Posted by If you haven’t started your marketing for Black Friday this year, this article will help you think up and create a quick marketing plan.
But before I go ahead, let me give you a quick backstory on what Black Friday is and why it’s important to participate in the tradition.
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. It’s the last widely celebrated holiday before Christmas (although in more recent times this has changed to Halloween). Because of this, people generally start all their holiday shopping on this day which results in a big boost in business sales.
It is possible that the term Black Friday comes from the concept. Since they’ve now made profits all on that one day that they’re ‘in the black’.
This soon became a tradition and was eventually established as Black Friday. Because of Black Friday, we now also have other related days like Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Most Black Friday sales are stretched up to Cyber Monday.
I’ll be sharing some tips for pre-launch marketing and I’ll also share a few tips for keeping your customers happy post the launch and while shopping so that you can retain your customers and also have a stronger base for next year!
PRE-LAUNCH
1. Abandoned Carts
If you have a website, the first thing you need to do is gather data on all the abandoned carts. The time frame can be decided on by you and/or your team. This data usually includes people that have added something to their cart and haven’t gone through with the purchase because of the total cost and/or the lack of promo codes.
Targeting this audience first should be at the top of your marketing strategy. You can create cool and quirky emails to let them know that you have something rewarding in store for them.
This brings me to the next tip.
2. Emails
Email marketing is one of the direct marketing options available to inform your users about your products, services, and updates. You can use emails for your Newsletters, Acquisition, Retention, and for Promotional purposes.
For Black Friday, you can add details about your Black Friday Campaign to your newsletters or you can make a completely separate email to promote the campaign.
You could also use both — add small teasers in the newsletters in the few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving Week and then send the 1 promotional email dedicated to Black Friday a couple of days before your campaign launches.
3. SMS
SMS is another direct messaging option. More often than not, you’ll find yourself opening a text message more than an email right?
It’s the same for most people around the globe. SMS does have a higher open rate compared to emails. It’s a shorter journey from the SMS to the website when you add the link there than to have to open your email, then click on the email and then go to the website.
Create eye-catching content for your messages but be sure to leave space for your website link. You can also add promo codes to entice the customers to open the link and shop!
4. Video
Video marketing has become a lot more common with the rise of TikTok, Instagram Reels, and now YouTube Shorts. You can create a lot of fun and informative videos. Testimonials or reviews from regular customers can be used in our marketing videos to get more users to visit your website and purchase.
You could even end up making one that goes viral and becomes a trend!
One of the reasons video marketing works so well is because watching videos allows the viewer just a little bit of rest to the eyes as compared to a text-filled flyer or ad carousel.
In this day and age, video marketing isn’t as time-consuming and difficult as it once was. All you need is a smartphone and an editing app!
5. Hashtag
Hashtags work so great as a way to look for something on social platforms. It’s like a mini search engine. When looking for something on these channels, you just need to search hashtags by entering keywords. This way you can see the top hashtags or the most recent hashtags.
Using Black Friday hashtags specific to your brand or products and services will greatly increase your chances of showing up in hashtag search results.
While people more often think of cute, funny, and punny hashtags, it does actually lessen the chances of showing up in a search. Using simple and direct keywords will help you reach more people and thus increase your audience and customers visiting you on Black Friday!
6. Offers/Freebies
A surefire way of getting more conversions is offering various offers on checkout or freebies. You must remember that most shopping on Black Friday is done for the Holiday season. This means a majority of sales are actually made thinking of a family member, friend, or loved one.
Offering a freebie or gift voucher with a purchase will increase your chances of getting clicks and conversions as well.
You can advertise them in your Emails, SMS, or even the videos you create for your campaign.
Rewards are another way to get traffic and ensure that they purchase something from your site. You can either reward the fastest customer or the 100th customer or even give out multiple rewards for the first 50 customers to check out.
POST-LAUNCH
1. Speed
Once your campaign launches, your customer should have 0 complaints about the speed of your site. If you have planned this well and are expecting heavy traffic, make sure that the site can handle so many users being there at once.
A lot of times, a customer will abandon the cart out of frustration if any page takes too long to load. To avoid this, make sure you or your tech team are well prepared for this.
2. Support
As easy and informative as your UI might be, you’ll always have people wanting more details or help with something. Many sites will have email support or even call support, but the TAT here might be too long to hold the customers’ attention to your site and their purchase.
Having a chatbot in place tends to work better during campaigns and flash sales like this. Chatbots help deliver instant support to customers browsing or looking to purchase. Plus, offering good customer experiences will only benefit you in the long run.
3. Sustainability
While this is also a more general tip, it is still pretty important when you’re spending so much on your marketing budget. You need to make sure that what you’re selling, especially tangible products, is sustainable. This goes a long way and your customers will remember you and always come back for more.
You should also spend more time and work on your packaging options so that they’re more environmentally friendly. Thoughtfulness toward the environment also goes a long way.
4. Thanks
Thanking your customers after they participate in your Black Friday campaign will help them appreciate your brand in return and also remember you for a long time. If you have the budget, you can also sneak in some coupon codes to thank them. The surprise will be well received and will make this a well-remembered user experience for them.
Personalized, notes, videos, or emails are always a crowd favorite!
Well, that’s it from me. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays! ❤
Feel free to share your own tips in the comments below. 🙂