17 Creative Black Friday Marketing Strategies for 2023

Black Friday is near. It’s the best time of the year for retail businesses, as they can increase their revenue by offering amazing discounts and deals to holiday shoppers. 

So, whether or not you are near completing your yearly sales target, use this opportunity to retain old customers, attract new ones, and turn your cold leads into raving fans.

Are you wondering where to start? Well, many strategies can make your business successful this winter, but choosing the one that is promising and suitable for your business is essential. 

For instance, using Postalytics to create an effective marketing campaign can offer significant benefits. Our marketing automation platform offers easy, simple, and effective ways to generate leads, boost sales and retain customers. We’ve been working closely with companies across industries in the United States and Canada. 

And this post brings fresh ideas and sums up what we’ve learned about Black Friday marketing.

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is a colloquial and informal name for the day after Thanksgiving. It is often the retail industry’s busiest day of the year because it indicates the beginning of the holiday season.

Black Friday is an essential day for the economy as well. The shopping queues can get crazy (even online), but that’s part of the Black Friday experience.

The term Black Friday was first used in the middle of the 20th century. Philadelphia police first used this term to refer to heavy traffic the day after Thanksgiving. Gradually, this term got popular, and businesses started to adopt it for marketing purposes. 

Today, Black Friday is an internationally known shopping holiday. And businesses across the globe are joining the craze by offering large discounts, exclusive deals, and unique products.

When should I start promoting my business for Black Friday?

Black Friday sales and exclusive discounts can help you attract customers. 

But it’s vital to grab the attention of your target audience weeks before the actual day. It’s essential to create touchpoints weeks before the actual day. Customers take more time to research the products nowadays and often rely on multiple touchpoints they can find online and offline.

It’s also crucial to begin Black Friday sales a few days before. A study indicates that around many consumers believe sales should start several days before Thanksgiving. 

Many people think the sooner they can get exciting deals, the better. So, begin sales as soon as you possibly can. Don’t wait. This will increase your sales across the board.

How to Promote Your Business on Black Friday?

To promote a business, choose effective and promising marketing strategies.

Look for marketing tactics to help you beat your competitors, connect with customers and generate sales. Also, your Black Friday marketing strategies should target your audience and allow you to engage with them.

To boost sales through Black Friday, you must consider generating new leads, reactivating cold ones, and staying top-of-the-mind. This way, you will become the top option in your customer’s minds. 

But all this is easier said than done. So, let’s explore practical ways to make the best out of the upcoming shopping season.

Creative Black Friday Marketing Strategies

Black Friday marketing ideas are the first step to launching an effective strategy. 

So let’s dig into the best ways your business can come on top this shopping season.

#1 Send Direct Mail Postcards to Generate Black Friday Leads

Looking for the best marketing strategies to grab the attention, generate leads, and create raving customers? 

Then, direct mail postcards are something to explore. 

Postcards are tangible marketing materials that show how much effort a brand has put into engaging with its customers. As a result, it builds trust and brand recognition that go a long way. 

Postcards tend to linger around and produce the highest ROI in any marketing channel. So, a person can always open their drawer, find the mail, read it or scan it to visit your website.

On top of that, postcards offer a more substantial impact than other marketing channels. They work great with digital advertising channels like social media ads, email marketing, and PPC.

Postcards are a more casual type of mail that allows a brand to send personalized messages and simultaneously interact with customers on a deeper level. You can play with their design, add multiple colors, and incorporate illustrations. The high return on investment makes it perfect for advertising your Black Friday sale. 

Automate your postcard campaigns for free with Postalytics.

#2 Email & Direct Mail Marketing Strategy for Black Friday Sales

Combining direct mail and email strategies can offer more impactful results and help you generate Black Friday leads. 

You can create a seamless workflow between the two to target your audience, boost sales and measure performance.

With the help of Postalytics, you can send direct mail and email to nurture your leads and compel them to purchase your products. Postalytics will help you incorporate Black Friday promotion ideas in your marketing.

#3 Install a Chatbot on Your Website to Engage Visitors

This is another creative strategy that works best for Black Friday marketing campaigns. There will be several queries your customers want to ask, especially about Black Friday. They might want to learn whether you have the particular product in stock or when you will start your sales. Your customers will need a quick solution to their problems in these cases. A chatbot on your website can help you solve your customer’s queries in minutes.

Based on the chatbot you choose, you can give answers in real-time or add default answers to common questions. If your customer can learn about your brand, whatever they want, it will help you build recognition and trust, eventually leading to a sale.

#4 Offer Exclusive Deals for Loyal Customers

Awarding your loyal customers is the best thing you can do as a marketer. We all love gifts, and the joy we feel is enormous when we get them for doing something. Offering exclusive deals to your loyal customers will help you retain your current customers and attract new ones.

Advertising your offer to old customers will also create a great impression of your brand. It will build brand recognition and awareness. This strategy can help you beat your competitors. Another interesting fact about this method is that it will help you keep up with the sales year round, as your customers will increase after this strategy.

#5 Create a Black Friday Referral Program

Referral programs are beneficial for both customers and companies. This is because people trust referrals. So, if a friend or family will refer your brand to an individual, they will surely visit your website and check if something they like.

In a referral program, you can offer a free gift, free shipping, or a discount offer to the person who will share your link with their loved ones. On top of that, you can offer some deals to the person referred to encourage them to make a purchase. So, choose any tactic to create a referral program and create an irresistible offer.

#6 Automatically Trigger a follow-up Letter after Black Friday

While it’s easier to attract seasonal customers during the Black Friday period, it becomes hard for most brands to retain those throughout the year.

Triggered drip campaigns can help you follow up with customers, create additional touchpoints and generate even more leads.

Defining triggers and sending mail post-holiday season can help you connect with your customers and stay top of mind. Postalytics is designed for this. You can automate triggered drip campaigns so that your customers receive mail at the right time, every time.

#7 Send a Surprise Gift with every Black Friday Order

While online sales are best to attract customers, a surprise gift with every order can build a deep relationship that leads to loyal customers. In this era of the new age, people prefer to buy from brands that make them feel special. 

You can impress your customers and offer them what they are looking for by providing a free surprise gift in their Black Friday offer.

If you want, you can advertise that you are offering surprise gifts on every order. Also, send a postcard or note to ask your consumers to give a review of your brand on your website or social media pages. People reading reviews about your free gifts will encourage customers to get one, increasing your sales.

#8 Schedule Flash Sales on Your Website

Generally, most people look for flash sales on clothing, shoes, home accessories, or jewelry brands. These sales also lead to impulse buying that obviously supports brands. So, schedule your flash sales on the website.

Try to market your coming sales a few weeks before Black Day so that people will know when they can find the best products and where. Through advertising, give them a sneak peek of what they can expect from your sales.

#9 Get Crazy on Your Social Media Channels

Social media marketing is one of the most popular marketing methods. More than half of your target audience uses social media platforms for entertaining and socializing purposes. It’s a good idea to target them where you can find the most.

Start posting about your deals and sales on different platforms. Make people aware that they can get quality and impressive products from your physical store or website. Staying active on social media throughout the holiday period will help you improve your sales.

#10 Don’t Forget Big Black Friday Deals, Discounts, and Coupons

Coupons and discounts are attractive, hard to ignore, and effective. A coupon or discount can motivate customers to purchase your products and refer their friends to do the same. Coupons are sharable, and even if you don’t find the right customer, that person can share the coupon with someone they know will love your brand.

If you are looking for the best ways to send coupons, get a free account on Postalytics. 

Sending coupons or discounts through direct mail will make your target audience feel special and valuable. And when they notice that you have made so much effort to provide them with something good, it will be hard for them to resist your offer.

#11 Reach Out to Previous Customers

The holiday is the time to return the customers you have lost for any reason. Customers who regularly purchase from you but stop suddenly might only need one push to purchase your items.

Leads are one of the prospects that can create a great difference in your sales at the end of the day. Targeting them will help you strengthen your financial condition with little effort. Since cold leads only need motivation, you can send them personalized messages through direct mail to remind them how valuable they are to your company. You can also add a QR code so that they can directly visit your website to make a purchase.

#12 Collaborate with another Brand

Collaborating with another brand is a highly impressive strategy to grab the attention of your and the other brand’s customers. This will also help you grab the attention of people interested in buying products that you and your partner offer but haven’t purchased things from you.

When you collaborate with a brand, make sure that you advertise it through different channels. Try to be aware of as many people as you can so that people can engage with you. For this, you can use social media or direct mail.

#13 Optimize Your Website for Search Engines

Online stores need to optimize their websites to appear on top of search engines. This way, if an individual look for the type of products you sell, they will be able to see your website on top.

You can hire experts who can help you optimize your website. They will use different techniques for optimization, such as making your website user-friendly, adding certain keywords throughout the website, using Meta tags, categorizing products, etc. You can also use content marketing to help your site appear at the beginning of the Google search. Ensure to target market-specific keywords so to boost reach.

#14 Update Website Design Only for Holidays

It’s important to work on the appearance of your website. The sites that look appealing and have creative themes offer excellent user experiences. So, if your consumer will enjoy the time spent on your website, they will love to get this experience again.

By creating holiday designs, you can amaze your customers. Use colors, text, and images that represent the holiday or, more specifically, Black Friday. Updating your theme for the holidays will also show that your brand has put effort into making the days interesting and mesmerizing for them. Remember to use the same theme for your marketing. It will create a unified look and give a good impression to customers.

#15 Plant Trees for Every Purchase

There are many people in the market who want to play their part in improving the world. They look for opportunities to support forest or global warming-saving programs. You can help these people by offering them amazing offers like you will plant trees for them when they purchase something from you.

Planting trees on every purchase not only help your customers but also help you boost sales. It also shows that you are a responsible brand and trying to work for the betterment of the earth. These types of strategies will make your company popular in the market.

#16 Raise Money for a Cause

Raising money for the cause is also a creative way to attract potential customers. You can look for the problem that is trendy in your country or city and search for the ways you can use to fix the issue. Then, raise your current customers and prospects to help you raise money for the cause.

People who believe in the cause will join you and try to support you as much as they can. They not only offer you money for the cause but also encourage others to join your hands. To raise the money, you can advertise that you are offering a specific amount of dollars on each purchase for the cause. If possible, tell people how much you have collected at the end of the marketing, and discuss how you have used the money to help others. This will build trust in your customers and encourage them to help you in the future for other reasons.

#17 Drop Exclusive Black Friday Products

Adding interesting and unique Black Friday marketing products to your website will encourage people to get limited-edition products. This is the best time to experiment with stuff you always wanted to try but weren’t confident it would appeal to all customers.

Black Friday drops should be valuable, interesting, and exclusive. Market these products to ensure your raving fans know that you have something new for them this season.