We all love an extra sales boost right at the end of the year, which is why I love to take advantage of Black Friday sales strategies, even as an online coach. So, today, I’m sharing my Black Friday Marketing Strategies, and I will also give you a step-by-step plan to implement them.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and one of the biggest shopping days of the year. In recent years, online retailers and e-commerce companies have used this time to generate large sales in a short time.
It’s not enough to send an email or two with a discount promotion if you expect big results. That’s why I’m sharing my most commonly asked questions and my step-by-step Black Friday marketing strategies.
What Is the Best Black Friday Marketing Strategy?
Black Friday is a different kind of marketing strategy because it’s a well-renowned “holiday”. Everyone is expecting a sale, they’re ready to shop, and in most cases, they’ve been waiting all year for this.
Here are 3 of my Best Black Friday Marketing Strategies
1. Extend Your Sale From Black Friday Until Cyber Monday
Don’t simply set up a one-day Black Friday promotion. Instead, you want to run a full launch sequence from Black Friday into Cyber Monday.
A full launch sequence allows you to open the cart and encourage immediate sales on Black Friday. Throughout the weekend, you’ll continue sweetening the deal for those who didn’t purchase right away. Finally, you can send “end of sale” and “final offer” messaging on Cyber Monday.
This strategy gives you more opportunities to close sales than if you focused solely on Black Friday.
2. Increase Your Average Order Value
Black Friday offers a chance to bundle several of your products or services together. The goal is to increase the your average order value.
You can also offer upsells to customers. Make sure to add one-time offers to customers after they make their primary purchase. Upselling and cross-selling into additional products will help you increase the profits from your Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotion efforts.
3. Simplify the Buying Process
Use the features inside most online shopping carts to help customers checkout without any hassles. For example, you can use PayPal, Shopify Pay, or Android Pay to offer one-click purchase features to customers.
Or, you might use dynamic checkout buttons to help repeat buyers make their purchases without adding their personal information again.
What Marketing Strategies Will Help You Stand Out on Black Friday?
As this is the busiest sales weekend of the year, your clients are going to be hammered with promotions and deals. How do you stand out amongst all the noise?
7 Ways to Stand Out Against Your Competitors
1. Add a Countdown Timer to Encourage Fast Action
Most people need visual representation that show them that they only have a limited amount of time to decide. Use the countdown timer included in most landing page software.
Make sure your emails and sales pages include messaging that gets the sale. For example, saying “For the next 24 hours…” will typically convert better than “Consider this product for a gift.”
Share written and video customer testimonials. Social proof will help prospects see what they’re missing out on.
3. Initiate a Referral Program During Black Friday Promotions
Give your most excited customers a tangible reason to refer their friends and family by revealing a new referral program.
4. Give Back
Which causes do you believe in? Donate a percentage of all Black Friday proceeds to one of those charities. Online shoppers love benefiting others while buying products they love.
5. Offer a VIP Discount Code
Give extra VIP discounts when packaging popular products together. This effective tactic helps increase average order value because you’re encouraging online shoppers to buy your VIP package that costs the most.
6. Team Up with Other Small Businesses
Partnerships offer excellent opportunities to get in front of audiences other business owners have already built. For instance, you can cross-promote with an insurance agency if you’re an accountant offering Black Friday special deals.
7. Schedule Your Popups
Make sure the website popups that advertise your Black Friday special discounts appear at the correct time. You can use services like OptinMonster to schedule a start and end for your popup campaign.
What is the Best Email Marketing Strategy for Black Friday?
An email marketing campaign is one of the best ways to convert sales during the Black Friday holiday deals sales cycle. It also reins as the #1 marketing strategy for online coaches, (even above social media). However, the success lies in the strategy.
5 Ways to Elevate Your Email Marketing for Black Friday
1. Build Your Black Friday Email List
Start generating interest in the Black Friday sale now. Use popups and other opt-in opportunities to related blog posts and your homepage that ask your visitors to get on the waiting list for what’s coming on Black Friday.
2. Clean Your Email List
Use a list re-engagement email campaign to discover which email subscribers aren’t paying attention anymore. Delete them from your list before Black Friday to improve your open rates and click-through rates during the promotion.
3. Segment Your List
Email your current list and get the most loyal customers to join the waiting list. Building out a segmented list of people who can’t wait for your Black Friday deals will spur early sales.
4. Make Your Subject Line Stand Out
You can’t make sales to email subscribers who don’t open the emails. Your competitors are also sending Black Friday deals, and you must stand out.
Customize these email subject line marketing ideas:
- Save up to 80% tomorrow on Black Friday
- 25% storewide Black Friday specials now!
- It starts NOW: 55% off for Black Friday ONLY
5. Use SMS Too
Don’t miss out on SMS text messaging when running a Black Friday sale. You’ll capture many potential customers who failed to open marketing emails by sending them a promo text.
Many SMS marketing tools exist.
Here are three tools to get you started:
What are the Best Social Media Marketing Strategies for Black Friday?
Social media is another platform that can help you sell out your coaching programs and products over Black Friday. As we’ve said before, there’s going to be a lot of noise over this holiday weekend, so I have some specific strategies on how to stand out to your clients.
Here are 5 Black Friday Marketing Strategies for Social Media Posts
Get all the images ready ahead of time so that your social media channels pop with Black Friday sales and promotion imagery. Pin a Facebook post or tweet at the top of feeds that announce the sale’s start.
Update call-to-action buttons and bios to link to your specific Black Friday landing pages. Then also update your cover photos to represent the sale on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Related: How to Get Coaching Clients from Social Media
Use hashtags like #blackfridaysale or #cybermondaydeals. Combine those ideas with your specific industry to show up for relevant social media searches.
Post videos or gifs that reveal that something big is coming on Black Friday. Build the anticipation for the promotion ahead of time. Make sure these teasers encourage fans and followers to sign up on the email waiting list.
4. Use Instagram Stories & Reels
Use the Stories and Reels features on Instagram to generate traffic to your Black Friday sale. Combine a countdown sticker with a Reel or Story to create the sense of urgency required to generate sales. Use these IG features for sneak peeks into post-purchase benefits.
There’s only so much your organic efforts can produce. Put some money into paid ads throughout the four days spanning from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.
How Should I Advertise on Black Friday?
More companies start marketing campaigns during the holiday season. The extra bids typically drive ad costs higher, so you want to be prepared for this change in the ad market.
One way to combat this is building remarketing audiences by launching Facebook or Google ads early. You’ll save money by running Black Friday ads to your owned remarketing audiences or using lookalike audiences.
Some business owners try to launch Black Friday sales with a $100 Facebook budget. This budget is a good start but expect to pay a little more for optimal revenue results.
Your Step-by-Step Black Friday Marketing Strategy Calendar Plan
Wouldn’t you love to have a calendar plan to use for your Black Friday promotion? That’s exactly what you’ll find below!
1. Week of Nov 7th
Start promoting early by sending a survey via email. Find out the most current needs of your audience to help you customize promotion materials.
Create a social media poll, or an Ask Me Anything opportunity during this week. The poll expands beyond the email survey and reaches social media fans.
The Ask Me Anything webinar helps you create engagement. Answer all the questions and weave in little tidbits about how your Black Friday specials will help solve any problems brought up during the “Live” sessions.
2. Week of Nov 14th
Make sure everything works during this week:
- Create a landing page
- Test your website, purchase flow, and fulfillment process
- Segment your list with a promotional email
- Create the sub list of active subscribers to use upon launch
3. Week of Nov 21st
Start generating interest in the Black Friday sale by sending two early emails:
- A coming soon email
- A gratitude email
Then, you’ll send out the first Black Friday offer email on Friday.
Send out one Black Friday offer text to the SMS list.
Don’t forget to switch all your social media platforms to the Black Friday versions and post your first announcement posts.
There you have it, my Black Friday Marketing Strategies (Plus FREE Step-by-Step Plan!).
Are you excited about increasing online sales with a Black Friday holiday sale?
Combined with my 4 Step Marketing System to Get Coaching Clients, you should now be able to dominate all competitors during the next Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend!