Feeling lost about the upcoming Black Friday craze? You’re not alone. As the marketing automation platform for small businesses, we spend a lot of time researching the top Black Friday ideas.
There are several tools, strategies, and marketing platforms that a small company can use to make the most of the holiday season. In general, your small business can offer discounts, sales, and deals to attract more leads, customers, and raving fans.
You can also automate the entire marketing this season and cut down on additional work. With deep insights, you measure the effectiveness of your marketing and build a more tailored strategy in the future.
So, take a closer look at how your small business can grow this season.
Table of contents
- What is Black Friday?
- How can small businesses prepare for Black Friday?
- Top Black Friday marketing ideas for small businesses
- #1 Generate Tangible Awareness Early with Postcards
- #2 Email & Direct Mail Marketing Automation
- #3 Drop an Unique & Exclusive Product for Black Friday
- #4 Automatically triggers a Follow-up Letter after Black Friday
- #5 Bundle Your Products into a Massive Black Friday Deals
- #6 Last Chance Black Friday Sales
- #7 Don’t Forget Your Social Media
- #8 Announce Large Discounts with Direct Mail Coupons
- #9 Website Pop-up Campaigns
- Black Friday Marketing Done Right for Small Businesses
What is Black Friday?
First things first. Black Friday is an informal term used for the Friday that comes after Thanksgiving. In the USA, it is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Most of the brands offer great discounts during this season. Many stores open their doors at midnight or early morning to offer early bird discounts to customers. It is the busiest time of the year for many businesses.
To be blunt, Black Friday is a day when people celebrate shopping. Many would wait the entire year to purchase clothes, wide-screen TVs, or gaming consoles. Though Black Friday is more popular in the US, many other countries have started adopting the shopping aspects of this day.
How can small businesses prepare for Black Friday?
Small businesses belonging to any industry can significantly benefit from Black Friday. Since it’s the time of the year when most people look for quality on clearance, you can position your business to grow during this shopping craze.
The best way to prepare for Black Friday is to devise a promotional plan. Think about which products you want to promote, what deal you can offer, what channels you can use, and how you will market your business.
Top Black Friday marketing ideas for small businesses
If you are a small business waiting for an explosive week, then this is your time. Use holidays to build brand awareness, generate leads and boost sales. Strategically designing marketing strategies and carefully running them will help small businesses target audiences.
Blasting a generic marketing strategy can work for your business. However, consider your needs, requirements, and marketing budget before doubling down on your promotion.
We have done in-depth research and created a list of effective marketing strategies that you can use. Let’s dig in to understand how you can boost sales on Black Friday.
#1 Generate Tangible Awareness Early with Postcards
Postcards are one of the most underrated marketing techniques.
They are super practical, effective, and offer sky-high ROI. It’s a tangible form of marketing material that costumer can’t ignore. The physical nature of postcards allows consumers to check them any time they want. Also, they love when brands invest time and effort in creating a personalized message.
With Postalytis, you can fully automate your postcard campaigns. Once you sign up for a free account, you can plug in a CRM, define triggers, and send mail in bulk. On top of everything, you can track every piece of mail sent.
Sending direct mail postcards can help you generate leads, nurture customers and close more sales. It might just be the thing that moves the needle this season.
#2 Email & Direct Mail Marketing Automation
Small businesses often work with limited marketing budgets.
You might not be able to hire a full marketing team and invest money in expensive strategies like broadcast advertisements. In this case, opting for effective strategies like email and direct mail is their best option. For some, this particular workflow has been more effective than any other form of marketing.
Direct mail and email campaigns are easy to automate, manage and track. They are also highly effective and offer incredible results. If you’re looking for an ROI bomb, then check out the mail & email workflow developed at Postalytics.
You can pick from one of our industry-specific templates for your campaign and schedule each piece to reach your lead at the right time. Postalytics will then execute, run and measure your campaign every step of the way.
#3 Drop an Unique & Exclusive Product for Black Friday
If you want to satisfy your raving fans, dropping a holiday-exclusive product will do the trick. It also creates exclusivity, hype and boosts sales across the board.
Therefore, offer exclusive and unique products made especially for Black Friday.
Once you create products, market them on different channels to make holiday shoppers aware of them. You can market them with the help of Postalytics by sending letters, postcards, and brochures about your unique offerings.
#4 Automatically triggers a Follow-up Letter after Black Friday
While running a marketing campaign is essential before Black Friday, it is also crucial to extend the communication with customers post Black Friday. This will help you stay top of mind and build appeal for upcoming sales.
Note that Black Friday is not the only day you need to work to boost your sales. Every day is essential, and you need to ensure that your customer knows your brand exists 365 days a year.
To maintain your position in the market, reach out to your customers soon after the Black Friday sales. This doesn’t have to be complicated. With Postalytics, you can automate a follow-up letter to your customers.
Triggered drip campaigns are perfect for interacting with customers at the right stage of their customer journey. So, remind your loyal customers how much you appreciate their support.
#5 Bundle Your Products into a Massive Black Friday Deals
Small businesses can offer massive deals or mystery deals to attract customers. Incorporating several products in one deal will allow people to get different items at a reasonable price. Also, it allows you to sell many products in a single sale.
Furthermore, offer the deal on the fewer prices than the total price of the products. Of course, people will only purchase your deal if there is any advantage. Another thing you can do is add gifts to the bundle but keep the actual price of the deal. People will be attracted to your online store to get your free product.
#6 Last Chance Black Friday Sales
This method helps you grab the attention of people interested in your products but waiting for other brands to offer sales so that they can compare and buy products. Also, people just procrastinating to make a purchase will get an alert with your offer.
When you advertise the last change sales, clarify when you will end your discount offers. You can also incorporate what type of products is on sale so that potential customers immediately click on the offer and get to your online retailer site to purchase items.
#7 Don’t Forget Your Social Media
Do you have a page on social media? If not, then you should have one. Social media platforms are the best places to target your desired audience. Whether it’s millennials, Gen X, or others, most people use social media religiously. While these platforms are specifically designed for socializing and interacting, they now have become a great place to market your business.
You can attract new customers by posting deals and offers, advertising your discounts, and interacting with people on social media. Both physical and online stores can benefit from this strategy to increase revenue, boost brand awareness, and build brand recognition.
#8 Announce Large Discounts with Direct Mail Coupons
Offering small businesses black Friday discounts through coupons is a tested, tried, and highly effective way to boost sales.
Coupons are easy to use and offer a guarantee that people can get value piece from your brand.
But how will you deliver Black Friday deal coupons to your customers? Postalytics can send the coupons to your customer’s doorstep for you.
#9 Website Pop-up Campaigns
Optimize your website for the holiday shopping season before you start thinking about the pop-ups. Optimization will help get your website on top of the search results.
This way, people searching for your product type can easily find you.
After that, run website pop-up campaigns targeting Black Friday customers. This tactic allows you to display appealing deals to your consumers as soon as they open your website. You can create more than one pop-up based on what you are offering to the people.
Black Friday Marketing Done Right for Small Businesses
So, now you have a list of black Friday ideas for small businesses that you can use to sell your entire stock on holidays. But make sure to choose a Black Friday marketing strategy that works best for your business. As a small business, it’s better to avoid investing great money in marketing. Choose strategies like direct mail marketing through Postalytics to attract customers without breaking the bank.
Note that Black Friday marketing is vital to cover the loss you have faced in a year. It’s also crucial to build brand awareness in the market. Black Friday sales, discounts, coupons, or other offers can help you change your game.
About the Author
Dennis Kelly
Dennis Kelly is CEO and co-founder of Postalytics. Dennis joined Boingnet, the predecessor to Postalytics, in 2013. Boingnet was focused on providing print and direct mail marketing service providers the ability to add digital marketing channels to their direct mail campaigns. Postalytics is Dennis’ 6th startup. He has been involved in starting and growing early-stage technology ventures for over 30 years and has held senior management roles at a diverse set of large technology firms including Computer Associates, Palm Inc. and Achieve Healthcare Information Systems.