So Black Friday has come back around for another year. This annual sale which started in the USA has truly arrived in the UK and is now a fixture in the ecommerce calendar. It’s one of the biggest sale days and every year it becomes more and more significant.
The term “Black Friday” has actually been in use since the 1950’s and was used by Police in Philadelphia to describe the increase in Christmas shoppers who descended on the City after Thanksgiving. That verb offers a clear indication of some of the negative vibes that surround Black Friday as a concept. However, for consumers and ecommerce clients, this is a fantastic opportunity to save money and make money respectively. We’re at the stage now where consumers don’t look for sales, they expect them. Meaning retailers who aren’t running sale ads are likely to suffer massively.
But you already knew that didn’t you? You’re ready to go, got your plans finalized a month ago and your ads are already ready to go right? Right?
Ok, so you’ve not sorted your campaigns yet? Or you have an idea but you don’t know the best way to get this across? Don’t panic, you’ve got time (just…) to get your ads created and scheduled ready for your sale. Let’s go over some must haves and nice ideas to get your message out there.
Must Have – Search Ad Copy
Yes obvious, but a real must have. If you’ve got a sale, shout about it. Even more so when people are looking for your products. I’m reminded about the bible verse that talked about putting a light under a cover and under your bed. No point in having the light then is there? The same with your sale.
Nice to have as well – Countdown ads: Countdown ads literally add a ticking clock to your sale. Imagine the user, 10 minutes before your sale ends, seeing an ad telling them they’ve got just 10 minutes left. It’s a powerful motivational tool.
Must Have – Shopping Promotions
I’m assuming here you have a merchant centre and shopping campaigns set up already (because as an ecommerce site if you don’t you need to speak to one of our specialists straight away). Shopping promotions have had a nice overhaul in the build up to Black Friday & Christmas, with many more options on filters and offers to make the process a lot easier. If a user sees your product, they get told you’re offering a promotion. Given that shopping ads can show up on their own, it’s important your sale covers this as well so you don’t miss an opportunity to shout about it.
Nice to have as well – Promotion Extensions: Similarly, but in conjunction with search, promotion extensions add additional details to your search ads. These can be done for specific sales (e.g. Black Friday). This may seem a bit much but why not cover all the bases? And this will cover the last must have…
Must Have – Remarketing Ads (particularly from before your sale…)
Everyone understands that not everyone visiting your site will buy. In a decade of Search Marketing experience, I’ve never come across a perfect website. So getting these people back onto the website is pretty key. Ensuring you also use this opportunity to promote your sale further is too good to miss out, especially to people who visited before your sale started. At this time of year, savvy consumers are waiting to see which sale drops when, so make sure they don’t miss yours.
Nice to have as well: Facebook Promotion Ads: Facebook remarketing comes with the nice edition of a promotion ad. This is usually best done in a carousel with products that people looked at on your website, which puts a sale ad as the first image in the carousel.
Must Have – Make Sure You Stand Out
This is the last point and is arguably the sum of all the points made. You’ve got to make sure your deal stands out ahead of your competition. Modern customers are the most informed in history and often will have all your competitors on the same screen as you. If your offer is going to win, it needs to stand out ahead of everyone else. Having the best offer definitely helps (obviously) but if your offer is equal to competition, then you need to make sure your offer takes centre stage.
If you need any help with the points made in this blog, get in touch (quickly…) and our team will help you make the most of Black Friday.