Online activities connected with advertising Black Friday offers can also be easily adjusted and applied with great results in everyday marketing operations. It would be a pity if all the effort and expenses were used for just one day in a year. That is why this article shows how to prepare your Black Friday activities to use them daily.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day and other atypical ‘business holidays’ have been described ad nauseam in lots of articles but still, every year, there is an avalanche of new guidebooks, ebooks, and blog posts about proper preparation for Black Friday.
My interest in this matter is quite personal, so I’ve decided to delve deeper into it. A majority of special occasion pieces of advice have limited application. This is a problem we should take care of and make sure that next year is different.
Shopping list
Sale of products or services (not only on Black Friday) is obviously crucial and every business is based on it. However, treating this aspect in a binary way may cause missing the potential of users who could have stayed closer to you or the transaction. Stop evaluating actions only by finalized transactions and change your business approach to focus on generating leads – potential customers contacts. Lead generation can take place on the sales stage (with marketing agreements) or on the presales stage (regardless of sales). Notice that the group of potential customers is always valuable for your business, but not everyone will make a purchase.
The most common method to generate leads is a newsletter. It can consist of a ‘lure’, e.g. a 20% discount for first purchase (in B2C) or a guidebook/case study (in B2B). Added values result in an agreement to use your customers’ contact data and to send them business information. In times of GDPR, it is a key aspect of sales activities.
With this solution, you are able to generate leads – you won’t have to put viewers in an uncomfortable position of ‘buy it or leave’ – you research their interest. The next steps should be focused on ‘warming up’ your leads (stimulating their interest), so they can make a purchase decision. And choosing the right moment to do so is on your customer’s side.
What do you need to generate leads (not only) on Black Friday?
- Landing page
- Analysis
- Advertising creation
- Alternative for a recipient
- Multichannel communication and reaching the target group
- Automation of sales processes
Landing page
Landing pages in special campaigns, such as Black Friday, should be created with a specific occasion in mind. Recipients will notice the difference right away so prepare something unique. Secondly, think about the page type. If you want to focus on one campaign goal, choose a landing page (LP) instead of a company homepage. Remember that these page types are not mutually exclusive: a landing page connected with your homepage will make your priority goal more vivid to recipients.
Beyond that, the Landingi account enables you to prepare as many landing pages as you need – for every special advertising activity. That way, you can have one LP for Black Friday, another one for Cyber Monday, and one more for Christmas, etc. You can do it all on your own in a short period of time – no web developer needed! You can manage the pages at any time or occasion.
A well-defined goal of your campaign is essential to achieve marketing success. Even if you are an owner of an online shop with thousands of products, you can start advertising activities a few days earlier to ‘warm up’ your potential customers. Make them sign up to your special newsletter via the landing page and follow up by sending them promotion information or discount vouchers on Black Friday.
What should a landing page consist of (not only) on Black Friday?
First of all, it should feature proper content, which would highlight your offer and explain how you stand out from the competition. A landing page ought to be divided into sections:
- Opening (hero) section – strong headline, message, offer, and (if applicable) time limit;
- Call To Action – action button leading directly to the goal. CTA should end every landing page section because your recipient may make a purchase decision at any moment;
- Product/offer section – show what you offer, how it works and what makes you stand out;
- Benefits section – point out what values does your offer or your company cover;
- Company introduction or testimonials section – new recipients would like to meet you to trust you, they need social proof;
- Section with a contact form or signing up for an offer – the most important element and the goal of a landing page. Try to simplify the process of participation in your offer. If you use the form to generate leads, ask only for the most important data: name, phone number, or email address.
Analysis
Landing page analysis is a cornerstone of your success. Define your campaign goal in tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, or Facebook Pixel, so you can import their information to Google Ads or Facebook Ads. It will make any advertising system achieve your goal more efficiently by displaying advertisements to recipients with the highest potential.
A single, well-defined goal is enough, but you can analyze the visibility of every section, button clicks, or time spent on the page.
Advertising creation
The more your advertising creation is adjusted to activities and messaging, the more it will involve the recipients. Special actions are easy to create – they can be completely different from those you use on a daily basis. Thus, you can go a little crazy with your offer or highlight it in a different way.
Remember that every advertising system has its own advert format. You or your graphic designer will need time to prepare them before your advertising activity starts.
Alternative for a recipient
Even if you believe that your offer will crush your competition, don’t forget that it is your recipient who makes the final call. A landing page with only a buying option will result in buyers but, but it will leave out those who are interested, but not ready to commit to purchasing just yet.
You can create the second goal and an alternative way to achieve it – implement a pop up on your landing page reminding recipients to choose wisely. A pop up may act as a sign-up to your newsletter, an encouragement to share the offer with friends, a place where you can download some extras, or order a consultation. Eventually, every step should lead to conversion – even when some recipients prefer to take their time with decisions.
Multichannel communication and reaching the target group
Proper selection of campaigns and ways to reach a target audience is crucial, both in special actions, as well as in lead generation. Remember, there are many advertising systems and each of them supports a number of methods to reach potential customers.
For example, Google Ads consists of:
- Search network – text campaigns in Google search engine;
- Display network – graphic campaigns in Google advertising network where you can broadcast your creation on local, industry or business websites;
- Remarketing network – a specific campaign, allowing you to reach those who visit your landing page. It is your second chance to achieve your goal, maintain the contact or increase your brand recognition;
- Video network – Youtube – video campaign in the form of an advertising spot can be addressed to new recipients with defined interests who follow videos or channels chosen by you. This method helps to care about remarketing recipients who know the offer but haven’t achieved the goal yet.
With Facebook Ads, you can reach your recipients in three ways. Firstly, by defining the target group with Facebook criteria. Secondly, by using nonstandard recipient groups based on Facebook Pixel (users who have already visited your landing page). And lastly, by using Lookalike (groups of recipients who have something in common), which allows advertising systems to find users with similar potential.
Another method is a mailing campaign addressed to your internal mailing base or an external one (if it is possible to cooperate with the company delivering such services).
When it comes to Black Friday advertising, try to also verify those campaign types that were less efficient previously. For example, Google Display campaigns can reach many networks of users very quickly, increasing your brand and special offer recognition.
Automation of sales processes
Every lead gotten through Black Friday campaigns (but not only) needs to be served quickly, both the one who filled the form and the one connected with direct sales on a landing page. In both cases, it is possible to automate some lead generation processes, thus making them easier.
For example, the Automate plan in Landingi allows you to send all the data from the form to a CRM or email marketing software of your choosing. Plus, you can receive an email notification about every new lead. On the other hand, leads can receive an autoresponder (an automatic email response).
If you take advantage of the integration with the mailing system, you will be able to line the leads in the autoresponder queue. It means your newsletters will be sent in a predefined order to all your new recipients as cyclic automatic email messages.
When selling your offer directly, remember about proper online payment system configuration (PayPal, DotPay, Przelewy24). Automatic and quick lead support on Black Friday may turn out to be essential in successful sales closing and getting satisfied customers.
Therefore, what is the difference between preparing Black Friday and other actions?
As you can see, the shopping list for Black Friday advertising mentioned above can be used in everyday operations. Therefore, what is the difference between preparing the advertising strategy and lead generation on Black Friday? First and foremost, the speed of making a purchase decision by the recipients. Customers’ purchase intent is way more developed on Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, etc., than on regular days. It is an opportunity you should take advantage of! As well as the previously described infrastructure, which can be used in further business activities.
