The busiest retail period of the year is getting closer. For shoppers it’s an exciting time. But for marketers, it can be pretty stressful.
There’s always pressure to achieve better sales than the year before — and many brands are getting in their own way.
How so? Well, some brands are making the same mistakes year after year — mistakes that enable the competition to outperform them. And they don’t even realize they’re doing so.
But this year, your brand can battle through the onslaught of Black Friday ads to emerge victoriously by avoiding 4 common pitfalls and focusing preparation efforts on the right areas.
In this article, we’ll share some common brand mistakes to avoid while giving you actionable advice that will help you deliver your campaigns with a bang — and reach the sales goals you need.
What is Black Friday?
Just one of the biggest retail dates in the calendar! The shopping extravaganza dates back to the 1950s in the US, with the UK (and other countries) introducing the concept in 2010 courtesy of US retail giant Amazon.
Black Friday is always the Friday after Thanksgiving. This, for some, signifies the start of the Christmas countdown, which means brands can take advantage of Black Friday to extend their most profitable time of year — Christmas!
On Black Friday, retail sales are in the billions — in the US, Black Friday 2020 consumers spent $9.0 billion. With a figure like that, it’s not surprising that marketers are feeling the pressure to create impactful campaigns.
There’s no doubt it’s a wildly competitive period between brands — this day represents not only a chance to increase sales but an opportunity to boost brand exposure and gain new customers.
But only if brands avoid common mistakes. Here’s what you need to watch out for.
4 Common Black Friday Campaign Pitfalls Brands Must Avoid
We all make mistakes — it’s part of being human. But some mistakes can cost you precious customers and revenue.
Are you making any of these Black Friday campaign mistakes? If you are, you might want to address them quickly before the end of November.
Mistake #1 | Assuming current customers will naturally gravitate to you
Never assume that your customers will automatically shop your Black Friday sales. Remember, they’re getting bombarded with ads from hundreds of retailers, all vying for their attention. To guarantee sales, you need to stand out.
Do this by focusing your marketing campaigns first and foremost on your loyal customers. Why? Because they’re easier to sell to! 57% of consumers will spend more on brands to which they are loyal, according to Accenture. Plus, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% yields profit increases of between 25% and 95%.
So how can you increase your retention rates and increase sales on Black Friday? By rewarding loyalty. How you reward consumers depends on what they would get the most value from. For example, in a survey by Yopto, 46% of customers want early access to sales as part of the loyalty program. Talk to your customers, find out what they want from a loyalty program, and give it to them.
Mistake #2 | Focusing too much on sales
Of course, sales are important, but not at the detriment of your brand positioning, targeting, core messaging, and values. Don’t let all that hard work you’ve done building a recognizable, relatable brand fall to the wayside! Remember, consumers are 4–6 times more likely to purchase, protect, and champion purpose-driven companies.
We understand that it’s easy to get tunnel vision when it comes to Black Friday. All you want to see is sales. However, you must take a step back and look at the long-term effects of your strategy and the bigger picture in general.
Think about how your campaign might affect your relationships with your customers. If you go after sales only, you stand to alienate your loyal target audience. To create a positive impact over time, your brand messaging needs to remain consistent. Black Friday isn’t the time to drop all of that and push a sales-only focus.
Mistake #3 | Not being reactive
The lead up to Black Friday for brands can be stressful, and the day itself is usually a whirlwind. But you can’t just press “play” on your campaign and sit back.
No campaign should be set in stone and with a big retail event like this. It’s best you approach your marketing strategy with a reactive mind. Not only does this approach help your brand stay relevant, but it can help you attract new customers.
How can you stay reactive? By keeping up with trending conversations on social media. The work you do pre-campaign is crucial, setting up landing pages, scheduling social posts, building automated email campaigns — but as the campaign is running, you need to be poised to jump on trends and news items relevant to your target market.
This way it’s easy to take advantage of newsjacking possibilities to boost your content organically. Set up keyword and branded notifications so you can react as quickly as possible.
P.S. In your pre-campaign prep, you can unlock unbiased brand information by surveying your target audience. Learn more about what they think about your competitors and use it to craft compelling campaign messaging.
Mistake #4 | Forgetting about your target audience
Any decision you make about your Black Friday campaign needs to be cross-referenced with your target audience. There is no point in spending your time learning more about your target market, painting a detailed picture of your audience segments, to then do a 180 and create campaigns they just won’t care about or relate to.
That means all ad copy, social posts, email content — all of it — needs to relate to your target audience. If you don’t do this, you risk detaching your brand from current customers.
How can you make sure your campaigns speak directly to this audience? By researching audience segments and understanding their motivation behind buying products from your brand and competing brands.
Final Thoughts
Black Friday can be stressful for marketers, but by creating a campaign that is tailored to your audience segments, you won’t stray from your brand messaging and can continue to build trusting relationships.
Here are three things to remember:
- Don’t ignore your brand values; build them into your campaign
- Analyze the most recent target audience data so your campaign is super targeted and personal
- Think about your campaign beyond Black Friday to engage brand new customers
Good luck! We look forward to seeing your Black Friday campaigns.
Originally published at https://latana.com.
