Tips to Increase Sales During the Busiest Shopping Days of the Year

The holiday season launches each year with three major daylong shopping events.

Having a digital marketing strategy for each – Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday – can maximize your sales results.

Incorporate these tips for each special day into your holiday marketing strategy.

Black Friday Tips

1. Get Started Early
   Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping events of the year. There is lots of competition out there. That’s why it’s critical to begin marketing early to get your message, deals and opportunities in front of your customers.

2. Personalize Your Messages
   Customers today like to have relationships with the brands they frequent. Personalizing your email marketing to your subscribers or past customers reminds them that you know their history, preferences and possible needs for the holidays.

3. Optimize Search Engines
   Lots of people will be shopping online on Black Friday. Make sure you’ve optimized the search experience with paid and organic advertising and accurate Google Business Listings. Make it easy for searchers to find what you’re selling with Facebook Ads and other social advertising.

4. Customize Your Landing Page
   When customers visit your website, you want them to know that it’s a special day. Creating content that speaks to Black Friday (and change it for each subsequent day) shows you’re paying attention.

5. Use a Chatbot
   Help customers find what they’re looking for on your website with a chatbot. These technologies can answer FAQs and direct people to the right spot on your site.

Small Business Saturday Tips

1. Leverage Social Media
   Social media lets you target audiences by the platforms they frequent online. Make the most of your social media presence by promoting what you’re offering on Small Business Saturday.

2. Promote Local and Small
   Small Business Saturday is about promoting homegrown, small and local businesses. Be sure to highlight that your business is a part of that segment.

3. Use Hashtags to Extend Reach
   Hashtags are an effective way to help customers find you. Use the right hashtags – products and services, themes, location and other key elements – to expand your reach.

4. Provide a Gift Guide
   Customers the world over are looking for ideas. There’s lots of value in providing a gift guide — for children, for women, for grandfathers, for baseball fans or whatever niche you select. You want to choose gift guides that bring people repeatedly to your website and your products.

5.  Use Referral Codes
   Make your customers feel special by offering them referral codes that provide their friends and family with special discounts. You can also use these codes to offer existing customers a special discount, too.

Cyber Monday Tips

1. Sell Directly on Social
   As the name implies, Cyber Monday is about selling on digital. You don’t need to limit that activity to your website. Consider selling products directly on your social channels.

2. Offer Exclusive Website Deals
   Want to drive customers to your website. Consider giving them something special that’s only available on your website. Whether it’s a discount, coupon or free item, website deals are effective at enticing customers.

3. Follow Up With Black Friday Customers
   Think of the four-day period as an opportunity for multiple touchpoints. If you have customers who’ve bought from you on Black Friday, know that their holiday shopping is likely not finished. Reach out to those customers to invite them to finish their holiday purchases.

4. Prevent Cart Abandonment
   Marketing tools can track customers who’ve started a shopping trip but didn’t finish. Remind customers with abandoned carts to finish their transaction, offering them an incentive to do so.

5. Optimize Product Pages
   Think about the products that will sell best on Cyber Monday and position them prominently on your product pages.

Trends for 2022 Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday

When you’re thinking about the special shopping days this holiday season, consider the following trends marketers expect to see:

• Retailers will have excess inventory to sell, driven by the lingering impact of the pandemic and the recent inflationary patterns.

• Toys will be popular and move quickly as parents and grandparents seek to shop early for kids.

• Quality will matter over quantity as shoppers look for long-term value.

• Retailers will prolong Black Friday deals, starting earlier and extending them.

Need help establishing your digital marketing strategies for the holidays this year? At Dream Local Digital, we help companies create powerful and profitable digital marketing. To learn more, sign up for a free marketing consultation.