{Marketing Tips} 5 Tips For a Successful Black Friday
It’s that time of year for bargain consumers of all kinds!
We’re less than two weeks away from the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, which historically has begun the day after Thanksgiving—known as Black Friday.
If you prepare your business for this season of shopping, you can make out like a bandit!
Here are 5 Tips For a Successful Black Friday.
- Determine the Goal/Objective. Why are you running this promotion? What do you want to accomplish? For example: Thank customers for their loyalty and service, but bring in some new business too.
- Planning. Decide on the “deal” you will be promoting. For example: From 6am-8am on November 25th, customers who purchase a $50 gift certificate, receive a $50 gift certificate for free. For the rest of the day, those who purchase a $50 gift certificate, receive a $25 gift certificate for free. (Note: a deal like this encourages the early-bird holiday shopper to shop you first – before they run out of money! AND still encourages the non-early bird shoppers to shop you the rest of the day.)
- Create your Marketing Materials. Put the “deal” on all of your marketing such as; site, flyers, ads, FB post, signage/posters, emails, etc. If your deal consists of a gift certificate (like the example above) make sure these are done and ready to go prior to Black Friday!
- Advertise the Event. A good rule of thumb is to start advertising two weeks leading up to the event. (Psst…write this down on your 2012 calendar so you’re prepared for next year’s Black Friday event!)
Here’s a few ways to advertise/get the word out lickity split:
-Post the special on your Facebook page. Tip: Post the special several days – along with the countdown…5 days before, 3 days before, 1 day before, the day of.
-Send out an e-blast/email to your customer list.-Place an ad on your website or write a blog post about it.
-Talk, talk, talk. This will generate WOM (word of mouth) from you/your staff to your current customers.
-Place the special at the bottom of your email signature.
-Post a sign/poster on your front door, at the receptionist desk or cash register, and various spots throughout your location. Need an inexpensive sign for your Black Friday promotion NOW? Step by step instructions can be found here.
- Track. Make sure to track and keep things ‘fair’…if 8am is your cut-off time, make sure you cut it off promptly at 8am! If you have a line, place a Santa hat (or some other marker) on the last person in line to indicate the last person to receive the Black Friday ‘early bird’ special. At the end of the day, take notes on how successful your Black Friday promotion was (and areas that could use some improving)…in order to make your Black Friday promotion an even bigger HOME RUN in 2012!
A Special (FREE) Gift from Your Marketing BFF.
I wanted to help you get a jump start on your Black Friday promoting and say “thank you” for following my blog…The image at the top of this post ‘Keep Calm and shop us on Black Friday’ was created just for YOU!
Simply email: tana@yourmarketingbff.com with the words Black Friday in the subject line and I’ll send this jpeg image to you! (Perfect to insert in your emails, as an image for your blog post, ad or FB wall posting!)
Happy Marketing!
