Deals offered on Black Friday and during the entire Thanksgiving holiday weekend have always been geared toward big-box retailers luring shoppers with bargain prices.

But this year, small-business supporters are trying to tilt the spotlight toward locally owned businesses with Small Business Saturday.

In a year characterized by Occupy Wall Street protests and backlash against big banks and big corporations, this decidedly pro-small-business movement on the day after Black Friday has taken hold.

American Express signed on earlier this month by offering cardholders who registered for a special promotion a $25 credit toward the purchase of $25 or more at a small, locally owned enterprise. The financial-services company also teamed with FedEx , Google and Facebook to create a Facebook page, Facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday, to help consumers find small businesses and to provide businesses with a cost-effective way to market themselves.

Numerous other efforts are under way as well.

For some, shopping locally is a way to help out retail underdogs. Others do so to keep more of the benefits of retail spending in their own communities.

But organizers know in these uncertain times, small businesses need to deliver deals, too.

"We want to give people many reasons to shop small, independent businesses," said Jeffrey Steadman, Salt Lake City community manager for Yelp.com, a review-oriented website.

Yelp.com is helping stage the 9th & 9th Small Business Saturday Shopping Crawl from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, when merchants in the area of 900 East and 900 South in Salt Lake City will offer special one-day discounts. Shoppers also can enter a variety of giveaways.

Suzette Eaton, who owns the women's boutique Hip & Humble at 1043 E. 900 South, is part of the Yelp effort and is offering 20 percent off one item on Black Friday this year.

Eaton, who also has stores in Bountiful and Sandy, said she has noticed a shift toward local purchasing in recent years, especially during the holidays.

During her periodic stints behind the counter helping customers, "I've heard more people say they are trying to do more of their shopping locally this year," she said.

But Michelle Powell knows that buying locally is often more expensive. Chain stores have buying power that smaller businesses don't. They can afford to offer loss leaders.

And in bad economic times, price often trumps quality. Many people swear by the taste and quality of Winder Farms milk, for example, but it costs more than store-brand milk.

That's why Powell, who owns a small disc-jockey business, Squawkbox Sound in Salt Lake City, likes this year's holiday-shopping campaign by Local First Utah. The organization has persuaded dozens of small businesses to offer discounts from Nov. 25 through Dec. 2. They are trying to send a message that even a small amount of local purchases can have a large impact.

"This year's campaign really gives people more of an incentive to buy local," said Powell, who is from a family of small-business owners. Her dad owns an auto-repair shop in Kearns that's been in business 60 years. Her brother owns a construction business. "I like the fact that they are saying 'just do 10 percent of your shopping locally, and it can still make a big difference.' "

Social-media advertising such as that emphasized by the American Express-led Small Business Saturday is also making a difference by addressing a long-standing challenge for small businesses: the cost of marketing themselves.

Eaton at Hip & Humble has been using social media, particularly Facebook, during the past three years to create a loyal following.

"I'm a little shop, but I have 2,600 followers on Facebook," she said. "That means I can advertise to 2,600 people with the click of the mouse and it doesn't cost me anything. It's an unbelievable tool."

Small businesses also gain customers by offering services that distinguish them from chain retailers.

The Red Balloon, a toy shop with stores in Salt Lake City and Sandy that's endured for three decades, offers toys that large stores won't carry because the sales volumes aren't high enough, including a lineup of American-made toys, owner Yamil Castillo said.

Like Eaton, he still offers free gift wrapping. Castillo also strives to train his staff to be knowledgeable on the games and other toys he sells, putting an emphasis on his employees being not only helpful but cheerful.

He's recently begun selling his toys online via Amazon.com and developing that business as well as his in-store sales on social-networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

Castillo is using both sites to offer a printable coupon off one item through Saturday. The coupon is available on the company's website, redballoontoystore.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheRedBalloonToyStore and on Twitter at Twitter.com/RBToyStore.

If there's one thing the worst downturn since the Great Depression has done for his business, Castillo says, it's forced him to try new things such as social media, which he never would have tried before.

"We have all felt this recession," he says. "But it's made us be more creative. And it's made us better."

lesley@sltrib.com —

Small-business initiatives

Buy Local First Week

The pro-small-business group Local First Utah encourages shoppers to shift 10 percent of their shopping budgets to Utah-based independent businesses. A number of small businesses are offering discounts from Nov. 25 through Dec. 2. Go to bit.ly/uscXmU for more information.

Small Business Saturday

This is a nationwide initiative to get people shopping at small businesses. Find businesses near you at Facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday. Click on "get involved."

9th & 9th Small Business Saturday Shopping Crawl

Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday

Merchants around 900 East and 900 South in Salt Lake City will offer special one-day discounts and giveaways. Go to bit.ly/sXpY6g for more information. —

Wondering where to buy locally?

The Salt Lake Tribune has profiled five businesses, with products ranging from handmade doll tents to hair-care supplies for black Utahns, in Thursday's Close-Up editions. Check out the stories inside — in section E — or online at www.sltrib.com/Neighborhood.