A guide to preparing for Black Friday; promotion & marketing ideas

With this year’s Black Friday falling on 25 November, companies looking to leverage the worldwide shopping spree to their advantage must soon put together a comprehensive business strategy. This way, they can execute the preparation process in time to reap the benefits once the sale season arrives.

Businesses that want to capitalise on one of the biggest shopping events of the year – Black Friday – must start making the necessary preparations if they want to optimise their success. Promotions have to be carefully calculated and considered, and marketing ideas often require time to fully execute and ramp up. Execution and the gathering momentum are nothing more than essential to making full use of the Black Friday sale season in today’s competitive markets, especially with a large share of event income shifting to online e-commerce channels in 2021.

Black Friday business ideas and must-dos

Regardless of whether you run a brick-and-mortar store or an e-commerce business, Black Friday presents a great opportunity to increase sales, shift stock, build customer loyalty, and acquire new customers. However, none of the aforementioned are naturally inherent to the day itself. To cash in on the Black Friday craze, you need to prepare for it in advance, such that the shopping spree works largely in your favour. And that doesn’t just mean preparing more packaging for global shipping; the sales won’t necessarily come to your business if you don’t take these requisite steps leading up to Black Friday:

1. Black Friday promotion ideas

Discounts and good deals play essential roles in Black Friday sales, but being careless with your promotion ideas can lead to suboptimal profits at best and worrying losses at worst. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups in both traditional retail and e-commerce have to be extra wary in this regard – larger players with deeper pockets can easily run smaller competitors into the ground if the latter employs poor promotion ideas that are ill-suited. So, instead of merely mirroring what your industry peers are doing with deals and discounts, ensure that you have a curated promotion strategy for Black Friday that best suits your company’s size and goal.

Here's what you need to do to come up with a well-planned promotional strategy for Black Friday 2022:

Consider your objectives carefully. Do you want to increase sales, clear old stock, garner new customers, or retain current ones? While not mutually exclusive, it is best to have your finger on what your priorities are such that you know how liberal your discounts can be on Black Friday and how to design promotion ideas that cater to your business’ specific needs and goals.
Know who your target customers are. Narrow down on your target demographic for more streamlined Black Friday promotion ideas. Ultimately, the right approach to the deals you plan to offer hinges upon not just your business objectives but also who your target consumers are. Weigh your options with due diligence; for example, choosing discount codes or automatic onsite discounts for your e-commerce business can significantly affect your effective conversion rates.
Apply different promotion ideas for different products. Not everything has to be discounted in the same way on Black Friday, even if they come from the same retail store. Discern what kind of promotions would best suit each product or product group, taking into consideration factors such as competitor competition, the need for more market awareness, whether it classifies as unwanted inventory, and so on.
Segment your discounting costs strategically. Focus larger discounts on dormant or first-time customers such that you don’t waste too much of your budget on sales that would have occurred either way. But don’t leave out your loyal consumers either, as repeat customers are a lot cheaper and more reliable regarding sales conversions in the short-term and in the long run. Don’t be afraid of staggering your discounts or cross-selling products, as long as it makes business sense.

2. Black Friday marketing ideas

A well-crafted marketing and advertising idea sits at the heart of any successful business strategy for Black Friday. With that being said, many businesses worldwide face a problem: the channels your consumers will be checking on Black Friday or the days leading up to it will be incessantly flooded by other companies pushing their products. Not only does this make each ad or marketing effort less impactful in itself, but it also makes it more costly to push out and ensure that they reach your business’ target audience. It’s thus best that you start early when it comes to Black Friday marketing ideas and execution; here are some tips to guide you through on this aspect:

Start early. Customers often start looking for Black Friday deals as early as in the month of October. Entice them with exclusive coupons and special offers to encourage them to be first in line at your storefront (online or offline, regardless) once Black Friday arrives.
Have a social media marketing campaign. Get your customers to share and repost your Black Friday advertisements for additional discounts or through a giveaway, and keep an eye out for hashtags you can piggyback on.
Use every channel to your advantage. When it comes to Black Friday sales, casting a wider net rather than a deeper one is likely to work better to your advantage. Invest in every marketing channel that makes sense, be that email marketing, paid ads, organic posts, or otherwise. Just make sure you stay intentional with all your offline and online marketing ideas and efforts; the quantity should never be at the expense of quality. Don’t neglect newer tools or platforms such as Instagram shopping where possible.
Have optimised product descriptions prepared beforehand. Although SEO is largely seen as a long-term game, optimising your product descriptions to include phrases such as ‘Black Friday’ or ‘Black Friday deal’ can dramatically increase sales. Many consumers have no idea of what brand to buy from when searching for a particular product to purchase on Black Friday, making them easily converted targets. Just be sure not to publish these descriptions that will affect your current rankings prematurely.
Have an overarching content theme for your Black Friday marketing idea. If you’re aiming to acquire new customers on Black Friday, it is essential that you stock up on reader-friendly information that can be easily accessed by prospects looking to find out more. Having an overarching content theme for your marketing idea can help you map out the content deliverables you’ll need to achieve a library of resources for your consumers before the Black Friday sale season begins. You can also pitch gift guides for the holiday season to rein in more shoppers.

3. Black Friday preparation must-dos

Here are some other must-dos you should pay attention to in your Black Friday preparations:

Remember to optimise your e-commerce site for mobile shoppers, if applicable
Absorb the cost of free shipping elsewhere for the best sales results
Ensure your site’s online checkout process is smooth
Keep an eye on your stock and make clear whenever something has been sold out
Check your inventory and make the necessary arrangements for adequate stock
Hire more staff to cope with operations if required; any stoppage will cost you dearly
Revisit your order management processes to ensure they can cope with higher volumes
Add contactless payment options for brick-and-mortar stores to speed up checkout
Step up your customer support and make sure no wanting consumer is left hanging

Deliver on your orders with DHL Express

Lastly, it is of utmost importance that you deliver on your orders, and engage in efficient order fulfilment. While Black Friday lasts for only 24 hours, the dissatisfaction that can come from a late, missing, or damaged delivery can easily make for a consumer’s lifelong avoidance of your brand or business.

For safe measures, simply partner with the global industry leader in shipping and delivery, DHL Express. Operating in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, our team of over 100,000 trained specialists are ready to help your business expand to global markets through some of the best value international shipping options and unrivalled package courier services.

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