Ah, Black Friday. The once uniquely American celebration now observed the world over as the premier window to engage with consumers. Although standing in hour-long queues and risking life and limb in stampedes that would make Mufasa shudder seems somewhat archaic to me and is definitely not the only way to engage with your consumers in this period. According to a recent survey, 81% of consumers that dislike Black Friday shopping, cite overcrowding as the reason. With the current pandemic, this is more prevalent than ever.
Every retailer worth their salt has a digital avenue for clients to pursue their Black Friday fix, and in some of our previous blogs this month, we’ve already looked into some of the most effective ways to do this. And it’s not just the retail industry, everyone from restaurants and hotels to SaaS providers take advantage of these “holidays” in one form or another.
In fact, this shift from a physical in-store “flash sale” to having an entirely digital avenue to take advantage of these deals birthed a new consumer-focused “holiday”, Cyber Monday. The Monday after Black Friday that sees online retailors offering remarkable deals.
This kicks off one of the busiest periods in the marketing calendar, with Christmas & New Years following shortly after.
And that is what we’ll be looking at today, as the fog of war that is Black Friday clears, what comes next?
Black Friday & Cyber Monday, Two Sides Of A Golden Coin
As one of the busiest days for any business that provides a product or service to end consumers winds down to a close, most won’t be taking the weekend off. That’s because Monday brings another high traffic day for consumers that you want to take advantage of.
As a starting point, why not take advantage of the insights you’ve learned on Black Friday to inform your approach moving forward. At this point, if email marketing is not part of your Black Friday strategy and beyond, you’ve missed the boat.
With TouchBasePro giving you invaluable reporting statistics, you’ll be able to pinpoint exactly who engaged with your previous Black Friday campaigns. Offer your audience products or services they’ve already shown interest in, better yet, offer them products that compliment any purchases they’ve already made on Black Friday.
If someone purchased a new cookware set, an email offering them discounted glassware that Monday should have a high chance of conversion. If your business model works on a subscription-based service, push for that annual renewal with a slight discount.
Most consumers want to engage and be a part of these “holidays”. There’s already a preconceived notion that this is the most cost-effective period for any consumer purchase, you just need to capitalize on this. With Amazon itself maintaining that Cyber Monday 2019 was it’s highest revenue-generating day of trading in history at the time, no business (especially retailers) can ignore its significance.
Cyber Monday is highly driven by email as a marketing tool and the below Campaign by Technomobi is a fantastic example of how to drive interest in your audience. Here, the focus was on promoting any remaining Black Friday stock the following Monday.
Let The Festivities Begin!
Once the “Black Cyber” weekend draws to a close, you shouldn’t waste any time preparing for the festive consumer rush. December is all about the holiday cheer and it kicks off only a day later.
The most wonderful time of the year for both consumers and businesses alike. There’s something almost intangibly fantastic about the way consumerism and the holidays align over December. From office Secret Santa and planning your holidays, to decorations and gifts for your loved ones, we’re all a little more open to “adding to cart” as it were.
Every day leading up to the festive break is an opportunity, and the only way you’re going to take full advantage of this is by having a dedicated strategy developed beforehand that’s ready to implement from day 1.
Being that this is one of the busiest times of the year for email service providers, we know better than anyone what this entails. You have to walk a fine line and balancing your campaigns between adding value to your audience and promoting your brand is going to be essential. More than that, you have to take into account that your audience is probably built up of a variety of people with different cultural and religious backgrounds. This takes a deft hand and we’d love to take some of the weight off your shoulders.
Look no further than the below campaign designed for Aldo, to illustrate how to do festive emails right!
…And A Happy New Year!
The end of 2020, this is going to be a big one…
Leading up to the end of one of the most historically turbulent years in the past century, and looking on the horizon to something more hopeful, promoting your brand at that junction might do more harm than good.
The end of 2020 is not going to be the time to push products down throats.
Rather, take advantage of this time to show some appreciation to your database. You’ve weathered the storm. Realistically, most businesses quite simply didn’t. If you’re one of the lucky ones who did, your clients, consumers, staff, suppliers and partners were likely a big part of why you survived.
Show them your appreciation. Give value back in some form. Above all, be sincere. Your board of directors singing John Lennon’s Imagine is not going to cut it.
The below campaign from Johnny Cupcakes is a great example of the level of sincerity that you should strive for. During the devasting Australian wildfires earlier this year, Johnny Cupcakes sold a limited edition t-shirt with the proceeds going directly to relief efforts. This simple campaign illustrates how when businesses and consumers connect and work together, they can create magic.
We’re almost there!
Look, we get it. We know 2020 has been nothing short of devasting on every conceivable level. But part of the charm of these last months of the year are those feelings of joy, coming together and starting anew.
From a marketing perspective, while the next 3 months are going to be critical, manic, exciting, difficult and every adjective in between, don’t feel overwhelmed. What you should be focusing on right now is powering through, taking advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves, and working towards something greater with your staff and client base.
Leave the email marketing to us. Get in touch today.