How to Make the Most Out of Your Small Business Holiday Deals
Like clockwork, November sneaks up on us year after year, and we’re anxiously awaiting for big holiday deals come Black Friday.
As small business owners, we may have a few Black Friday sales of our own.
But, how do we get our customers to “shop small” in an ocean of deals on children’s toys, vacuum cleaners, and kitchen appliances?
Have no fear!
Our team at Oakes Creative House is here to give you 10 tips for successfully marketing your Black Friday sale.
#1 Make Your Sale Clear
Once Black Friday rolls around, you’ll be competing with a number of sales for your customers’ attention. The very first thing you need to do is clearly lay out what you are selling and how your customers can take advantage of the sale.
Ask yourself…
- What is the discount?
- What service/product does it apply to?
- Is a code required?
- Is it available in-person and/or online?
- How long is it available for?
Make sure there is no confusion to make it easy for your customers to understand right away!
#2 Build Anticipation
Don’t wait for Thanksgiving Day to begin advertising your sale!
Build anticipation by teasing your Black Friday sale weeks in advance. Use social media, email newsletters, and your website to create buzz. Create a waitlist on your website so that those interested can be alerted when the sale goes live via email! Make ambiguous posts ahead of time that share that “something’s coming…” to build excitement among your customers.
#3 Update Your Website
Your website is your business’ home base. Make sure all of your holiday deals are visible (and functioning) on your site. Create a banner that lives at the top of your website on all pages. Create a pop about the sale. Make a landing page for the sale. Do anything and everything that makes it easy on your customers!
Oh, and make sure your website is mobile optimized. That’s where most people are shopping!
#4 Create an Email Campaign
Using the information you solidified in step #1, create emails about your holiday deals. Segment your email list to target different groups with personalized offers. Send out reminders leading up to the sale, and a last-chance email to create urgency.
#5 Promote on Social Media
Use social media to share sneak peeks of upcoming deals. Create engaging posts, stories, and reels that highlight your products, deals, and urgency. Start by introducing the Black Friday sale. Create a mix of videos and static posts. Get active on your stories. Make sure the link to your website is in your bio. Encourage your audience to shop small this holiday season!
#6 Utilize Hashtags & Keywords
On social media, use relevant hashtags like #BlackFridayDeals, #ShopSmall, and location-based tags to increase your visibility and attract local customers. Use a variety of general to niched down hashtags.
On your website, use keywords related to the sale and your business on the landing pages. You can use a tool like Google Keywords, Ahrefs, or Semrush to help you out!
#7 Create Urgency
Creating a sense of urgency is key to driving quick decisions during Black Friday. Highlight limited-time offers, low-stock warnings, and exclusive deals to encourage customers to act fast. Use countdown timers on your website, in emails, and on social media to create a visual reminder of the fleeting opportunity. This strategy not only boosts quicker conversions but also heightens excitement and anticipation.
#8 Partner Up with Businesses & Influencers
Collaborating with other small businesses or local influencers can expand your Black Friday reach. By partnering with similar or related businesses, you can cross-promote each other’s deals to new audiences. Influencers, even at the micro-level, can create authentic buzz around your brand and drive engagement. This approach strengthens community ties and amplifies your message without needing a huge budget.
Think about who you work with or run into often in your small business world! They may be up for a strategic partnership.
#9 Invest in Paid Ads
Before diving into paid ads, make sure steps 1-5 are especially SOLID. Paid ads can significantly extend the reach of your Black Friday promotions. Platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram allow you to target specific demographics and behaviors, ensuring your deals reach your audience. Even a small budget can deliver impressive results if you focus on localized or highly relevant customer segments. This tactic is especially useful for capturing the attention of shoppers looking for specific products or deals.
#10 Leverage Your Small Business
As a small business, you have a unique advantage in creating a personal and authentic shopping experience. Highlight your local roots, personalized service, and community impact in your Black Friday messaging. Customers often appreciate supporting smaller, independent businesses, especially during the holiday season. Use this to your benefit by emphasizing what makes your business stand out from larger competitors. Encourage them to shop small!
Wrapping Up
Phew! That was a comprehensive list.
If you’re overwhelmed with everything you need to do promote your Black Friday sale, it all comes down to the following:
- Prioritize Clarity
- Promote Early & Often
- Create Urgency
- Set Yourself Apart
As you shop around the holiday deals yourself, remember to shop small and support your fellow small business owners!
Want help with any of the above steps? From consulting to creation, we can help!
Schedule a discovery session to learn how we can help you master small business marketing in and out of the holiday season.
Our Black Friday Sale
Don’t think we’d end this blog without sharing our own Black Friday sale!
This year, we’re offering…
Use Code: OCHBlackFriday
Sale ends November 30, so get the good deals while you can!
Marketing vs Branding. I get asked all of the time, is there really a difference? I could give you the long drawn out answer of why there is but let’s keep it short and sweet:
Marketing: the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.
Branding is the encapsulation of a company’s mission statement, objectives, and corporate soul as expressed through the corporate voice and aesthetic. – Margie Clayman
Let me guess? As the owner of an ever-growing and changing business, you focus most of your time on marketing. Your #1 goal is to get your product and service in front of potential customers because that is ultimately what brings in revenue, right?
However, if your brand isn’t shouting from the rooftops WHO you are, you are much less likely to find those clients who feel the same way you do.
The goal is not to convince a potential customer that they should do business with you, but instead, the goal is to present yourself in a way that these potential lovers of your brand can’t help but push the BUY button! They should feel that they are missing out on something big by NOT buying your product or service. The first and I would argue the most important step to this is making sure you have a brand in which your customers can find themselves in.
Now is the time to stop wasting your precious time and hard earned money on marketing efforts that are getting you nowhere. There 100% is a time and place for marketing, but you have to jog before you run and at times during the marathon, you need to slow your pace and re-evaluate the plan to get to the finish line. Take a second and think – is it time for me to re-evaluate?
Just like you go to the doctor for a checkup – your brand needs a wellness exam too, and maybe throw in a spa day for good measure! 🙂 This is NOT a bad thing! This means that you are aware of the fact that your company is changing and growing (sometimes at a very fast pace) and maybe that your ideal clientele is changing, growing up, wanting more, etc…
But how do we fix this problem right? It’s easy! Download this quick and easy freebie to Find Your Brand’s Soul Again!
In the PDF I will guide you through a simple 3 part process to re-discover who your brand is and give you a few tips on how to evaluate what you are putting out there to make sure it is in alignment with your voice and aesthetic.
Find Your Brand's Soul Again
Realigning a brand with the heart and soul of a company’s mission is not new! Amazing companies do this often!
Just take a look at these important re-brands from this past year
Need a bit of help in realigning your goals and seeing where you are out of touch with your ideal audience? An outside perspective is GOLD in this type of exercise! Schedule a guided brand audit with me today where we will work through this worksheet, review what you have put out in the world and discuss why it does or does not align with the heart and soul of your brand!
Guided Brand Audit
Your brand deserves the time and attention it takes to make sure it is attracting the right customers! You may be thinking, my brand is fine! I have a logo. However, this is far from the truth. A logo and the visual elements that go along with it are referred to as a brand identity. Branding, however, is the overall personality and presence of your business. Don’t forget the solution is easy. In this simple worksheet you can take an objective look at your brand and if you are struggling, let’s set up a guided brand audit so I can guide you through the process.
2 – 1 hour zoom (video) calls = $200
What are the numbers saying?
When was the last time you did a deep dive into your data?
When you do look at your data, what are you looking for?
Do you have a plan?
If you couldn’t tell from the article title and those questions – your business benefits from you looking at your data & analytics. But, it’s not only the ‘looking’ that matters. You need to have a plan going into your research and a plan for how you’ll respond to what you find.
Data Points & Questions
Before you dive in, make sure you know what you’re looking for. Analytics can get complicated if you’re mindlessly scrolling through. Instead, make a list of data points that you’re looking for so as not to miss anything.
Here are a few that are applicable to most businesses:
- Gross & net income
- Increased/decreased expenses
- Services/products that did/did not perform well
- Social posts that did/did not perform well
- Social media audience growth (year to year/month to month)
- Web pages that get the most hits
- Web pages that have a high bounce rate
- Number of new customers/clients
Once you’ve built a list of your own (feel free to take ours and add to it!), connect the dots between your numbers by asking yourself: why?
Why has my income grown/plateaued/decreased?
- Did I drop off social media?
- Have I put out new offerings?
- Did I change my prices?
Why has my social media audience grown/plateaued/decreased?
- Have I stopped posting?
- Did I engage with my audience more?
- Have I shared my social media accounts?
Why does this web page have a high bounce rate?
- Is my website up-to-date?
- Does this page have a lot of links to other sites?
- Does the flow of information make sense?
Everything Works Together
Asking why your numbers have moved in any which way is prime critical thinking that will help you better understand what course of action you need to take. It’s important to remember that all of your numbers work together.
Your revenue increases when your clients increase when your impressions increase when your marketing increases… you get the point. Try to understand what you changed in your business for your analytics to change as they did.
What Your Data Means & What to do With it
Everyone’s data is telling them something different. Each of our businesses are unique, and even two marketing agencies won’t come to the same conclusions every time. Once you have your ‘whys’ established, take a bit of time to explore what that means for your business.
However, here are a few common conclusions you can look to:
- If a product is performing rather well, then don’t discontinue it any time soon! Make it a feature product and look for ways to improve it if any.
- If your social media views are decreasing, then take a look at what’s changed algorithm wise on the platform. Make changes as needed and lean on posts that have worked in the past.
- If your revenue grew faster than it did last year, then find what drew in the most revenue and focus on those services/tools/products more this year. Improve or remove pieces of your business that hurt revenue.
Data and analytics research isn’t a quick and easy process. Set aside time to work on it in depth so you can give your business the attention and updates it needs. Oh, and make sure to track your time! Set a timer for how long it takes to complete the process this month and you can slot that amount of time for next month. More than likely, it’ll become faster and simpler each time.
You should be taking an overview of your analytics each month, prioritizing pieces that change often like social media or number of services/products sold. Then, take a deeper look at your business in entirety each year.
Exploring your business’ data and analytics can be a fun adventure when you get into it, but it can also be scary. Seeing low numbers and negative percentages are discouraging, even if they’re among a mountain of ‘wins.’ That being said, don’t look at those scary numbers as failures, but rather challenges, opportunities to grow. And don’t forget to celebrate where you’ve grown! Running a business takes A LOT OF WORK. When you’re the CEO, whether you’re leading a team or are on your own, few people understand how much you’re doing to build a successful business.
Set aside some time for a deep dive, put on a good playlist, brew a cup of coffee (or tea!) and get to work!
Sit Down With Your Website
What are the numbers saying?
When was the last time you did a deep dive into your data?
When you do look at your data, what are you looking for?
Do you have a plan?
If you couldn’t tell from the article title and those questions – your business benefits from you looking at your data & analytics. But, it’s not only the ‘looking’ that matters. You need to have a plan going into your research and a plan for how you’ll respond to what you find.
Data Points & Questions
Before you dive in, make sure you know what you’re looking for. Analytics can get complicated if you’re mindlessly scrolling through. Instead, make a list of data points that you’re looking for so as not to miss anything.
Here are a few that are applicable to most businesses:
- Gross & net income
- Increased/decreased expenses
- Services/products that did/did not perform well
- Social posts that did/did not perform well
- Social media audience growth (year to year/month to month)
- Web pages that get the most hits
- Web pages that have a high bounce rate
- Number of new customers/clients
Once you’ve built a list of your own (feel free to take ours and add to it!), connect the dots between your numbers by asking yourself: why?
Why has my income grown/plateaued/decreased?
- Did I drop off social media?
- Have I put out new offerings?
- Did I change my prices?
Why has my social media audience grown/plateaued/decreased?
- Have I stopped posting?
- Did I engage with my audience more?
- Have I shared my social media accounts?
Why does this web page have a high bounce rate?
- Is my website up-to-date?
- Does this page have a lot of links to other sites?
- Does the flow of information make sense?
Everything Works Together
Asking why your numbers have moved in any which way is prime critical thinking that will help you better understand what course of action you need to take. It’s important to remember that all of your numbers work together.
Your revenue increases when your clients increase when your impressions increase when your marketing increases… you get the point. Try to understand what you changed in your business for your analytics to change as they did.
What Your Data Means & What to do With it
Everyone’s data is telling them something different. Each of our businesses are unique, and even two marketing agencies won’t come to the same conclusions every time. Once you have your ‘whys’ established, take a bit of time to explore what that means for your business.
However, here are a few common conclusions you can look to:
- If a product is performing rather well, then don’t discontinue it any time soon! Make it a feature product and look for ways to improve it if any.
- If your social media views are decreasing, then take a look at what’s changed algorithm wise on the platform. Make changes as needed and lean on posts that have worked in the past.
- If your revenue grew faster than it did last year, then find what drew in the most revenue and focus on those services/tools/products more this year. Improve or remove pieces of your business that hurt revenue.
Data and analytics research isn’t a quick and easy process. Set aside time to work on it in depth so you can give your business the attention and updates it needs. Oh, and make sure to track your time! Set a timer for how long it takes to complete the process this month and you can slot that amount of time for next month. More than likely, it’ll become faster and simpler each time.
You should be taking an overview of your analytics each month, prioritizing pieces that change often like social media or number of services/products sold. Then, take a deeper look at your business in entirety each year.
Exploring your business’ data and analytics can be a fun adventure when you get into it, but it can also be scary. Seeing low numbers and negative percentages are discouraging, even if they’re among a mountain of ‘wins.’ That being said, don’t look at those scary numbers as failures, but rather challenges, opportunities to grow. And don’t forget to celebrate where you’ve grown! Running a business takes A LOT OF WORK. When you’re the CEO, whether you’re leading a team or are on your own, few people understand how much you’re doing to build a successful business.
Set aside some time for a deep dive, put on a good playlist, brew a cup of coffee (or tea!) and get to work!
