Over the break, I worked with one of my consulting clients, who owns an e-commerce store as she increased her sales so that she had a record-breaking day (Black Friday), and a record-breaking month for sales (November).
I love every part of my job, but standing on the sidelines watching a client reach and exceed their sales goals is a pretty surreal experience–the momentum is thrilling!
My client has generously agreed to letting me share some of the techniques we used on Black Friday to have a record-breaking day. Even if you don’t have an e-commerce store, you will see how we used multiple channels leading up to the day to attract current customers and new buyers.
1. Prepared her audience and customers for Black Friday
Although her long-time customers are used to her having a Black Friday sale, she had plenty of new customers this year, so we had to begin to plant the seeds that the Black Friday sale would be a good one. She posted a bit about this on social media, created a Facebook ad, and sent out an email to her list on Thanksgiving evening to let them know the sale would be live at midnight.
2. Discount (Offer)
The offer is meaningful! Since this is her largest sale of the year, she decided to continue the tradition of a flat rate percentage off the total amount. The offer for a Black Friday sale really does have to be pretty good because you are competing with every other retailer on the planet!
3. Email Marketing
In total, she sent out three emails for this promotion. As said above, one went out the night before, one went out during the morning and one final “last call” email went out before bed.
This was the time to ask for the sale, and to make it easy for the customer to say “Yes!”
4. Social Media Posts
There were several social media posts that went out that day. Some were more personal, and a couple more were posts with the offer and copy with a sense of urgency. She specifically used Facebook and Instagram.
5. Facebook & Instagram Ads
We had been running ads for a few days prior to Black Friday to keep her company “top of mind” for her customers to let them know a sale was coming.
Since she has the Facebook pixel on her website, we were able to target her customers and website visitors, as well as those who had engaged with her social media posts on Facebook and Instagram.
Once Black Friday hit, she changed out the ad to reflect the Black Friday deal with a link that went directly to the website.
“But I don’t have an e-commerce store…”
Even if you don’t have an online store, you can still apply some of these techniques to your own business:
- You can build anticipation for an event, or Open House or launch using multiple channels.
- You can give your prospects and customers a reason to buy.
- You can run ads on Facebook and Instagram so that your message gets out.
- You can be direct with your emails when you need to ask for the sale at the right time, and make it as easy as possible for someone to buy on your site.
- You certainly want to make sure a Facebook pixel is on your website so that you can retarget your customers and visitors.
Although the experience felt quite magical, there is no magic involved. We simply used the assets we had on hand and implemented a marketing plan effectively.
The best part is–the client now has more cashflow to do some of the things that have been on hold, like having a new photoshoot for her marketing materials and having a budget for an offline marketing campaign in 2020.
So this was a win for the day and month, but also will help future growth of the company. #winwinwin
Although you may not have an e-commerce store, how can you create your very own Black Friday events with the right marketing?
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