Black Friday and Cyber Monday are possibly the biggest discount and promotional days of the year and they’re approaching fast. The key dates you need to know are Friday 24th and Monday 27th November. Most businesses will have promotions running over the full weekend and possibly into the following week.
With one of the biggest shopping events on the horizon, you might be wondering how you can promote your products or services effectively. Well we’ve put together our top 10 Black Friday marketing ideas that you can incorporate into your digital marketing strategy that is guaranteed to grab your audience’s attention.
Why is Black Friday so popular?
If you aren’t aware of these days, Black Friday was originally created in America, and is the day following Thanksgiving. Many schools and organisations tend to take the day off on the Friday, to give them a long 4-day weekend, and so shops took this on board and started to make this day the big pre-Christmas shopping day of the year. Cyber Monday was established in more recent years, and follows the same idea of Black Friday, but with a focus on online retailers, rather than in-store. More on that a little later.
This ‘holiday’ only really kicked off in the UK in 2014, and since then more and more brands have been getting involved. Each year, this promotional event grows bigger and bigger. Here are some interesting Black Friday 2022 statistics from Embryo:
- In 2022, an estimated £12.3 billion was spent during the long weekend, which is an 8.3% increase year-on-year
- 39% of people shopped the sales which is a 6% increase from 2021
- A whopping 79% of online traffic for Black Friday came from mobile devices
- Over half of shoppers bought an impulse purchase
- Abandoned cart rates are usually at their lowest during Black Friday which shows customers want to complete their purchase before any promotions end
So, if you haven’t already, it’s time to get involved and really focus on your Black Friday campaigns.
10 Black Friday marketing ideas you can implement
1. Offer a free weekend trial
If you’re a brand that offers a service, rather than a product, consider offering a free weekend trial for customers to use during the days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Giving them this opportunity to try out your service, is going to make them more likely to consider purchasing your service fully in the future.
2. Launch a new product
Planning on launching a new product in the near future? Black Friday or Cyber Monday are great days to do this. People are more willing to make purchases on these days, and you can feature an introductory offer during this time if you wish to entice people even more.
3. Create a gift guide
Most people will be doing their Christmas shopping on these days, so you can give them a helping hand by creating a gift guide. You could feature a mixture of products that are on promotion, and those that aren’t, or you could feature a special promotion just on the products that are featured within the gift guide.
4. Run hourly deals
Each hour or so throughout the day, think about releasing different offers and discounts. This way, you’re going to have your potential customers really engaged with your brand, waiting to see what the next deal might be! These deals could be released on your social media, as people will be able to set notifications for each time you post during that day, saving them from staring at their screens all day.
5. Offer mystery savings
You don’t need to feature all of your discounts on your site, you could feature some that are specially for those loyal customers who are signed up to your newsletter. You could send a series of emails consisting of a teaser email, a launch email and finally a reminder email to keep them hooked throughout the weekend.
6. Save the best promotions until last
A lot of brands usually start featuring their offers first thing in the morning, and by the time lunchtime comes around, everything has sold out! To make your brand stand out, you could save your best promotions until after lunchtime, when most people have had a good rest.
7. Put on an exclusive social giveaway
You don’t necessarily have to use discounts and promotions during Black Friday, but instead you could be offering giveaways on your social media. Instead of just making sales, this way you will be able to increase your following and brand awareness. When offering out the giveaways, some of the terms and conditions should be that they have to be a follower, or signed up to your newsletter, or have to share your post.
8. Create a fun experience
If you’re focusing on having your main discounts in-store, then create a fun experience for your shoppers! A lot of shops will be an absolute nightmare, and might be many shoppers’ idea of hell. So ask yourself ‘what can I do to stand out?’ and this could be offering out snacks and drinks, organising a DJ or special guests in-store – whatever it is, be fun and creative with it!
9. Share some sneak peaks on your social channels
Get your customers excited in the run-up to Black Friday by creating social sneak peaks. Let them know what discounts they might be expecting, or encourage them to sign up to your newsletter to receive extra discounts.
10. Offer a free gift with every purchase
As mentioned before, customers will be coming in to buy mostly Christmas presents. So, you could be offering out free gift wrapping or a small treat for themselves, to make their lives that little bit easier. You could even have some products already gift wrapped, so they can just pick whether to have one pre-wrapped or not wrapped, at no extra cost!
What about Cyber Monday?
As mentioned previously, Cyber Monday is the much younger cousin of Black Friday. The event was a way for smaller businesses to compete with large chains, and by using e-commerce stores, they could reach a national and even international audience. Since then, countries and companies across the world have incorporated Cyber Monday into their sale calendars and extended offers over the entire Thanksgiving weekend.
Purchases over Cyber Monday remain constant with some sectors outperforming others. According to Statista, the most popular purchases made in 2022 attributed to clothing and footwear (47%). Closely behind that was electrical items (45%), followed by toys (37%), health and beauty (32%), games, films and music (25%), alcohol, wines and spirits (18%) and confectionery and chocolates (17%).
Need help with your Black Friday marketing?
Whether you’re participating in Black Friday or Cyber Monday – or both – the key to making it a success is a digital marketing strategy and flawless website design. During this crucial promotional event, it’s important to ensure that you update your website, paid ads, online store and your social media channels to grab the attention of your market.
If you need any help with your Black Friday campaigns, why not get in touch with us today? We can help ensure you’re fit and ready to tackle this key shopping event, reach your target audience and even do all of the hard work for you.