What to do in November if you’re not running a Black Friday offer
There are lots of good reasons that brands choose not to jump on Black Friday /Cyber Monday.
You know your audience and your targets and if a big offer in November isn’t going to help your business thrive, then it’s important to stand against that tide.
Great reasons to give Black Friday the swerve:
It’s the wrong season to be offering discounts to my audience, I can do it just as well in another month, when ads costs are lower.
I don’t have the budget or audiences yet to compete adequately over Black Friday, so will focus on building those first.
We can’t produce enough stock to fulfill a surge in orders.
Our website’s a disaster and doesn’t convert efficiently enough to warrant the ad spend needed.
We offer our best deals all year round to subscribers or members and know that big entry offers for new customers disrupts this and ultimately leaves us with a net loss.
I hate everything about Black Friday, and regardless of what impact it has on my business, I’m not going there!
It’s not for everyone, either commercially or personally.
So, if you’re not running Black Friday campaigns, what can you be doing throughout November?
Build your brand
Tell your brand’s story… your mission, values and really importantly… the people behind the business. Long term relationships with your customers and audience are the foundation of your business, so time spent building these is never time wasted.
There will be shoppers in your audience who are keen to stay away from the Black Friday madness. In a season when so much of our feed is full of offers, buck the trend and use this time to share information on your sustainability credentials and eco-friendly initiatives in order to connect with those who share your values.
Ads to run
Just because you’re not running a Black Friday offer doesn’t mean you don’t have stock to sell in November, so you need your ads to at the absolute top of their game to compete with those running offers - bring out your best performing ads from the year, including those with the most (positive!) social proof on them. Pay particular attention to video and UGC (which can be far more powerful than an offer).
If you don’t have a value add in the form of an offer, could you give an educational value add, such as a free download; switch to leads and build your email lists for the year ahead.
Feed in some cracking video ads with a seasonal theme to catch attention in the feed without shouting about an offer. All the video views you amass can be retargeted in December/January.
As an NB - Be mindful that your ads costs could rise by at least 10-15% in this period.
Find your crowd
Get involved in Small Business Saturday - 2nd December 2023 in the UK.
Successfully getting through Q4 without having big offers can feel like an uphill struggle, but by focusing on providing value to your audience, and engaging with them, you’ll be building relationships (and warm audiences) to fuel your growth in 2024.
If you’d like to have a chat about that 2024 growth, book in a call.