Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Today, more shoppers are queueing online to get the best deals from their favourite brands than ever before. For e-commerce businesses of any size, this surge in online traffic means significant revenue potential.
To take advantage of this opportunity, you need to plan ahead. Many shoppers start deciding where they will go on Black Friday weeks in advance. That is why we have organised the best strategies to run a great Black Friday campaign this season.
What is Black Friday & Cyber Monday?
Black Friday started as an American tradition, where traditional retail stores slashed prices to kick off the holiday shopping season. Today, we see the event evolve to incorporate e-commerce sales & include a day solely for online discounts, Cyber Monday.
These are opportunities that your business can seize as well. All it takes is a great marketing strategy to help your business shine amongst the competitors.
Marketing Strategies for Black Friday
Who doesn’t love receiving emails with special sales and VIP deals in their inbox? We recommend sending one out a couple of weeks in advance of Black Friday with offers for your subscribers. Increase your open rate by including a catchy subject line, like the following example:
Social media
Some shoppers enjoy getting those last-minute deals, while others prefer to plan ahead. You can easily attract both types of shoppers by using social media to promote your sales. At the very least, make posts about the discounts on offer. Here’s an example of a post that gets customers excited about your upcoming Black Friday deals:
Website
Get your website ready for Black Friday marketing by adding banners to your website. If you don’t already have a dedicated page for discounts and offers, consider adding one. Or, if you do already have one, add a temporary additional page for Black Friday. For example, consider something like the following page:
Optimise Your SEO for Shoppers Searching on Google
E-commerce brands are vying for a place on Google’s front page for search terms such as ‘Black Friday sale’ or ‘Cyber Monday deals’. To rank, you must optimise your website for online shoppers.
One way you can do this is by inputting relevant keywords organically into the content on your website. Do some research and understand your buyer to discover what these shoppers are likely to search when looking for deals.
The sooner you do this, the better, as SEO work takes time to show results in Google’s ranking.
Increase Ad Spend
You also want to stick to some of the most basic marketing strategies, such as paid ads. Allocate a larger portion of your budget than normal for your ad spend during the holiday season. Remember that this ad spend is for both social media ads and paid search ads.
Referral codes
Referral marketing can work wonders for your brand, especially during Black Friday sales. If you’re able to get your loyal customers to refer their friends in exchange for a reward, there’s a very good chance that you’ll increase your sales numbers. Offer your audience incentives such as discount codes, free trials, giveaway entries & more. Plus, referral programs serve as a way to retarget your website visitors and encourage them to spread the word about your brand.
With the proper Black Friday marketing, you will get shoppers excited about your sales and start the holiday season off on the right foot. With these different marketing strategies you can get the word out about your Black Friday sales. Creating effective EDM campaign targeted at subscribers, posting on social media with relevant information and excitement the upcoming discounts, preparing your website by adding banners or creating dedicated Black Friday pages, optimising for related search terms, and allocating a larger budget for both social media and search ads, you will go along way towards a successful Black Friday & Cyber Monday shopping period.
