned message. Newsletters, social posts, and community events all reinforced the organisation's values, keeping the mission front and centre. The approach boosted average transaction value and brought supporters back sooner, often within the same campaign period.

Using another example, Stella McCartney, a luxury fashion brand, keeps ethics and sustainability front and centre in every campaign. They don’t use leather, fur, or any animal products, and during the holidays, their messaging focuses on environmental impact rather than chasing price discounts.

3. Stop Over-Relying on Social Media — Think Full-Funnel, Multi-Channel

When I ask entrepreneurs and small businesses about their marketing, the usual answer is: “Yes, I do marketing — I post every day.” Arrrg — that’s not marketing. That’s just a post. Without a strategy, it’s likely wasted effort.

Customers and supporters are not one-dimensional and they move through a journey — from awareness to consideration to action — and your marketing needs to follow that path across multiple channels. Social media alone can’t capture the whole funnel.

I worked with a small ethical retailer on a holiday campaign that covered the full funnel. The initial response is very common: “We’re a small business or organisation with no budget or staff. It’s too complex and expensive for us.” We focused on practical steps and prioritising efforts, showing them they were already carrying out many of the essential activities — and that even if done manually, these actions could be automated over time to save effort. Social posts raised awareness, emails nurtured interest, and the website drove purchases. After checkout, thank-you emails and impact updates kept the brand’s mission front and centre. By organising these steps strategically, the retailer could run an effective, full-funnel campaign without relying on big budgets or discounts.

4. Use Data to Refine Strategy — Even on a Shoestring

You don’t need a fancy CRM or heaps of reports to make smarter decisions. The key is to centralise your data and focus only on activities you can actually measure - reduce number of activities and channels if necessary. Combine those insights to understand supporter and customer behaviour across their journeys and channels. If you can’t measure it, it’s not a priority — don’t waste time guessing.

Real-world example: Operation Smile ran a year-end fundraising campaign using a mix of direct mail, digital ads, and email. They tracked how donors responded to each channel and which combinations drove the most donations. By analysing this data, they could see which supporters responded best to multi-channel outreach, refine messaging, and focus efforts where they made the most impact. The result? Donations were higher than single-channel campaigns, and every dollar spent was more effective.

Even without big budgets or sophisticated software, you can apply the same approach: do what you can track, learn from it, and adjust your marketing in real time. It’s about working smarter, not harder.

5. Leverage the Popular Dates Familiarity

Even though you should not put your business in danger by following large retailers’ discounts, the familiar dates are still opportunities. In fact, consumers and supporters will expect to hear from you on certain occasions and in specific situations. For example, for Black Friday, if you can’t match big retailers’ prices, use the occasion to surprise and delight loyal customers and supporters — run highly targeted, value-driven promotions.

For charities with retail stores, include limited-availability items relevant to the season. I have offered thank-you gestures, exclusive content, and impact updates that increased repeat engagement and donor retention.

Mere-Exposure Effect

This principle says that the more people are exposed to something — a brand, product, message, person, or even a date on the calendar — the more they tend to like it, trust it, or feel drawn to it. No persuasion needed. Just repeated, low-effort exposure.

This is exactly why big retail dates like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday feel unavoidable — people have seen them everywhere, every year, so they feel normal, expected, and “right”.

WAMA Underwear, a plant-based sustainable underwear brand, runs seasonal campaigns rewarding existing customers with impact-focused updates and offers.

5. Tap Into Collective Moments and Shared Audiences

You don’t have to do everything on your own. I’ve coordinated joint campaigns where multiple organisations share audiences, messaging, and momentum — instantly expanding reach without blowing the budget. When you collaborate with businesses or charities that share your values, you tap into warm, engaged communities that are already aligned with what you stand for.

In the charity space, dates like Giving Tuesday or Incude a Charity make collaboration feel almost expected. But I’ve seen small non-for-profit organisations panic because they don’t have the programs, capacity, or resources to fully participate. Here’s the thing — you don’t need a massive campaign to show up. Supporters still expect to hear from their charity around these moments, and the popularity of these dates can be leveraged to promote simple, achievable variations of your usual offerings.

Even a pared-back version — a joint email, a shared social post, a co-branded impact update, or a small partnered giveaway — can deliver strong results and strengthen supporter trust.

In Conclusion

The holiday season doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom on price or programs you can’t sustain. When you lead with purpose, use a 360° multi-channel strategy, measure what actually matters, and show up in ways that surprise and delight, you give people a reason to choose you — even in the middle of all the noise. And don’t underestimate the power of familiarity. Big retail dates tap into the mere-exposure effect, meaning people expect to hear from the brands and causes they care about. Small businesses and charities can use this to their advantage without discounting or overextending.

I’ve worked with organisations to turn these seasonal moments into mission-driven opportunities that strengthen relationships, lift engagement, and show the real-world impact behind every purchase or donation. Your mission, values, and story are your strongest differentiators — use them to stand out, build trust, and create lasting impact.

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