The holiday shopping season is quickly approaching, which means it’s just about time to start drawing up a few blueprints for your small business’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. A report from The National Retail Federation found that 20 to 40 percent of annual sales for small and mid-sized retailers occur in the last two months of the year.
But it’s not just retailers who need to prepare their Cyber Monday and Black Friday ideas to ensure a successful sales campaign. Small businesses of all sizes and shapes can capitalize on this prime-time marketing opportunity. Whether you’re in real estate or roofing, or a small business owner in any industry, here are six clever ways to get ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday right now.
First thing's first: decide on what type of Black Friday promotional deals you plan to showcase for Black Friday shopping and how you plan to execute them. Consumers will likely be expecting a free gift, slashed prices, and perhaps a few freebies during Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday sale days. Start putting in the work ahead of time to find creative ways of engaging your customers with these sales.
For example, take a page out of Trader Joe’s book and hide holiday-themed stuffed animals around your shop (or even in your website’s design). Give customers a checklist of each hidden item and a pencil so they can write down the location of each object as they find them. This is also a great way to get a new customer or two walking around your store this shopping season.
For each item found, give a percentage off their purchase—but don’t forget to switch around hiding spots to keep existing customers guessing!
Beyond in-store and online scavenger hunts, there are plenty of ways to make your Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals stand out from the rest. Get inspiration from these small business owners who found their own ways of spreading some holiday cheer. Keep in mind, retailers aren’t the only ones who can join in on seasonal fun.
No matter if you’re a bistro launching a Black Friday sale on your new avocado toast menu or if you’re a boutique clothing shop offering digital discounts for Cyber Monday, it’s best to generate a buzz before the big day.
Get people talking online and in-person a few weeks in advance of your Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday sales. Hint at a few of the special offers you plan to run in order to build excitement with new and existing customers to get the word out around your neighborhood.
How do you get the buzz going? Take to social media or email marketing:
Small businesses with heavy foot traffic in their brick-and-mortar stores can share the news of their Black Friday sales in a number of creative ways.
Here are some examples of how you can opt for a point of sale campaign instead:
If you anticipate doing a lot of online sales for both Cyber Monday and Black Friday, you’ll want to be sure your website is in tip-top shape. Here’s a checklist to help you stay on top of things before the orders start piling up:
Take a look at Hiptico, a small retail company that sells bags handcrafted by indigenous artisans in Guatemala. To contrast the vibrant colors of their website, they’ve included a solid black banner that stays put at the top of the page to make a special announcement about shipping deals.
If your business has been understaffed or just getting by with a small team, now’s the time to consider hiring extra help. It takes a lot of work to put on a successful Black Friday sale and the team will likely be putting in extra hours already to make sure all goes well. Find a few candidates who may be interested in part-time work to help pick up a few shifts when you know you’ll be at your busiest.
Before customers start filing into your business, make sure it’s dressed up for the occasion. Plan ahead to decide how you’d like to decorate your brick-and-mortar location or set aside some time to spice up your website with some holiday-themed images and color palettes. It’s a fun way to spark the holiday spirit as well as an effective tactic to show that you care about improving the customer experience both in stores and online.
Spruce-lined storefronts are an enticing way of bringing customers into your shop during Black Friday sales, but who’s to say the same couldn’t work for the real estate industry too?
Pinkham Real Estate, an agency based in northern New Hampshire, gives a few tips about how to dress up a property listing just in time for the holiday season:
Make buyers feel welcome and give them a vision of what the holiday season could look like in their new home.
Take a look, as well, at the seasonal display at Type Books, an independent bookstore. They’ve added a catchy “Season’s Readings” title and a few handcrafted mistletoe sprigs to the display. However, the shop took serious advantage of decorating with something they already had—books. Not only is this a clever display of resourcefulness, but it also catches the eye of passerby pedestrians and invites them to explore more of what’s inside their shop.
Last but certainly not least, define your goals. Before you even start planning out your Cyber Monday deals and Black Friday marketing campaigns, you’ll need to be clear about what your objectives are. Is there a specific profit margin you’re trying to reach? Are you planning to promote a new product?
Whatever your aims are, write them down and build your campaign around them. Don’t forget to include a few major key performance indicators (KPIs) as well. Here are a few KPIs to consider:
These are what you’ll use to measure how well you met your goals or where, perhaps, you may have fallen short.
Whether you’re ready to kick off your Black Friday marketing campaign or are interested in posting a job listing to hire a few extra hands, look to Nextdoor to get connected with people in your local area. By claiming a free Business Page, you can keep your neighbors in the loop about upcoming sales, new product launches, or just to show off your cozy holiday decor.
Whatever your motivation, let Nextdoor be the place that brings you closer to the people who surround you. Start building your Business Page today.
Sources:
Keap. Great Small business Black Friday Ideas. https://keap.com/business-success-blog/marketing/email-marketing/small-business-black-friday-ideas-2
OuterBox. Mobile eCommerce Stats in 2021 and the Future Online Shopping Trends of eCommerce. https://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statistics
Forbes. Do Black Friday Deals Exist in Real Estate? https://www.forbes.com/sites/trulia/2014/11/28/do-black-friday-deals-exist-in-real-estate/?sh=11b799007a31
Claim your free Business Page to get started on Nextdoor. For resources on how to use Nextdoor to stay connected with your local customers, pertinent news affecting businesses, and more, follow us at @nextdoorbusiness on Facebook.