Last year, despite concerns about inflation and multiple industry-wide layoffs, Black Friday shoppers still spent a record $9.8 billion in online sales in the US. Though Black Friday stereotypes focus on big-box stores like Target or Walmart, the reality is that all businesses can benefit from strategic campaigns.
On this one shopping-centered holiday, consumers actively look for deals on everything from makeup palettes to new stoves. And, with one study finding that 70% of consumers go into the holiday season unsure of what brand to purchase from, there’s plenty of opportunity to increase sales and acquire new customers with Black Friday marketing.
In this post, we’re going to discuss how to create a Black Friday marketing strategy for businesses of all sizes, including tips for multiple different marketing platforms and 10 examples of social media strategies that can work for you.
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are the Friday, Saturday, and Monday following U.S. Thanksgiving. Each presents significant sales opportunities.
Some businesses wonder which event to choose from, but the answer for most businesses is to choose them all.
Knowing your audience and their buying habits is the first step. Determine when they’ll be shopping and what you need to do to earn their business. If you’re trying to sell large TVs on Black Friday and major retailers are offering them for less than your price, you should prioritize Small Business Saturday. But, if you can maintain competitive pricing and keep up with the ad costs and campaign demands, Black Friday can still pay off.
When should you start planning your marketing, sales, and product efforts for Black Friday? As soon as possible!
With the massive power Black Friday holds in terms of potential sales and new customer acquisition, you can’t afford to leave this one until the last minute. Black Friday kicks off the busiest shopping season of the year, so it’s one you’ll want to think about early.
Planning early allows you to:
Many businesses start to plan their Black Friday campaigns in the summer. This includes choosing promotions, creating a Black Friday marketing strategy, and connecting with any external vendors or influencers.
When possible, it’s best to have most of your Black Friday campaigns locked in and at least partially created by early October. Some consumers start researching their Holiday purchases in late October, so you’ll want to start advertising Black Friday promotions — or be ready to do so — by then.
Want to stay on top of all the important days? Check out every social media holiday you need to know.
Your Black Friday marketing campaign should include multiple different channels. Let’s look at the most impactful options for this promotion-driven and sales-heavy holiday.
Email marketing campaigns are your first line of defense for Black Friday promos. Your reach might be shorter than, say, a display ad campaign, but you’ll be reaching a more engaged audience. Since your email list has already opted in to your brand communication, they’re already warm and more likely to care about your promos.
For best results on Black Friday email marketing, consider the following:
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are a great way to increase visibility and reach fast, though they do require financial investment. Advertisers often pay per click or per thousand views (CPM), with costs varying significantly depending on the platform of choice and your target audience.
Google’s Search and Shopping Ads allow you to capture demand using keywords to show up in relevant searches. You can create campaigns targeting keywords like “Black Friday deal for women’s shoes,” using Google Ad Assets to add pricing or promotional information to the ad copy.
Social media ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest allow you to create demand. Use promotional deals to attract new customers using interest-based or demographic targeting. Some campaigns may be targeted towards the product or service end user, while others may be marketed towards those who will give the product or service as a gift.
An important consideration to note: All the PPC platforms discussed here operate on auction-based marketplace. It’s pay to play, and as more competition enters the market, ad costs can go up. Historically, ad costs increase significantly around Black Friday and associated holidays as more advertisers invest more and bid higher. Be prepared for this, expecting your CPC and daily ad spend to increase if you want to stay competitive.
Social media is another major platform that businesses should focus on when it comes to Black Friday marketing. Organic social media marketing is free to post, can keep your followers updated about upcoming promotions, and can help expand your reach. You don’t have to stick to simple image promos — with all the formats available across social channels there are multiple creative ways to slide your Black Friday marketing messages into your organic posts.
We’ll look at some specific social media strategies to leverage for Black Friday 2024 below.
One mistake many businesses make is keeping their Black Friday campaigns isolated to a single channel. Don’t keep you Black Friday marketing in a bubble! Instead, you want to create a multi-touch funnel that will continually re-engage potential customers leading up to and on the day of Black Friday.
Here’s an example of a potential customer journey:
Consider how you’ll reach new and existing customers alike, and how you’ll consistently engage them during their buying process.
Before you jump headlong into planning your Black Friday marketing strategy, Tim Cameron Kitchen, author and CEO of Exposure Ninja, advises taking some time to determine your goals. For example, do you want to:
Be clear about what you want your campaign to achieve, then build your campaign around these goals.
Georgia Watson, senior paid media executive from Media Works, recommends an analytical approach to your campaigns. For instance:
Once you’ve collected all the data, write a report so that all your data is conveniently compiled in one document. Then, use your report to plan an even better campaign next year.
Slow website load times test people’s patience, meaning they’re less likely to hang around long enough to make a sale. Research examining data from 10 million visits to Renault’s website found that slower load times led to significantly lower conversion rates. So make sure your website is fast and reliable at the start of your campaign to give visitors the best experience when shopping for Black Friday deals.
Throwing up a new page just before the Black Friday holiday period isn’t a good idea if you want it to rank on search engines. A better strategy is to keep a Black Friday page updated throughout the year.
A 2022 survey revealed that shoppers preferred Black Friday sales to start between a week and a few days before Thanksgiving. So it pays to have a regular Black Friday page, like electrical retailer Currys:
Notice how they encourage visitors to sign up so they can hear about the Black Friday offers first.
In addition to your landing pages, if you already have ranking content like a list or comparison post, you can modify it to highlight your Black Friday sale. For example, say you have a list of “Top Holiday Gifts 2023” that ranks well — you could update it to “Top Holiday Gifts 2024” and refresh the content with some of your current Black Friday Deals.
Note: this only works if your existing page URL is dateless, e.g., www.example.com/top-holiday-gifts instead of www.example.com/top-holiday-gifts-2024
Or, if you have a non-Black Friday comparison article that’s already ranking, you could update the pricing section to show how your Black Friday special deals are better than your competitors.
Another option is to use your best-performing pages and guide visitors to your Black Friday offers. For example, you could have a popup or banner that makes visitors aware of your upcoming Black Friday sale with a button to tap that takes them to your landing page. From there, you can introduce your offers and ask them to sign up for reminders.
With more people shopping online, you need to make the most of every available channel, including social media.
Social commerce lets you sell your products directly through social media networks. Rather than redirecting users to an online store, you’re enabling customers to checkout on the social platform, which reduces friction.
From Instagram shoppable posts to Facebook product tags, Pinterest rich pins, YouTube cards, and TikTok shoppable ads, it’s never been easier or more efficient to sell on social media.
Focus on building your email list and social media follower counts before the shopping rush begins. Not only will it be helpful for your Black Friday campaign, but it’ll be a valuable asset for other holiday marketing campaigns and the rest of the year, too.
While it's important to build a multi-channel Black Friday strategy, email will probably be your most valuable marketing asset as it gives you a direct and personal channel to reach your audience. In the months leading up to Black Friday, focus on building your email list so your promos have more reach. Here's a few tactics to build your email list:
Prompt online shoppers to sign up for your email list by offering an extra discount. For example: “Take an extra 10% off any sale price when you join our mailing list.”
Encourage your social media followers to sign up for your email list via a link to subscribe in your bio. Promise them early access to deals and exclusive deals, or you could use other lead magnets such as a voucher, free trial, or sample.
Use your existing email list to create a Facebook Lookalike Audience that resembles your existing customer base. Then, when creating Facebook ad campaigns for Black Friday, you can target this audience, knowing they’re more likely to be interested in your products or services.
Now that you've prepared your website and strengthened your potential reach, it's time to decide the types of promotional tactics you'll use on Black Friday. We're going to cover 10 strategies and tactics you can use in the next section. These can be used separately on individual channels, or they can be used in combination to back a more robust Black Friday marketing strategy.
Let’s look at 10 different Black Friday tactics, most of which involve completely free and organic marketing strategies and all of which are small business friendly.
Influencers are one of the best ways to reach new audience members quickly. They’ve got the trust and respect of their followers. Even micro-influencers with around 10,000 followers can have a huge sway over their followers’ buying decisions.
Find influencers that meet the following criteria:For best results, have influencers promote your product in the weeks leading up to Black Friday. Ideally, provide specific recommendations for the types of content you want created, including any key talking points and promotional details you want discussed. That may include asking them to promote a specific product, or to create their own gift guides like you can see here:
When it comes to Black Friday, everyone has deals on their mind. B2B and B2C brands alike should focus on conversion actions that result in immediate sales or sign-ups.
Strong conversions to prioritize on Black Friday include:In the example below, Hand and Stone promoted a Black Friday deal for free services with gift card purchases. This had the potential to increase sales volume significantly by incentivizing members to purchase gift cards for others.
B2B brand tip: This is not the best time to push demo sign-ups. People who purchase on Black Friday want to make a purchasing decision now, so free trials and discounted offerings are the way to go.
You can create a sense of urgency and build up to the annual shopping frenzy with countdown timers, limited quantities, and surprise discounts across all your marketing channels.
71% of customers prefer different channels depending on the context, whether browsing, seeking advice, or making purchases.
Using timers or limited quantities encourages customers to make an immediate decision. Shoppers like to hunt around for the best price and compare products before deciding. But if you include a countdown timer or list the quantities of items left, shoppers know they need to hurry and buy now before the sale ends or stock runs out.
Source: Walmart
You can also use the element of surprise in your marketing. For example, you could send your email subscribers a unique, random-generated gift code. Shoppers enter the code at the checkout to see what discount they get. Here’s what Death Wish Coffee did in 2019:
Source: Death Wish Coffee
It’s a great way of building surprise and intrigue as shoppers have to wait until the final moment to see their discount.
Most ad platforms have a lookalike audience feature. This allows you to create a target audience based off your existing website visitors, user lists, or even email subscribers and then reach users similar to that audience with ad campaigns.
Create lookalike audiences based on your most high-value audience segments. These are users who may have higher than average purchase values, or who retain longer, so your odds of generating high-value sales on Black Friday go up!
Learn more about Facebook’s lookalike audiences to get started.
Social proof can include user-generated content (UGC), awards, or even customer reviews — and it can be an incredibly powerful selling tool. When users see that other people love your brand and products, they’ll be more willing to spend the money themselves.
For this reason, social proof and Black Friday sales go hand-in-hand. You can build trust and offer a discount at the same time, going a long way to increase your sales.
You can see a great example below from Prose:
When people add items to their carts and then neglect to purchase, follow-up with re-engagement campaigns. This is true year-round, but make sure you go hard with Black Friday promotions to try to turn those abandoned carts into converted customers.
Start with email campaigns leading up to Black Friday, letting customers know about updated pricing.
It’s also a good idea to run retargeting campaigns through platforms like Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads to capture their attention on prime sales days. Again— feature that discount front and center.
Want to increase your average order value? Gift guides are a fantastic marketing option on Black Friday for this exact reason.
You can highlight products at different price points or for different use cases. The idea is to appeal to different users, showcasing multiple products quickly. Ideally, customers will want to purchase multiple products — think a main gift and a stocking stuffer or two.
You can see a fantastic example of a holiday gift guide here:
Source: REI on Instagram
For best impact, don’t forget to mention Black Friday promotions on the gifts you’re marketing.
Source: Target on X (Twitter)
You don’t have to keep all your products on offer the entire Black Friday weekend. Try introducing special deals at different times to encourage people to visit your store more frequently.
Source: Kohls on Facebook
Customers who discover your products or services on social media may leave comments or send private messages there. We’ve seen customers ask clarifying questions like whether chocolates are gluten free or if custom orders are available, and a prompt and thorough answer can absolutely impact whether or not they make a purchase.
Here are our best suggestions:
Black Friday isn’t right for everyone, and our last social media marketing Black Friday tip honors that.
Don’t want to do Black Friday? At the end of the day, you don’t have to.
REI has famously created their #optoutside campaign, where they note that all stores are closed and they don’t run any discounts. It’s a statement against consumerism, which ailgns with their brand and resonates with their audience.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in a Black Friday discount frenzy. But above all else, your brand should focus on providing value and a good customer experience.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Choose a few of these tips and get them right rather than trying all of them at once.
And lastly, make sure you plan your campaign in advance to make this Black Friday your most successful ever. Create your campaigns early and getting them ready to go with social media scheduling software like Loomly. You can review and approve posts long in advance so the only thing you need to worry about is being ready to respond to any potential questions your customers have.
Start your 15-day free trial now so you're ready to start scheduling Black Friday content when November rolls around.