13 Black Friday marketing ideas to stand out from the competition

A good Black Friday marketing strategy is key to a successful sales event and increasing your revenue. Check out eleven ideas that'll make you stand out from the competition. 

For many retail businesses, Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year. Originally from the US, promoting discounts and special deals on Black Friday has become popular around the world.

In Europe, literally everyone in Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and Ireland knows about Black Friday. And consumers not only know about the event, they shop on Black Friday as well!

Why you shouldn't ignore Black Friday

In the UK, for example, people spent more than 8.7 billion British pounds during Black Friday in 2022, and in . In the US, the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics reported that a record number of 196.7 million users shopped online during Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022. 

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🤯 Fun fact, did you know that the term "Black Friday" was first coined in Philadelphia in the 1950s? The police used it to describe a crowd of people that was disrupting the city the day after Thanksgiving. The reason? They came to shop before the big football game between the Army and the Navy. Later, retailers adopted the name as a shopping event that would help them to get in the "black" (make a profit). 

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Even in countries where Black Friday is a relatively new phenomenon for shoppers, numbers indicate that consumers spend increasingly more during this event. In India, for instance, D2C brands saw more spendings on Black Friday than during Diwali in 2022!

For retailers, this is both, an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, as people around the world grow more accustomed to shop for deals on Black Friday, this brings new opportunities to sell more. On the other hand, it's increasingly difficult to stand out with your offers. 

That's why a sound marketing strategy for Black Friday is so important! In the following, we've gathered eleven ideas that'll make your Black Friday campaign stand out from the competition. 

1. Promote your deals in advance

We all know the saying about the "early bird". It's especially true for Black Friday. As you only have one (or a few) day(s) to get people to make a purchase, it's vital to promote your deals in advance, and create awareness for your brand and your deals. 

The US retail corporation Target, for example, starts informing customers in the summer about Black Friday. They even have a dedicated web page that answers FAQs about their deals. 

Our tip: as you get closer to the end of November, run ads and post on social media about upcoming deals as well, as people are already starting to look around for the best deals, and you don't want them to miss yours!

Creative spin: If you really want to stand out, timing can be an important factor. So: why not start your Black Friday sales a little earlier and / or end them later?! 

2. Create FOMO

When it comes to getting people to buy your products on Black Friday (a day when they can choose from so many discounts), it's important to make it clear that they can never. get. your. deal. ever. again. 

Creating FOMO by showing them the value of your Black Friday deal will greatly increase the chances of people making a purchase. Of course, this only works if your deal is really special. 

Pro tip: Think about setting up a countdown as well. This will create more anticipation around your Black Friday offers. 

3. Work with referral codes to attract more new customers

Referral codes can be a great incentive for shoppers to make a purchase. We recommend  adding some exclusivity to a referral code, so customers are aware that they're getting a special deal. So, instead of just putting a public discount code on your website, send it to your newsletter subscribers or Instagram followers only. 

Or: Combine it with a lead generation campaign to gain more new potential customers as well. For example, you could ask people to sign up for your WhatsApp notifications where they will get special Black Week deals, but also an exclusive discount code. 

Codes are also really useful when tracking what ads on what platforms work best, as they give you valuable insights on consumer behavior! 

Extra tip: Also think about creative ways to guide customers to your deals, such as click-to-chat links or QR codes. These not only provide a direct link to your channel, but also show you where the customer came from, so you can offer highly personalized deals!

💡Use our link generator to create a WhatsApp link for free!

4. Offer incentives for the first purchase

As people see a lot of great deals around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, an extra nudge to shop with you won't hurt. 

If you're looking at attracting new customers, offer special discounts for a first purchase. It'll get people into your stores, where they'll probably end up buying more than just one item. 

5. Always collect opt-ins and opt-outs

This is not only important in order to comply with data regulations, but also to generate trust with your customers. After all, you won't generate any conversions out of your Black Friday campaigns, if users never signed up to receive your deals or perceive them as spam. 

Opt-outs are also good and fair business practice, as they allow customer who aren't interested in a deal to opt out. But make sure to ask users why they don't want to receive your messages anymore, and offer alternatives. Is it the wrong product? Do they receive too many messages? This will allow you to adjust and personalize your campaigns for better conversions.

6. Offer exclusive deals to existing customers

While it makes sense to use marketing strategies around Black Friday and Cyber Monday to attract new customers, don't forget to cater to existing customers as well. After all, they already know and trust your brand, so they're more likely to buy from you again! 

It's also cheaper to re-engage existing customers than to spend a lot of money on attracting new ones!

Creative marketing idea: create a campaign for existing customers where they get a special discount for buying something from you. 

Also think beyond Black Friday when it comes to re-engagement campaigns. Use the information you have from your Black Friday shoppers to send personalized re-engagement messages! 

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7. Be brave to try new things

When it comes to Black Friday marketing, it's very hard to stand out when all retailers are promoting their deals on the same day. So be brave to try something new! 

A few years ago, the beauty brand Deciem, for example, decided to cancel Black Friday. They didn't think the idea of fast shopping fit their sustainable brand, so instead, they offered 23% off for the entire month of November. 

8. Engage directly with shoppers

Buy this! Get that deal! Don't miss our offer! When it comes to Black Friday marketing, a lot of it feels like retailers are shouting out their deals with a megaphone. That might be loud, but it's also very one-sided, and doesn't allow customers to directly engage with the brands. 

What if someone has a question about your deal? Or, what if they want to get a similar item and wonder if you offer a discount as well? Then, their questions usually go nowhere!

That's why one-way communication is limited when it comes to really reaching all of your customers. Think outside the box, and make sure you offer a two-way communication. 

Conversational commerce is a much more engaging shopping experience, and leads to better conversions! 

9. Be inspiring

Just offering a good deal these days is often not enough to get people to buy something. Why should they buy your product? Why should they go with your brand? They need to be inspired! 

And this might also mean to offer them options and shopping ideas. The e-commerce brand Wish is known for creative campaigns. For a special Christmas campaign, Wish uses a WhatsApp chatbot that gives users shopping ideas.

This is more fun, more engaging, and a lot more interactive than just sending out deals! And it can definitely work for Black Week, too. 

For Wish, it has led to more sales through WhatsApp and an average of nine product views per user! 

10. Optimize your campaigns for mobile

Customers  also shop for Black Friday deals on their cell phones or tablets. So make sure that they have an engaging user experience on mobile devices as well! 

As shopping has become a lot more mobile, we even recommend thinking about keeping the entire Black Friday shopping experience on a mobile app. And no, you don't need to build a new app for that.

You can just use apps like Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and iMessage as well. Users already have these installed, they offer great multimedia options, and you can even include product catalogs and payment options directly in the chat. 

11. Use chatbots

If you run a successful Black Friday marketing campaign, you'll see a lot more customer activity. You'll get more calls, more messages, and more store visitors. How can you manage the increased workload? With chatbots! 

Most customers actually ask the same questions, so you can already help out your service team by setting up a simple FAQ bot that can usually answer most of these questions. It'll get answers to your customers faster and reduce the workload for your team! 

We also suggest using chatbots for order confirmations, shipping and tracking information, and re-engagement campaigns. 

12. Prepare the message content

Aside from chatbots there are other tools that can help you speed up the exchange with customers during the usually very stressful Black Week. If you're using messaging apps, you can work with templates that you can schedule in advance. There are even solutions that are connected to ChatGPT to assist you in creating your campaigns. 

Keep in mind that it can take up to 24 hours to get messaging templates approved with some messaging apps. We also recommend pre-writing some FAQs that you can send with just a few clicks as messaging blocks. 

Planning your content in advance will ensure a higher quality and faster service than trying to type something really fast on the busiest day of the year. 

13. Try out Black Friday marketing on messaging apps

Want to cut through the Black Friday noise? Then use messaging apps! Your message ends up directly on the users' lock screen (no spam folder, no algorithms)! What other channel offers your Black Friday campaigns this much attention? 

In addition, messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and others offer various multimedia options that make these campaigns very engaging. 

And: If users have a question about a specific deal, they can just ask you directly in the chat. That'll make it much easier for you to not only reach new customers, but engage them more in a conversation with your brand. 

With messaging apps, there's also no need to ever leave the app. Users can receive promotional messages, ask questions, and even pay directly through the apps. And if you can keep shoppers in the same channel, you'll be more successful!

Extra tip: Use click-to-chat ads! If you set up an ad on Facebook or Instagram, users can click on it, and up directly in a chat with your company. This could be on Instagram Direct Messaging, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp. Once a user reaches out, you have a 72-hour window to send messages for free, which is a huge advantage for Black Friday campaigns where you can follow up with additional offers or send shopping reminders. 

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