Your Black Friday Check List

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have grown over the last few years with many retailers offering promotions in store and online for the full week. More and more customers are using this opportunity to get their Christmas shopping out of the way, so whether you are a bricks and mortar or ecommerce store… you should be jumping on the hype train!

Your preparations should be well under way by now and we’ve put together a check list to make sure you are on the right track! Your marketing efforts in the lead up are just as important as the discount itself… you can’t have a banging offer and no one showing up!

1. Figure out your offering… and start early!

Customers are starting to research Black Friday as early as October so you want to make sure you have all your marketing collateral and strategy ready to go, so that you have a smooth campaign in the lead up.

2. Create your discount code

This code may be used on all of your collateral so a good idea to create it early in the piece. Now this may sound preeeettty obvious but did you test it to make sure everything is working

Nothing will make your sale flippie flop more than getting your customers excited and ready to purchase and then something on your website doesn’t work… kinda like being on hold for an hour and then getting cut off.

3. Create your collateral

Create your social media banners, ads, tiles, and website assets. Make sure you keep a consistent theme throughout and that there are no typos etc.

You may even choose to shoot a new campaign for the event but if that is not in the budget then you can create new content using images you already have.

4. Update your website

Give your home page a refresh with your offer smack bang in the front.

Tip: Make sure your site speed is running fast, as a slow site can turn customers off. You also want to make sure your checkout process is super smooth, otherwise your customers will be out of there faster than toilet paper on a supermarket shelf during a pandemic.

5. Set up your social media Ads

These ads could make or break your online campaign so make sure the creative, copy and target audience are all on point.

TIP: Create a lookalike audience to your current customers. This will find similarities between customers who have already bought from you and others on Facebook and show your ads to these likely customers.

6. Post, post and post again

Shout about your promotion across all of your social media channels; in the lead up and during the event.

7. Send your EDM

Create and send your Electronic Direct Mail (or email marketing campaign) to your database. It is worth sending a teaser ahead of the event and then again when the campaign is live.

Tip: Make sure all the links to your products are working AND write a killer headline to make sure your email actually gets opened!

8. Signage

Your signage needs to be clear, eye catching and most importantly on brand! Think about all of the competition you have in shopping centres and high streets, you need to stand out from the crowd!

9. POS Software

Make sure your deals are reflected in your POS software. Ensuring a smooth check out in store is just as important in store as it is online!

10. Stock

Your shelves need to be fully stocked with plenty of colours, sizes, etc. You don’t want your customers to take the sale another store that has their size!

It’s always good to review an event with your team and keep note of what worked, what didn’t and what you would do differently next time. This information will become invaluable the next time you want to run a big promotion!

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Images courtesy of various creators on Pexels