Black Friday is the most popular shopping day in the United States, with more than 74 million people taking part in 2018. For many businesses, Black Friday sales can account for 20 to 40 percent of annual revenue.
Black Friday sales have historically been a huge opportunity for brick-and-mortar stores, but more and more online retailers are offering deals on this high-traffic shopping day. How do you craft an effective Black Friday campaign for your business? Here are my top tips:
Black Friday is the most popular shopping day in the United States, with more than 74 million people taking part in 2018.
Black Friday is the first day of the Christmas shopping season, and it’s also a major shopping day in America. in 2018, more than 74 million people took part in Black Friday sales — that’s a lot of consumers! It’s easy to see why; this is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. in fact, it has been estimated that nearly half of all online sales happen on Black Friday. With so many customers looking for deals from websites offering products at deep discounts — including clothing, electronics and toys — it’s no wonder that businesses want their own campaigns running smoothly on this big day.
For many businesses, Black Friday sales can account for 20 to 40 percent of annual revenue. Black Friday is a critical time for retailers. It’s the day when they make the most sales, and some businesses make 40% of their annual revenue this weekend. For many businesses, Black Friday sales can account for 20 to 40 percent of annual revenue.
Black Friday is often called the biggest shopping day of the year in America. This day has been around since the 1920s as an American tradition, but it really took off as an international phenomenon after World War II when returning servicemen had money to spend on consumer goods like electronics and appliances (even though these days we tend to spend more money on clothes than any other category). The name “Black Friday” was coined because retailers saw profits rising from $5 million annually in 1966 to almost $1 billion by 1982—that’s why many companies still consider it one of their busiest times of the year even though more shoppers now prefer online options over physical stores nowadays!
Black Friday sales have historically been a huge opportunity for brick-and-mortar stores, but more and more online retailers are offering deals on this high-traffic shopping day. Brick-and-mortar stores, physical have had a head start on the Black Friday sales, but more and more online retailers are catching up. With the growing popularity of e-commerce and the push to offer deals year-round, you can find some great Black Friday campaign ideas for your business. Here are 22 examples that show how you can use this high-traffic shopping day to increase your sales volumes (and maybe even earn some new customers).
Black Friday is a unique time for every business. It gives you the opportunity to celebrate the holidays, get ahead of your competition, and even make some money in the process. While most people think about Black Friday as being a day to save money on gifts or electronics, it can be so much more! Here are some examples of how other companies have used this holiday season to engage with their customers:
How Do You Craft a Successful Black Friday Campaign?
When you’re crafting a Black Friday campaign, it’s important to remember that the goal is to get people excited about your product or service. To do this, you must focus on multi-channel marketing and make sure your customers understand what they can expect from the sale.
A good way to create a sense of urgency around a Black Friday sale is by incorporating scarcity into your messaging. For example, if you have limited quantities of popular products or services available for purchase during this time frame, customers will feel as though they need to act quickly before they miss out on their chance to get deals on items they want.
in addition to using scarcity as part of your branding strategy during Black Friday promotions, consider using nostalgia as well—especially if there are any famous past sales associated with your brand (for example Apple’s “Back To School” event). Nostalgia evokes positive feelings among consumers and can help them remember why they love working with brands like yours in the first place!
Last but not least: don’t forget BOGO offers! By offering two products for one price (buy one item/get another free), retailers are able to entice shoppers into buying more than one item from their store at once – which increases overall sales volume significantly during these times of the year!
1. Focus On Multi-Channel Marketing
- It’s important to keep in mind that Black Friday is a global event, so you should be promoting your campaign across multiple channels.
- Your marketing strategy should include email, social media and other channels. You can use the landing page as a way to collect leads from customers who have shown an interest in your product or service by clicking on an ad or watching a video about it.
- Mobile-friendly sites are becoming increasingly important for eCommerce businesses because mobile users are growing at an incredible rate every year. If you’re not able to optimize your website for mobile devices, then it’s likely that visitors will be disappointed with the site’s performance when they try accessing it from their phones or tablets during Black Friday sales periods like Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving).
2. Create a Sense Of Urgency
- Offer customers a limited number of products and make them feel like they’re missing out if they don’t take advantage of this offer immediately.
- Use language that suggests time is running out and the deal is almost over, like “The last chance to get these items at this low price!”
- Give customers an expiration date for the promotion to increase the feeling that there’s less time to buy before it’s too late (e.g., “These deals expire at midnight tonight.”)
3. Use Nostalgia to Evoke Positive Feelings
Nostalgia is a powerful emotion; it can evoke positive feelings and create a sense of urgency or community, among other things.
- Use nostalgia to evoke positive feelings.
One of the best ways to invoke nostalgia in your audience is by using words like “old,” “vintage,” or even just mentioning the year when your product first launched (e.g., “this product has been around since 2013”). This will make them feel like they’re part of an exclusive group that has access to this special product—and that there won’t be any left for anyone else once it’s gone!
- Use nostalgia to create a sense of urgency.
Another way you can use nostalgia in your campaign is by incorporating elements from an old campaign into your new one (for example, if you have something from last year’s Black Friday sale). If it was popular and successful then, why not try again this time? You might be surprised at how well it works!
4. Offer a Limited Number of Deals on Popular Items with Limited Quantities
One of the best ways to make your Black Friday campaign stand out is by offering a limited number of deals on popular items in limited quantities. This strategy will help you generate interest in your site and products, while also providing customers with a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
However, it’s important for brands to experiment with different numbers of items and quantities before determining what works best for them. For example, some brands might want to offer one unique product that’s available only once (like Google’s Nexus 7 tablet), while others may prefer offering several similar products at once (such as Apple products).
5. Consider a Buy One, Get One Promotion (BOGO)
Another option is to offer a limited number of deals on popular items in limited quantities. You can create a sense of urgency by limiting the number available, or only offering them for a short period of time.
Let’s say you sell running shoes and want to promote an upcoming sale online. Consider offering 10% off any order placed between 11/22—11/24 (or whatever dates work best for your business). You could also create an online raffle or sweepstakes giveaway where entrants can win one free pair of sneakers if they make their purchase during the promotional window.
This approach works well because it allows you to focus on multi-channel marketing: using email marketing campaigns; paid advertising like Facebook ads; influencer outreach; social media engagement; etc., all at once! This makes it easier for you than having separate campaigns for each channel.
6. Give Customers the Chance to Win Big With a Raffle or Sweepstakes Giveaway
Giving customers the chance to win big with a raffle or sweepstakes giveaway is an excellent way to encourage repeat purchases. You can also use it as a way to grow your email list, which will be helpful later on when you’re trying to reach customers again in the future.
Here are some things to consider:
- Offer a prize that is valuable and desirable. If your business sells items like gardening products, for example, consider giving away something like a gardening tool set or other top-of-the-line merchandise that people will want for their homes (and might not otherwise buy). The more expensive the prize, the better!
- Give customers multiple chances to win. One of the best parts about running contests is that they’re easy—all you need is some sort of entry form that asks people some basic information about themselves so they can participate (like their name and email address). For example, if someone has already entered by providing their name and email address through an online store checkout form once before then there should be no reason why they wouldn’t enter again without having those same details filled out each time since both have already been recorded previously within the database system used by most eCommerce sites today.”
7. Be Clever with Your Black Friday Campaign Subject Lines
Go ahead, say something clever — no, really. When it comes to subject lines, you want to make sure that the subject line and the content of your email are both on point. If a customer clicks the link and sees that their expectations were not met, they will be disappointed and unlikely to open future emails from you.
This is why it’s important to use a subject line that will help drive engagement with your customers. When creating your Black Friday campaign, consider using something like: “The best Black Friday deals” or “What we’re most excited about this year.” These types of headlines can be easily customized for any type of business or industry, as well as include some kind of information that piques the reader’s interest while keeping it short enough to inspire them into opening up your email!
8. Show off Your Sense of Humor in Your Black Friday Campaigns
Humor can be used to make your campaign stand out, help you connect with your audience and create a memorable campaign. For example, in this campaign from the founder of The Tasty Chef, uses humor by pointing out what is really important during Black Friday: shopping!
9. Use On-Brand Colors in Your Black Friday Campaigns
Use your brand colors. Sporting the same color scheme on all your marketing materials is a great way to build recognition and trust with potential customers. Your Black Friday campaign is no different! While it’s important to consider the other aspects of color usage, such as contrast, brightness levels, and hierarchy of information within a page design – use your brand colors when possible.
10. Connect Holidays Through Your Black Friday Campaigns
Holidays are the perfect time to connect with your audience—whether they’re related to an event, or just a good excuse for you to have some fun.
Consider well-known holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, which can be used as great ways to connect with your audience. You could use Thanksgiving as an example when talking about family and what it means for you, or talk about how you’re celebrating Christmas this year. Then, you can use these personal stories as examples of how others should celebrate these holidays too!
11. Use Video To Create Excitement For Your Black Friday Campaigns
There are a lot of things that can help you stand out on Black Friday, but the most important thing to remember is that people will judge your business based on the content you create. So it’s important to think about what kind of message you want them to take away from your video and whether or not it aligns with how you want them to feel about your brand.
There are so many ways for a business to be successful during Black Friday, but it all starts with one simple strategy: making sure customers are drawn into the experience from start to finish. The best way for brands and businesses to do this is through video content creation.
Video marketing has grown by leaps and bounds over the last several years—and for good reason! People consume more media than ever before, so why not take advantage of this trend by creating videos that get their message across quickly?
12. Create Some Mystery With Countdown Timers in Your Black Friday Campaigns
Countdown timers are one of the best ways to keep your audience engaged with your campaign. They can be used in many different types of campaigns, from contests and giveaways to product launches and social media content. They make people feel like they’re part of something special, and it makes them want to be a part of it even more!
There are two things that make countdown timers so effective: mystery and urgency. These two elements go hand in hand with each other, creating an interesting story for customers that keeps them coming back for more information. You want to create some sort of mystery surrounding your brand or product—this will help build anticipation for whatever announcement you’re going to make when the timer hits zero.
You also want to give customers a sense of urgency about getting involved in this campaign—for example, if there’s only one left before supplies run out. This strategy should work well if everyone knows they won’t have another chance once time runs out on Black Friday (or Cyber Monday).
Once your timer reaches zero, you can use this opportunity as an introduction to what’s new or exciting about what’s coming up next year (or even later today!). You could announce a new product line or feature; introduce a new customer service representative; or share news about how many sales were made this past weekend (so far!).
13. Use Words And Phrases That Get People To Click On Your Black Friday Campaigns
There are many ways to create compelling Black Friday campaigns for your brand.
The first thing you should do is take a look at what your competitors are doing and see what works for them, then try to come up with something better.
It’s important not to copy their ideas but instead use them as inspiration for creating something unique that will work well for your campaign.
14. Make It Easy For Someone To Share Or Forward Your Black Friday Campaigns
The best way to get your content shared is by making it easy. If you want people to share or forward your campaign, make sure they can do it with a single click. Here are some ideas:
- Include social media buttons in the email itself and on the landing page. Social media buttons serve as shortcuts for people who want to share your content on their networks, so make sure these quick links are clearly visible wherever you place them in the email or landing page design.
- Use hashtags that match up with what people use when talking about Black Friday campaigns online (e.g., #blackfridaydeals). This will help ensure that search engines can find your content without needing a specific search query from users like “Black Friday deals.”
- If there’s something specific you want recipients of this email campaign to act upon (like forwarding it), include an actionable call-to-action (CTA) at the bottom such as “Forward this message” or “Share via Facebook.” This will make it easier for recipients who otherwise might have overlooked this request because they simply weren’t sure how they could comply with it!
15. Give It Away! With Free Stuff in Your Black Friday Campaigns
When it comes to Black Friday campaign ideas, you may be tempted to sell something. But a better idea is to give away something in exchange for your customers’ attention. Giving away free stuff can be a great way to increase traffic and boost sales on Black Friday. It also helps you build brand awareness and loyalty with your audience and create an emotional connection with them. When people feel connected, they are more likely to include you in their lives than if you just try selling them something right off the bat (which could actually just turn them off).
16. Show Off The Extras in Your Black Friday Campaigns
It’s important to show off the extras in your Black Friday campaigns. in other words, give people a reason to buy from you. You can do this by making it a good deal and showing off the benefits of buying from you.
For example, let’s say that you sell watches online at an e-commerce store. On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, instead of just discounting your entire watch collection by 50% (which isn’t very enticing), try offering free shipping or an extra battery for every watch purchased on those days only! That way, when someone comes across one of your ads or posts on Facebook or Instagram they’ll see all these awesome extras waiting for them if they buy now – which means they’re more likely to make a purchase right away because it’s a no-brainer decision!
17. Make It Easy For Shopper To Share Through Social Media in Your Black Friday Campaigns
If you want to make it easy for your shoppers to share their experiences with friends and family, then use social media buttons and provide a good reason for them to do so.
- Include a Call-to-Action Button: You should include a call-to-action button on all of the images in your campaign. This will help people know what action they need to take after viewing the message or image. For example, if you have an image of a sign that says “30% off” with no other information, then add an arrow pointing at the word “go” or something similar like “Click Here.” That way they know exactly where they should click once they are ready!
- Give Them A Reason To Share: Don’t just ask people to share without having any idea why they should do so (unless there’s some sort of reward involved). Make sure that every single post has one clear reason why someone would want to share it with others based on their personal preferences such as saving money etcetera
18. Use A Limited Quantity Incentive For Shopping With You This Holiday Season in Your Black Friday Campaigns
If you’re looking for a way to get people to shop with you this holiday season, try using limited-quantity incentives.
Limited quantity incentives are a great way to get people to buy something they might not otherwise buy, even if it’s in the same price range as something else that’s more commonly purchased. This can be especially useful when trying to sell products or services outside of your main market.
For example, let’s say that you have 10 different t-shirts available on your website and one of them has an image of a mustache on it (the other 9 do not). You would want to put this one shirt on sale during Black Friday at a discounted price because there is only 1 available compared with all the other options which have multiple units available for purchase.
19. Give a Sneak Peek at What’s to Come
A little bit of mystery is good for your Black Friday campaigns. It keeps the customer guessing and makes them want to buy something from you because they want to find out what it is. So, add something unexpected for the consumer and make it fun! Reveal something surprising with a peek of what’s to come in your Black Friday campaigns.
20. Be Creative, Different, And Memorable.
When it comes to campaigns, be creative. Different. Memorable.
To stand out from the crowd and create a campaign that people will want to share, use humor (unless your brand is super serious). Create an on-brand color palette or use a theme related to an upcoming holiday like Christmas or Valentine’s Day.
Campaigns that connect with consumers emotionally are more memorable than ones that don’t! Use video if you can—it creates excitement and makes people feel like they’re part of something special! If there’s one thing we learned from the holidays, it’s that mystery creates hype—so use countdown timers to keep your audience guessing until the big reveal!
15 Best Black Friday Promotion Ideas
Not every Black Friday campaign strategy will consider promotions and discounts. Promotion strategies and implementing them are a different story entirely, and it pays well to also think about how Black Friday campaigns and the usually promotion campaign ideas come together. The following are some of the most essential Black Friday promotion strategy ideas.
1. Discounts
The number one and most common promotion idea is discount. Sometimes the best sales promotion is the simplest. It is the most effective way that you can offer them in many different ways where the most common one is the reduction of the prices. They are highly popular among customers and get you huge sales numbers. The best limited or popup discounts can start from 10% to 60% and end with the best results for your sales.
2. Coupons
I know coupons sound exactly the same as discounts and it can be very misleading. Discounts give the public an easy and exciting access to shopping in a short period, but coupons are actually made for your regular clients. They make your customers feel important and special. Shopping with special coupons, for example, coupons for purchases above a certain amount, for the number of times purchased or for birthdays can create a sense of satisfaction and exclusivity in your customers.
3. Free Samples
You can provide free samples to your customers so that they can easily test the product before buying it. This is a very good and tempting offer to introduce your new products and services. This is the most popular promotion strategy among makeup companies like Mac or Sephora as they hand the customers free samples to test on themselves or have the help of their professional makeup artists.
4. Bundles
With making bundles, you will give your customers a great discount on several products. Bundles provide great value since you can promote a new product inside or act smart and put one of the least popular products among really interesting ones with one good discount.
5. Rebates
in this technique, a part of the purchase money is returned to the shopper by the company mostly for a certain quantity or a limited time. People usually mistake the rebates for something like discounts but it is commonly used to increase sales in one or several products that are similar to the ones that other companies sell. So rebates are used for larger scales and wider competition.
6. Cashback
It is one popular incentive because it gives customers a percentage of their purchase price back but in cash that they can use to spend at the same store. Cashbacks are both beneficial for the client and the business owner since it gives the sense of saving for the customer and does not give the stress of taking a risk for you. So customers consider this a reward and want to save it to buy more products from the same company. For example, the Kohl’s cash program gives 10 dollars for every 50 dollars a person spends at their store.
7. Free Shipping
Free shipping has become popular among online businesses in the last few years and is definitely growing fast. Occasions such as holidays or your brand anniversary will attract the attention of customers. This will boost your sales unit and can also increase revenue if you mix it with good discounts. One more benefit of free shipping is that your less popular or risky item is more likely to be purchased during this promotion.
8. Gift Cards
Launch gift card campaigns. in this situation, you should sell any of them because you want to seem generous and keep it as the act of giving. For your new customers you can give them the cheapest gift card, let’s say 10 dollars to encourage them to make their first purchase from you. And then maybe a 20-dollar card for your not so active customers so they want to re-engage. For your regulars, you can send gift cards on special occasions and events which creates a form of loyalty between you and your customers and increases the cash flow.
9. Sweepstakes
Sweepstake or sweeps is a marketing or consumer sales promotion that starts with offering a prize to the participants who are selected by chance. in this case you must avoid being classified as a lottery and present it as one great reward for your customers’ loyalty and trust.
10. Vouchers
in digital marketing, vouchers are a quick and simple way to have the special gift ready for your customers on various occasions. They are certificates or documents that let customers take products or services as an exchange. It is a great “thank you” for your big purchase or trust as your clients can redeem them for discounts or cheaper or even free products in the future. You can add value to your voucher by adding extra something.
11. Don’t Delay
When you use this statement, you are referring to the sales deadline. You must make the customer believe that if they miss this temporary discount, they will regret it 100% and also be deprived of the prizes or coupons intended for the participants. So basically this theory creates a fear of missing out for the customer.
12. BOGO
Stands for buy one get one. in this theory, your customer buys one item and then they will be offered a free one or a percentage off of it. Typically, the BOGO promotion is used to sell the same product in double. Although any business can set a different goal, maybe someone likes to use this promotion and sell a related product to the one that was already purchased. Again, all of this really depends on your vision.
13. Flash Sales
When you launch a sales promotion out of the blue, you create a shock and excitement for the customers. This popular theory provides an incentive for customers to purchase items quickly. You can use it as something that lasts for limited hours or maybe very limited items are available with a discount.
14. Donations and Charity
Being a business that cares about people and the environment and a business that makes charitable donations, helps you to gain high credits and your client’s trust. This makes them feel good about their purchases because they know it is for a good cause so they will keep supporting your business.
15. Winner Gets a Free Product or Gift Card
Create a contest. This is an exciting way to draw people’s attention to the new product and make them interested. With presenting a good prize, everybody wanna join in and this is the time that you will have the potential to go viral on social media platforms. This theory increases your popularity and gets you helpful insights.
Punch Up Your Black Friday Sales with the Right Tools
Black Friday can be a great opportunity for businesses, but it’s important to approach the event with a clear strategy. Consider all of your marketing channels and make sure that they’re aligned with each other in order to reach as many potential customers as possible. Also, remember that Black Friday is just one part of your overall holiday season marketing strategy—it shouldn’t be overwhelming! Take some time now so you’ll be ready when next year rolls around again. We hope these tips help you to create a Black Friday campaign that is creative, different, and memorable. With all of these Black Friday marketing ideas, a real all-in-one CRM and marketing solution like RunSensible is necessary. Start using RunSensible for free right now, or ask us for a clarifying demo.