By now, even the birds on the branch know that this time of year means a lot of work for marketers, as we enter a very dynamic retail season—with the famous Black Friday at the forefront. However, judging by the promotions and offers that have been heavily advertised in recent years, Black Friday on our market has become more of an overhyped story than a genuinely good deal. And customers do remember that.

An opportunity, but not at any cost.

Although it might seem at first that every sales opportunity should be seized, it’s better to think long-term and avoid promoting discounts that aren’t truly Black Friday-worthy (e.g., 20% off, or “up to 70% off” justified by just a few items that don’t have much value to begin with). Also, be careful not to fall into the trap of simply repeating discounts that you periodically offer throughout the year. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in a situation where customers no longer respond to your messages, feel deceived, and thus, you damage your reputation and relationship with customers, which is key to building what’s known as the trust funnel.

Speaking of trust, keep in mind that in the digital age, information is just a click away, and transparency is crucial. It’s unrealistic to expect that people won’t notice if you raised prices before the discounts, only to end up offering the same prices during the promotion.

Don’t Waste Money

Toward the end of the year, especially from mid-October through November and December, advertising costs, particularly the price of clicks, naturally rise. This is because advertisers who don’t typically advertise year-round jump in due to Black Friday and holiday promotions, along with many who are spending budgets they haven’t used throughout the year. Knowing that each click will cost more than usual, it’s crucial to ensure that your offer meets customer expectations, captures their interest, and genuinely motivates them to take advantage of the opportunity and make a purchase.

Good preparation is Half the Battle

And we’re not just talking about preparing the creative for your campaign and budget planning—those are additional. The essential preparation involves praparing your offer, which includes analyzing the market in terms of your competition’s offers, customer demand, and your website’s analytics.

For instance, you can investigate which products your website visitors view most often and which pages they spend the most time on—yet don’t end up making a purchase. Maybe Black Friday is the perfect opportunity to create discounts for exactly these products and launch a remarketing campaign targeting the visitors who have already been to your website.

Black Friday is also a great opportunity to clear out your inventory, as many people specifically wait for the last Friday in November to buy what they’ve been planning, or they’re drawn in by an irresistible offer.

How to Create an Attractive Black Friday Offer?

1.Be Generous with Discounts, but Think Strategically
When people prepare for Black Friday, they expect significant discounts—at least 30%, 50%, 70%, or more. This doesn’t mean you have to offer discounts on your entire offer, but keep in mind that a typical 10% or 20% discount won’t be enough to make you stand out from the competition, and customers may (rightfully) feel disappointed.

Consider offering bigger discounts on products that provide you with the highest margins, or create a special Black Friday deal with a time limit to emphasize urgency and encourage purchases.

2.Create Exclusive Black Friday Product/Service Bundles
One way to grab customers’ attention is by creating product or service bundles that are only available during Black Friday. The exclusivity of the offer is another way to motivate customers to make a quick purchasing decision.

  1. Offer Discounts Until Stocks Run Out or the End of the Day
    A good tactic to encourage purchases is to communicate that the discount is valid only until stocks run out, meaning that discounted quantities are limited (you can even specify the quantity). Alternatively, the discounts can be time-sensitive, valid only until the end of the day or during a specific period (for example, from 10 AM to 12 PM).
  2. Engage Your Audience
    Start your campaign early to create anticipation and spark the curiosity of potential customers about your Black Friday offers. Announce the sale and discounts ahead of time, and highlight a few of your most eye-catching items as a “hook” to get people to click on your ad and visit your website, where you can use pixels to collect data for remarketing.

Another effective tactic is e-mail marketing, where you can give a selected group of subscribers early access to your Black Friday deals before making them public across all communication channels. This approach nurtures your relationship with them, makes them feel special, and further motivates them to plan their purchases from you.

  1. Prepare your creative in advance and set up ads
    Once you’ve addressed all the earlier items, it would be good to prepare your creative for the ads in advance and complete the setup and scheduling of ads in the META Ads Manager. This allows enough time for the ad review process to be completed before the campaign is set to launch. By doing this, we shorten the duration of the so-called learning phase, which is crucial for conversion-oriented campaigns and typically takes time, often 5-7 days.
  2. Combine advertising platforms for maximum impact
    In performance campaigns, it’s essential to combine ads across multiple advertising platforms to get the most out of your advertising. Use ads on the META platform (Facebook and Instagram) primarily to increase the visibility of your Black Friday offers and boost website visits. However, keep in mind that conversion-focused campaigns also have their role on the META platform and shouldn’t be neglected. Additionally, Google Ads are inherently more sales-oriented and play a significant role in remarketing—targeting customers who have visited your website.

Recently, TikTok ads have also become available in our market, primarily focused on performance marketing. This means we have the opportunity to create conversion campaigns on another very potent platform—along with setting up a pixel that opens up another chance for remarketing.

  1. Track and Optimize Campaigns in Real Time
    During Black Friday campaigns, it’s crucial to monitor results in real time and be ready to make quick changes—more so than with any other campaign. If something isn’t working as expected, be prepared to adapt. Test new messages, visuals, and adjust budgets or communication channels based on customer behavior.
  2. Don’t Forget About Customer Support
    With increased traffic comes a rise in questions and potential issues during the purchase process. It’s vital that your customer support is easily accessible, polite, and efficient. A quick response to customer inquiries or complaints can greatly enhance the customer experience and increase the likelihood that a satisfied customer will return for future purchases or recommend you to others.

Think Long-Term

Keep in mind that your audience is already preparing for Black Friday shopping. Embrace the opportunity to win over customers and build connections with them—and through that, increase your sales. Plan ahead, design smart offers, and be bold enough to try something different. However, don’t forget that every campaign should aim to foster long-term relationships with customers, not just short-term gains.

If you need support for your upcoming Black Friday campaign or any other sales-driven initiative focused on building customer relationships, feel free to reach out to us!