The Evolution of Black Friday

Written By: Danielle Gazda

While the phenomenon known as Black Friday has questionable origins, potentially going back to the 1800s, the retail holiday as we know it today started in Philadelphia in the 1950s. This is when people from the suburbs flooded the city for an annual Army-Navy football game and a round of discount shopping. However, the use of the term “Black Friday” for the post-Thanksgiving shopping spree didn’t become a nationwide trend until the 1980s. Read more about the history of Black Friday and the myths surrounding its origin on the History Channel website.

In its 40 years of being an official retail holiday, Black Friday has evolved greatly. A significant development was the first-ever e-commerce transaction, which happened in 1994. As e-commerce has taken off in the past two decades, first with websites and now through social media, how people purchase what they want and need has transitioned away from physical retail locations. Black Friday is no longer the physical fight it used to be (well, it usually isn’t), but brands are still finding ways to entice people to shop online and in stores.

Here are some Black Friday best practices all retail businesses should know:

Month-Long Sales

Black Friday is no longer confined to just a single day or even the following weekend, which includes Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. In the past few years, many brands have opted to create pockets of sales throughout the month of November. These sales sometimes even start in late October.

You don’t have to discount items during this entire time, but it’s good to get a leg up on holiday shoppers who don’t want to leave things to the last minute or hate feeling limited to a single day, especially if they need to go in person.

These discounts can start small — for example, with free shipping — and ramp up throughout the month as it gets closer to Black Friday.

In-Store Exclusives

If you have physical locations and you’d prefer to have at least part of your customer base shop in person, then offering exclusive in-store discounts is a great option. It may be worth staggering your online and in-store deals, so you can draw more people into your stores. Start with limited discounts online and add further offerings in-store to reach that initial wave of holiday shoppers in your area. 

It’s a great idea to advertise in-store deals in marketing newsletters or on paid social media ads with proximity location targeting.

Special Discounts for Loyal Customers

If your brand has a rewards program, VIP group, or even a newsletter, you can target loyal customers with exclusive deals just for them. Repeat customers are more likely to actually make a purchase and to purchase a large number of items. They may be interested in buying for themselves or giving gifts to loved ones and friends who may, in turn, also become loyal customers. People often have more trust in brands that are recommended to them by people they’re close to.

Holiday Marketing

Competitive holiday marketing is key to making Black Friday sales work for your company. As with most things, it takes money to make money. Investing in ads across social media and Google is your best bet for reaching a wider audience or an audience that is most likely to complete a purchase. Other brands will be doing the same thing, so bids for display space may be higher than you would usually be comfortable with. Finding the right balance of creative assets, copy, landing page, and other elements may be difficult, but in the end, it should be worth it.

Newsletters, as mentioned earlier, are a great way to reach already interested customers. If they’ve signed up for emails from your brand, then they have probably made a purchase in the past, or, with the right deal, are likely to make a purchase in the future. Utilize newsletters to share sales, exclusive discount codes, promote best-selling or low-selling items, and inform customers about restocks and product availability. 

The last part of holiday marketing is promoting your business on social media. Aside from paid advertising, social media is how many people now find products and services they’re interested in buying. Don’t forget to keep up with your social media posting. Share your products, share online and in-store promotions, and run a few giveaways. Giveaways during the holiday season can get people excited about your products — and even if audience members don’t win, they may be more likely to look at your website and make a purchase anyway.

If you’re interested in stepping up your holiday marketing strategy, check out some of our other holiday marketing blogs. You can also contact us through our website, or email us at info@thisis270m.com, for help in working on your digital marketing strategy.

Take a Break from Product Posts

Written by: Danielle Gazda

 

If you advertise on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms, here’s something to think about: Audiences can become bored by endless posts about a company’s products or services. 

If they are already following you, then they know what you’re selling, where they can purchase items, and what your claims about your products or services are. So why should audiences keep following a brand that they already know and buy from? For some, it’s brand loyalty or identification with the product. For others, it’s the hope of finding out about new products or getting discount codes. However, when those aren’t possibilities, audiences need something else to keep their attention.

Fun, trendy posts can be a great way to keep your audience engaged and  interact with them. Let’s have a look at a few different types.

 

Current Events

Posts about current events are a great way to start. Keep up with events, such as sports championships, the Olympics, and major news stories. Even if your company isn’t a sports brand, showing support when a hometown team is involved in a big game can go a long way toward community building. Most companies stay away from politics, but if you want your company to reflect your opinions, it can be good to post about various causes you support. You can hold fundraisers around the winter holidays or in a relevant month.

Holidays

Widely celebrated holidays are also important sources of material. You can choose them based on your audience’s demographics, how a holiday relates to your product, geographic location, or other factors. Some companies choose to acknowledge as many as possible, so they can include their whole audience. Popular holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Halloween are also great for promoting special offers. Make sure you also acknowledge country-specific or regional holidays based on where your audience is from, not just where your company is located.

‘National’/Social Media Holidays

Other holidays to observe are the so-called “National” holidays — as in, National Read Across America Day or National Hydration Day. You can find calendars online that show you what weird, thoughtful, or just plain fun holidays will be celebrated in a given month. There are also national holiday weeks and months — as in, National Mental Health Awareness Week and National Noodle Month. The holidays on these calendars are also great for marking the changing of seasons or reminding your followers of the observances that occur during a month. Browse through them to find holidays that fit in well with your brand. There are food, beauty, medical, mental health, nature, animal/pet holidays, and so many more.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a list of them at the beginning of each month.

Memes

Memes are tried and true, but can actually be tricky to navigate. Audiences may see companies as trying too hard if they overdo posting memes. It’s best to keep them relevant to trends that are very popular at the time of posting and to keep the posting of memes to a minimum — one or two per month is usually enough. There are exceptions depending on the format of the meme and what your company can say by using it. Remember that memes are meant to be fun and funny, so don’t overthink them.

Audio Trends

Audio trends are going to be most relevant if your company utilizes TikTok for marketing. (Some of these can also translate well to Instagram Reels.) Audio trends are clips of songs or viral phrases that go in and out of fashion very quickly, so it is important to keep up to date. There are a few evergreens that can always be brought back or revitalized if the topic of content requires it. Use these well and sparingly though — as with memes, if audio trends are overused, audiences may think you’re trying too hard to be relevant to younger users.

 

Spice up your social media profiles with some of these fun post ideas. Marketing is no longer straightforward advertising of a product; being trendy, relatable, and human are becoming far more important. That’s how you bring in an audience and keep them coming back for more.