Online retailers eagerly wait for two marketing events each and every year—Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These two important days provide an incredible opportunity for marketers to create some serious revenue. With Black Friday fast approaching, we will look at few important online marketing ideas that will enable you to profit from the biggest shopping event of the year by driving more traffic and sales to your website.
Black Friday falls on the day after Thanksgiving and marks the inception of holiday shopping season for shoppers. At this time, marketers indulge in heavy promotion of their products and services by offering attractive discounts and freebies to consumers.
Black Friday is actually a one day event, but the huge enthusiasm it generates from buyers stretched it to four days with the weekend ending on Cyber Monday. During these four days, products are offered at heavily discounted prices to lure consumers into spending more. Typically, different types of discounts are offered on each of the four days. For example, an online retailer of clothing may offer a 50 percent discount on the first day, buy two get one free on the next day, a 40 percent discount on the third day, and a 60 percent discount on all online purchases on Monday.
Retailers and online marketers seem to have no limits when it comes to choosing the type and extent of discounts they offer to entice consumers.
What Does Black Friday Actually Mean?
The name may suggest that Black Friday was started by sellers, but the fact is that this event was started by consumers themselves. It all started in Philadelphia, which always witnessed high shopping traffic after Thanksgiving. The term Black Friday was coined first in 1961 and is now generally associated with an event that allows shopkeepers to move from red to black while cashing in on buyers’ sentiments.
Important Black Friday Marketing Ideas
Experts believe that hourly deals work best for sellers on Black Friday. By offering hourly deals, sellers are able to keep buyers in a sense of suspense for what deals might come next and what deals might appear as the day moves on. However, do not forget to offer attractive discounts on all items throughout the day in addition to special hourly deals. For example, if you are offering a 30 percent discount on Nike shoes throughout the day, then maybe you could offer a 40 percent discount, or more, as the ‘Deal of the Hour’.
Online, it is important to create a homepage banner for the ‘Deal of the Hour’ and make sure that it is evident and clear what the deal is and how customers can get it. Also, your ‘Deal of the Hour’ should be backed by publicity on all social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Since you will be extremely busy on the day of the event, it is recommended that you make use of social media tools like Buffer to automate your social media posts. This will also be a great way to increase brand awareness and exposure.
Additionally, the heavy rush of shoppers on Black Friday requires an entire team to carry out many of the tasks like updating social media posts, answering buyers’ questions, administrative work, and much more. Assemble a team beforehand to make sure that you take full advantage of Black Friday sales.
Free Black Friday Gifts are Welcomed
Offering a free gift on Black Friday will more than likely drive shoppers to your store. For example, you can offer a free gift worth $10 for all purchases above $50. And, of course, it is important to properly publicize free gifts on your website’s homepage to let more and more people know about it and entice them to shop your store.
If you are into selling items for women, offering a bracelet or a pair of earrings as a free gift could be a good idea. If dealing with men’s fashion, you can offer tie pins as gifts. If you are in the business of makeup products, you can offer a makeup brush as a gift to your customers along with the rest of their purchase.
The good thing is that you can automate the entire gift giving process by using a Shopify app like Free Gifts by Secomapp. Using this app, which comes with a 14 day free trial, you can set the gift you offer when a minimum purchase threshold is crossed.
Extend Your Black Friday Sale
The shopping frenzy that Black Friday generates prompts a large number of sellers to extend the sale to cash in on the festive seasonal shopping. Black Friday was a single day event, but the tremendous pace and growth of e-commerce gave birth to Cyber Monday. It is, however, important to remember that Cyber Monday is only for online sellers.
By extending your sale, you tend to book a higher profit by enticing more consumers to buy from you. However, the prime focus should be on Black Friday as it is the most important day for drawing buyer’s attention. What you can do, and should probably do, is concentrate more on your best selling items on Black Friday and offer themed promotions on the remaining three days.
Cash in on the Popularity of E-mail Marketing
You can conduct your e-mail marketing campaign in two ways. First and foremost, if you have an email list, ensure to get in touch with all your customers and offer them special discounts on Black Friday. Since they are your old customers, there is a high probability that they will not hesitate in buying from you again. If they’ve bought within the past month, then there is a high chance that your shop will still be on their mind. Do not forget to include these people.
Secondly, if you do not have an email list, then you better get started working on one and try to build an e-mail list before the big day. A good idea is to mention specific deals you have on a particular day in the emails you send. This will pique your customer’s curiosity and they will keep checking back online to see if other goods have popped up. Also, ensure that products you mention in your e-mails are linked to the product online so that the buyer can click on it and go directly to the product pages to make the purchase.
Additionally, ensure that the e-mail subject line is innovative enough to raise the person’s desire or interest to buy. For example, 50 percent discount today only on your favorite perfume!
Keep Your Store Looking Fresh with New Products
It is a known fact that shoppers really like checking out new products. Do not forget to add new products a few days prior to Black Friday so that your store looks packed with fresh arrivals. This, apart from enticing new buyers, also makes your old customers feel that there is something new for them to look at.
The other option is to add new products specifically on Black Friday to boost your sales on that particular day. A very good idea is to label your Black Friday special products with images that read ‘Black Friday Exclusive’. This creates a sense of urgency among buyers who will rush to buy the products sensing that it may not be available for sale the next day.
Build Curiosity by Offering a Sneak Peak
Another good idea to boost your Black Friday sales is to create a GIF or video of all the items that you are planning to sell on the big day. This will help build anticipation and people will be eagerly waiting for the discounts that you will be offering on Black Friday. Do not worry about the complexity or the cost of making the video since you can shoot them with your own mobile phone.
Be sure to upload these videos on your social media accounts as well. By giving people a preview on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc, you can create a certain level of engagement with your potential and present customers before the big day arrives.
Spend a Bit More on Promoting Your Items
It is natural for sellers to spend a bit more than usual leading up to Black Friday. It is always a good idea to promote your products a week or two before Black Friday sales. This will allow you to properly gauge your audience’s reaction and allow you to make certain changes if required.
Do not shy away from spending a little more on pay-per-click advertising or Facebook Ads during this period as your ads will enhance your visibility and subsequently your sales and profit on Black Friday. People are more likely to buy from you if they are offered the right product at the right price and at the right time.
Mail a Holiday Card to Increase Your Sales
It is a misconception that online products cannot be sold offline. Advertising around the holiday season naturally gets more expensive, which can create additional strain on your pocket. A good idea under such circumstances is to send a holiday card to previous customers. These types of cards create a personal touch with your customers who are happy that you still remember them. The card can contain special greetings along with special discount offers for them during the holiday shopping frenzy.
We hope you found some great tips in this article to help you out during the busy holiday buying season. At the end of the day, make sure that you are ready to handle the expected influx of traffic and buyers to your website. Good luck!
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