Introduction
Black Friday is upon us- when everyone and their mother rushes to the store to buy their Christmas gifts at a discount. Whether you’re in retail or not, Black Friday will impact your business, so we’ve rounded up some tips that will help you stand out from the crowd and beat your competition!
Start your Black Friday marketing campaign early.
Black Friday is a busy time of year, and you want to ensure your marketing campaign is ready. Starting early will give you more time to plan and execute your strategy, so make sure this year’s Black Friday campaign starts earlier than last year’s!
Start with an audit of where things went wrong last year. Was there a pricing issue? Did competitors offer better deals? It’s important not only to look at what happened during Black Friday itself but also how it affected the rest of their business throughout the rest of the year–you never know when another retailer might try something similar next month or next season! After conducting an audit like this one, don’t hesitate to take action now by updating any outdated web pages with new content about special deals coming soon (and making sure those pages rank well through SEO).
Focus on the benefits of your product or service, not just features.
When marketing your product or service, focus on the benefits, not the features. Benefits are what people want; features are what they need.
Benefits:
- Faster results
- More accurate predictions
- More cost-effective solutions
Features:
- Faster processing times
Use social media to build anticipation for Black Friday and engage your community.
Social media is a great way to build anticipation for Black Friday and engage your community. You can use social media to:
- Build anticipation for Black Friday by creating Facebook ads targeting people who have already liked your page but have not bought anything from you yet. This will help generate traffic to your website, where they’ll see links to purchase items at a discounted price. The more people who visit the site before the sale begins, the better chance of converting them into customers!
- Engage with current customers by responding quickly when they ask questions or leave comments on posts related to Black Friday (or any other time of year). Responding quickly helps build trust between buyer and seller because it shows that there’s no hiding behind an automated response–customers know they’re dealing directly with real humans who care about their satisfaction as buyers/consumers alike!
- Build brand loyalty through social media interactions such as these; once someone feels like a “part” of something, then chances are good that person will stick around longer than expected because he/ they wants his/her voice heard, too!
Think about how you can provide an experience that cannot be replicated online.
- Think about how you can provide an experience that cannot be replicated online.
- Consider offering products that cannot be bought online, or at least not easily and cheaply. If you are a small business, this could be as simple as providing a physical experience where customers can touch, feel, and try products. For example, if you sell lingerie or shoes in your store, then bring those items out on display for people to try on and see in person before buying them. You can even offer free styling advice from one of your sales associates if they’re interested in making sure their purchase looks good on them!
- Provide customer service that is personal and relevant to your customer’s needs (and remember non-traditional channels like social media). Your goal should always be creating long-term relationships with customers instead of just getting them through checkout quickly so they’ll return again next time- and who knows? Those old friends may bring along some new ones, too!
Offer a multi-channel shopping experience for your customers.
If you’re not offering a multi-channel shopping experience, you’re missing out on customers.
- Mobile-friendly website: A mobile-optimized website is essential in today’s world. It allows your customers to shop from their phones and tablets, which is especially important since more people are buying on their phones than ever before.
- Mobile app: People are also using apps to buy products, especially younger generations who have grown up with technology at their fingertips. If your business still needs to get one or it isn’t optimized for mobile usage (e.g., if it takes too long for pages to load), now is as good a time as any!
- Social media presence: Social media channels like Facebook and Instagram allow businesses of all sizes to connect directly with their target audiences in real-time–and those connections can lead directly back into sales conversions down the line when done correctly!
Get creative with customer engagement and loyalty programs.
Customer engagement and loyalty programs are a great way to excite your customers about your brand. These programs can be used at any time of year, but they’re especially effective during Black Friday sales because they build excitement around the holiday shopping season.
You can use customer engagement and loyalty programs in several ways:
- Give away free samples or coupons for first-time customers. This will encourage people who have yet to become familiar with your business to try out your products or services, which helps build awareness among new audiences–and it also gets them accustomed to interacting with you! This can also be helpful if there’s one particular product that people have been asking about but has yet to be released (like an upcoming book release). You could offer these items as part of a special promotion during Black Friday week so that everyone who wants access has an opportunity before they sell out completely.* Create urgency by limiting the number of items available per person/household during certain times each day.* Offer exclusive discounts only available through social media platforms like Facebook Messenger or Twitter DMs.* For example: “Buy one pair of shoes today & get 20% off!”
Optimize your website for mobile shoppers so they can find what they need quickly and easily.
- Use responsive design. When it comes to mobile-friendly shopping carts, your website should be easy to navigate and understand.
- Make sure your website is fast. This can be especially important if you’re selling products that have a short shelf life–like fresh produce or seasonal items–or items that need to be ordered in bulk, like party supplies or holiday decorations.
- Make sure your website is secure (and only accept credit cards). You don’t want any surprises on Black Friday morning when one of those last-minute shoppers tries to pay for something with their debit card!
- Offer a mobile app for customers who prefer this option over using their phone’s browser (especially useful if they need help navigating through the checkout process).
Be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to Black Friday, and you’ll beat your competition every time!
- Be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to Black Friday; you’ll beat your competition every time!
- Use social media to build anticipation: Social media is a great way to build excitement for your Black Friday campaign. Create a Facebook page, post teaser images on Instagram and Twitter, and share videos on YouTube; whatever you do, ensure you’re getting the word out early.
- Offer a multi-channel shopping experience: Don’t assume that customers will come directly to your website or store during this time; they may prefer using apps like Amazon or eBay. Make sure that whatever channel they choose works seamlessly with all others by creating one unified experience where products can be bought from any device at any time throughout the year (not just during holidays).
- Get creative with customer engagement programs: It only matters how much money or resources you have available if they are used effectively! If done correctly, these programs can help increase customer loyalty, which leads directly into increased sales numbers down the road–and those profits will help offset costs associated with running promotions like Black Friday deals.”