As I’m sure most of you are aware, Black Friday sales are a huge source of income for most businesses. As customers are preparing for their Christmas shopping, they are eager for any deals that can lessen the financial burden of the season. They’re also primed to buy which can make convincing them to get your product that much easier.
Some large companies start planning their Black Friday strategies as soon as the previous year is over, while others may wait until July to start. For small businesses like yours however, it may be easy to forget to plan for Black Friday until one day you realize that it’s already November and Thanksgiving is a week away.
Don’t stress though! If you’ve spent the year so far showing up consistently on social media and continuing to build your email list, then tossing in a Black Friday sale last minute is still possible.
I remember a time when Black Friday was confined to the Friday after Thanksgiving. When the deals didn’t start until they opened in the morning and people camped out all night on the sidewalks waiting in anticipation. Then the doors would open, and everyone would turn into monsters, trampling over people to get in the door first and fighting with strangers over the toy of the season. It was stressful enough just hearing about it on the news, that I have made it a point to stay at home that day to avoid the mobs.
While the increased consumerism about the day may be annoying, the plus side of that is that most of the deals aren’t limited to just one day anymore. Many businesses hold their sales over the whole week, or at least from Wednesday to Friday. People are encouraged to shop at small businesses on that Saturday and online the following Monday, and even those days have gotten blurred into several.
So if you haven’t started marketing your discounts or figured out a day for your sales, you still have time to toss something together on Canva and get it sent out to your audience. If you need a little more time to get everything together, then shoot for the week after Thanksgiving to hold your sale. There are plenty of people out there who don’t think about their Christmas shopping until it’s actually December and maybe those people are in your target market (I mean, you’ve waited this long to think about it yourself).
All the best,
Ryanne Zender
Disclaimer: While marketing is based in part on statistics and psychology, it is not an exact science. Every business and market are unique. What may work for one business, will not necessarily work for another. There are no guarantees in marketing, and this post is for informational and educational purposes only and does not replace professional advice. You can check out the full list of disclaimers and disclosures here.