Do you have a Black Friday Strategy in place this year? The “official” date of Black Friday is coming up on November 25th, 2022. 

But, if you've been clicking around anywhere on the internet the last few months, you’ve probably noticed that Black Friday has already been happening all around us.

What is Black Friday?

What used to be ONE day of knock-down-drag-out sales has ballooned into a nebulous, time-twisted space where November means October and Friday means any old Wednesday.

This trend has been seen with the biggest retailers the most in the last handful of years. 

For example, check out all of the sales events that happened during October this year ALONE. 

• Amazon’s “Prime Early Access Sale” was Oct 11 - 12

• Kohl’s had a 2-day “Deal Dash” sale from Oct 11-12

• Macy had a “Fabulous Fall” sale that ran from October 6-11

• Target’s “Deal Days” started on October 6 and will continue through Dec 23

And yes, these big retailers will ALSO have Black Friday sales during November that will kick off weeks ahead of the actual date, too.  

This is done to entice consumers into spending more, earlier. This is a specific Black Friday Strategy that I discussed at length in last year’s blog, focusing on a concept known as the “largest share of the wallet.”

So, how’s a small or medium sized business supposed to compete with that?

You fight back with a Black Friday Strategy specifically designed for you.

That’s what I’m going to walk you through in this blog today. It’s a strategy I use with my clients year after year because it works! It has even helped one non-retail client win $100,000 over a single weekend! Click here to read the Case Study.

The Black Friday strategy I share with you today is based in email marketing, but can and should incorporate ads pushing to your landing page  — especially if you do not have a strong email list! 

The strategy also requires some level of intelligent marketing automation. If you have something like Keap / Infusionsoft or HubSpot, you should be good-to-go. (If you want to learn more about HubSpot you should contact me. I am a HubSpot Certified Partner and can help guide you.)

Before I share the in-depth email strategy, first I’m going to give you 7 tips to ensure your marketing performance is as profitable as it can be.

7 Black Friday Strategy Tips for Success

#1) Start Early & Run Sales Longer!

My biggest tip — get started on this right away. The earlier the better is key if you want to capture larger sales for Black Friday 2022. 

I suggest teasing your sale at least three weeks before Black Friday. And then, actually running your sale one week before Thanksgiving. In order to prevent sale burnout, that sale is refreshed with a new offer on actual Black Friday day through the weekend. 

And then, once Cyber Monday hits, you hit them with another week-long sale for Cyber Monday.

I know this might sound like a lot, but consumers are READY to buy at this time, and you want to be the one who is putting something in front of them to buy. 

See the strategy at the bottom of this blog to get more in-depth step-by-step emails of this strategy.  

#2) Focus on Health & Immunity 

During holidays people tend to worry about their immunity and health more. It’s cold and flu season! And the average worry about health and immunity has increased tenfold.

If your product can benefit your audience’s health and immunity, be sure your emails drive a talk track about that.  

Whether it indirectly benefits through mental health, such as relieving stress or exhaustion, or it directly benefits their physical body, such as skincare, a supplement, or other health item, highlighting the advantages to health will help your audience pay attention to your products this Black Friday season. 

#3) Focus on Reaching Goals 

If your product is utilitarian, then be sure to focus on how it can support your audience reach their goals and have a better life in 2023.

Essentially, if you're able to deliver on aspirational hope, do so! You’ll want to drive a talk track in your emails about how your products or services will help your audience achieve their goals and help them feel and do better each day. 

#4) Focus on Joy

It’s been a hard few years for everyone, full of division and loneliness. People are looking for moments of joy, unity and connection more than ever.  

So if you offer a product that is fun or brings people together, call attention to it!

Focus on how you can bring connection back into their lives, creating joy, unity and magical moments. 

#5) Bundle, Don’t Discount!

Since it’s Black Friday where “discounts” are everywhere, this might sound like the opposite advice. 

But trust me — discounting is not even done by major retailers!

Instead what you are doing is starting with a higher PERCEIVED value and then discounting from that.

The easiest way to do this is with killer copy and a BOGO (Buy One Get One ) offer. 

You bundle your items, list the perceived price of such a bundle, and then offer an amazing “discounted” price to get all of these items together for Black Friday. 

So not only are you selling more products and services — you are selling them at their normal price! 

Here are a couple examples:

Consider a doggie overnight care kennel. Their Black Friday Bundle could be a “Pets in Paradise” package for the upcoming holiday season. 

This could include a week-long stay with a premium kennel plan, plus bath and grooming and wellness checkup.  

Another example is for a health and wellness spa. Several services and products could be bundled for different levels of sale:

• “New Year, New Nails” bundle that comes with a manicure & pedicure

• “New Year, New Look” bundle that comes with a manicure & pedicure, haircut and facial

• “New Year, New You!” bundle that comes with manicure & pedicure, haircut, facial, and a 3-step product system to keep their skin and hair glowing. 

#6) Be All About Outcomes 

When it comes to writing about your products, services or bundle deals — you’ll want to focus on the outcomes your products deliver

EVERYTHING should be centered around those positive outcomes.

Here’s an easy one-liner template for how accomplish this:

 {THIS PRODUCT/SERVICE} makes you better at __________________ and solves __________________.

When you approach it this way, they can easily imagine what the solution is. They don’t have to go through the list of features and figure out which one will help them with what… 

Instead, your audience can just simply buy the package that solves their problem.

And when you focus on the outcome, you make it easy for them to make that connection and to focus more on what they truly want, and less on the price.  

#7) Remember to Lead With Emotion

I’ve said it many, many times and I’ll say it again because it bears repeating! 

People buy based on emotions first. Then, they buy based on logic. 

Remember your messaging needs to drive on the emotion of your product, the problem it solves, and what it will add to the prospect's life. Is it peace of mind? Is it more security, better self esteem, better relationships, more energy, more sales, a feeling of more safety? 

Whatever it is, speak to those emotions FIRST.

And then you want to follow up that emotional decision with logic. 

You do that with social proof (testimonials and reviews) as well as price comparisons, and most of all: urgency and scarcity. 

By reminding your audience that these are super limited offers or a limited supply with huge savings that will never be seen again — you affirm their choice to buy is the right one!

The Black Friday Strategy

As mentioned with the very first Black Friday Strategy Tip above, start your sale BEFORE Black Friday. 

It can be two days before, three days before, or one week before — consumers are trained to look for deals earlier than Black Friday. If you’re not providing them, someone else will! 

In this example, we’re going to say this fictional sale officially starts on the Monday before Thanksgiving (November 21).

The first email you send should be around one week before, and it should tease the sale, giving away some details, but not all. 

You’ll want to pique their curiosity and “let on” there are multiple offers that will be changing over the week, so they should pay attention. If you want to provide a “sneak peek” you might reveal some of the products included

And always include some element of scarcity — this is slightly built into Black Friday, but you can lean into it more. Some examples: This offer won’t last forever! Limited Bundles! 12-Hour Sale! We Will Sell Out!

This email should continue to build hype, providing a few more details of the sale, such as:

• Share actual savings for some of the offers (numbers are better than percentages) 

• Continue to emphasize limited quantity and scarcity of timing

You should also include all of the shopping details: 

• What time the sale starts (be sure to list multiple time zones)

• Payment options

• Return/refund policies

The point of this is to remove obstacles to purchase, make them feel confident, while also building on momentum.

This email keeps your audience engaged with your sale, since they will most likely be getting multiple offers from various companies at this point. 

It’s just a touchpoint with the necessary information. I call it “the 3-lined email:” 

• Early bird starts soon

• Here’s the date

• Here’s the time (unless you are strictly local, always give a few time zones)

This simplicity also keeps their week-of-Thanksgiving mindset front and center: they're busy and excited and also slightly stressed! They don’t have time to read long sales emails at this point.

As mentioned in the beginning of this Black Friday Strategy, you’ll want to launch your “Early Bird” sale before Thanksgiving. 

Whatever day you choose is up to you, but on the day you'll want to announce the sale is live with an obvious button. Don’t forget to always mention the products and the savings in dollars. 

You’ll want to send an email each day the sale is running, until Thanksgiving day.

In between your first few days of your sale and Black Friday, you will hit Thanksgiving.

It is a day committed to relaxing and enjoying life with family. 

But it’s also a day that people love to shop.

According to Adobe Analytics, consumers spent $8.9 billion on Black Friday and 2021, $5.14 billion on Thanksgiving.

In your thanksgiving email, you’ll want to strike a thoughtful balance between the two. 

Wish your readers a Happy Thanksgiving with their friends and family first.

Perhaps share a short heartfelt and authentic thought of gratitude. 

Seek connection first. 

Then, remind them that you still have great sales going on, but it will change tomorrow..  

Give them an obvious link, and say they should have a look, but only after they’ve enjoyed food and fun. This thoughtful touch can go a long way. 

And the official Black Friday day has arrived! This is the perfect time to introduce new offers. 

Because we’ve already been several days into our sale, and if your prospects haven’t bitten yet, they probably won’t. Remember, EVERYONE is offering them a deal right now. 

By introducing new offers, you keep it interesting and keep them engaged.

A tip? Specifically, call out the new offer in the subject line to entice them to click. 

"Small Business Saturday" is the perfect time to continue working your magic as a small or medium sized business. 

Big retailers will still be having sales this day, but more people will be looking to spend their dollars elsewhere. 

This is a perfect time to increase alignment with your prospects and address their potential objections with Frequently Asked Questions.

By asking specific questions about common concerns or hesitations to buy and then answering them — you can directly address their doubts and add a slight sales slant. 

For example:

• QUESTION:  "How long will it take for me to receive  {Product}?" 

• ANSWER: "With our onshore manufacturing set-up, you don’t have to worry about supply chain issues with us! Within one week of ordering, you’ll be enjoying your new {Product}!"

Another example:

• Q: “How long will this sale last?”

• A: Today’s Black Friday sale will only last a few more hours! We’ll have a new offer tomorrow, but this is the last time you’ll see these products for this price ever again! 

One Q&A  I love to end this email with is this: 

• QUESTION: "Where can I find out more?" 

• ANSWER: Click below (obvious button link to landing page) to find out more, or reply to this email to get all your questions answered. 

By using this as your final question, you can naturally inject your sales CTA to website product/services pages.

Now we get to our Cyber Monday promotion. 

You have two choices here: Tease the sale on Sunday OR start it on Sunday! 

I recommend starting it on Sunday. It can be in the evening and promoted as an“Early Bird Cyber Monday” access point.

And yes, you’ll want to promote new offers for the same reason stated before: to keep them engaged, curious and interested.

Usually, I would just have this sale run for 2 days… but because Black Friday runs under new rules now, your Cyber Monday can run for a few days or longer. 

In Closing…

Timing is always the strength of any sale, and it has become even more important with the rise of online shopping, October Black Fridays, and 3-month long sales by big retailers.

The reason this Black Friday Strategy works is because it starts early and it keeps your audience’s experience and mindset at the forefront. 

By assuming that they will be receiving tons of offers, you can differentiate yourself with these strategic tips. 

Want a team to help you strategize your Black Friday sale or other holiday sale? 

Contact me for a free consultation by clicking the button below. I can hear more about your business and help you develop a strategy; then my team can then do all the work for you. 

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