With almost a third of customers beginning their holiday shopping in October it’s about time you nailed down your Black Friday marketing plan. Here’s how.
September: Go multi
The dust barely settles on Back to School before the rumour mill predicts what the big brands will be doing for Black Friday and the most wanted toy lists are released. This is your time to make sure you’re covering all bases.
If you didn’t utilise multi-channel promotions last year, ‘tis the season to be multi. Black Friday is all about offers but where and how customers engage with these offers is just as important as the offers themselves. And multi-channel doesn’t have to mean multiple resource. You can generate unique single or multi-use codes which are validated in real-time across multiple channels with Eagle Eye Promote.
October: Get your messaging right and get some data
Mix a small amount of holiday messaging into your communications strategy and work your way up to a higher proportion of deal-driven messages as the event approaches. Utilise a blend of email, push notifications and SMS messaging to drive customers from awareness to purchase when the big day finally arrives.
Customers start their Christmas shopping around this time so why not collect basket data to inform personalised coupons? Coupons see higher redemption rates when they’re relevant to the buyer and personalised messaging can go a long way in helping your Black Friday deals break through the noise.
Tip: Send targeted and personalised push notifications and deliver promotions, offers and rewards in real-time across any channel to drive in-store footfall with digital messaging.
November: Connect the dots
Make sure your multi-channel touchpoints are connected in the run-up to the main event. With Eagle Eye Reward you can connect your loyalty program to your CRM system to distribute relevant and personalised rewards to your scheme members, the utilise SMS, email and push notification to encourage action.
With our real-time connected data you can view your customers’ online/offline journeys to inform your Black Friday marketing decisions. This might mean encouraging high-level customers to spend more, or encourage another group of customers to visit more frequently between Black Friday and Christmas.
Black Friday: Showtime
All systems go! By now you’re sending compelling and personalised offers to your customers across multiple channels, but what else can you do? If you’re looking to increase footfall in the offline world consider geo-location marketing to serve consumers compelling offers when they’re in range of your store. You can even send offers to consumers while they’re shopping with a competitor – discover geo messaging with Eagle Eye Engage to find out more.
Dates for your Black Friday marketing calendar
Remember, it’s not all about Black Friday. Here are some more dates to take advantage of between Black Friday and Christmas:
- Black Friday – Friday November 25
- Small Business Saturday – Saturday November 26
- Cyber Monday – Monday November 28
- Green Monday (Cyber Monday Part II) – Monday December 12
- Free Shipping Day – Sunday December 18
- Last Sleigh Day – varies between retailers and shipping methods
It’s not all about Black Friday and retailers, brands and restaurants should be making every day a Black Friday with personalised digital promotions. Looking for tailored advice around your Black Friday marketing? We can put together a solution for you – contact us today.