FEATURED: ALL THE BLACK FRIDAY TIPS YOU NEED TO KNOW, FEATURED IN THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS!

Our recent article, that can be found below has been featured in the Manchester Evening News, helping businesses of every size maximise on the Black Friday rush. Want to know more.. read on or find the article on the MEN.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/black-friday-advice-retailer-manchester-15445654

Opinion: How to get Black Friday right if you are a retailer

Ricardo Seixas, head of digital at Click Tap Media explains how to make the most of the Christmas shopping phenomenon

By Lucy Roue

WHAT IS BLACK FRIDAY?

The term Black Friday was first used to describe the financial collapse in the US Gold Market in 1869 and later used by the Philadelphia Police to negatively describe the hoard of football fans travelling to the city after thanksgiving, before the big game on the following day.

Some years later, Black Friday caught on in Philly as the start of the Christmas shopping season craziness, and in 1961 retailers attempted to convert it into something positive and named it “Big Friday”.

It was only in the 80s that retailers finally reinvented Black Friday into a positive experience that it is today, by marking it the day that America’s stores finally turned a profit.

But between the 80s and today, Black Friday fundamentally changed yet again: it now happens mostly online and on your phone.

BRAND LOYALTY

Consumers already know what they plan on buying as early as October and for this reason brand loyalty is the most important aspect of Black Friday - one that you can only build with a long-term strategy and not a quick win strategy.

But fear not, if you’ve been sleeping at the wheel, there is still time to capture the insane amount of traffic generated in this “holiday”, since for some category’s consumers are still considering options, brands and of course price point – with the latter being the most important.

The best example of this is the TV market. So…if you’re late to the game here are your best options:

FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED BUDGETS

Forget search, display ads, etc… let’s talk about social media. And depending on your target demographic, go all-in on Instagram.

Instagram engagement and growth are sky-rocketing and without a shadow of a doubt it is the platform that provides the highest ‘Return-On-Ad-Spend’, in average, across all verticals.

Keep in mind that there is no point on going all-in with a boring static image.

Instagram is the new Super Bowl, so you need to be creative, capture attention and find a message that resonates with both the audience, that “lives” in Instagram and a USP that is relevant to them.

Consider animated GIF’s and video. If you or your team manages advertising, here are some ideas for campaigns:

FOMO!

The Black Friday weekend countdown. If you’ve got deals planned for the weekend and into Cyber Monday – create urgency with Countdown Ads.

Let your users know what a deal they are getting and it’s not going to last. Amazon’s lightening deals are an excellent example of this by creating scarcity and fear of missing out with the best deals on the homepage and only available for a few hours.

STAGING YOUR BLACK FRIDAY DEALS

It’s time to reward your best customers with the best deals.

Encourage the actions you want your customers to take – ‘sign up’ for early access to Black Friday deals. Making your loyal customers feel rewarded is key to Black Friday to success.

GET CREATIVE!

Pieminister are running a Black 'Pieday’ campaign this year, where surplus frozen stock will be given in return for a donation to Shelter the homeless charity. Goodwill goes down a treat with Christmas just around the corner.

Finally, you can choose to not participate (madness I hear you cry). Cards Against Humanity actually put their prices up in a stance against Black Friday and amazingly their sales increased vs. the last year. This is largely due to the campaign being well received and going to the top of Reddit.

The main takeaway here is that your goals and your brand tone of voice are more important over Black Friday than ever. There are more options depending on your demographics and vertical.

Beyond Facebook (older demographic), Pinterest is not a common platform across the brands we work with, but it is a highly relevant platform since it is mostly a discovery tool where there is intent. The only two other networks with intent is Google Search and YouTube.

IF YOU HAVE POUNDS TO SPARE!

So, you slept at the wheel and didn’t work brand loyalty during the year and still have a good budget? Well, the sky is the limit, but you might be too late for some options.

Google Search is mostly going to be the answer because it is the only channel where you can capture consumers with high intent and who are still considering options.

This means that shoppers who are still undecided on brand and/or products, will go to Google Search to find deals, options, etc. But it’s an all-out war in bidding and spend that might not prove profitable so a good experienced search strategy is important.

For a second option (and keep in mind that this will vary with vertical), we’d suggest a maximum visibility programmatic display campaign.

Get yourself on online magazines, key newspaper titles and sector relevant websites. Whilst the CPM is often higher during Black Friday Weekend – conversion rates are significantly higher as consumers have marked this as a key date to get deals.

If your product is in demand and your margins high enough any expensive Black Friday advertising should be more than offset. Video is king so add into the mix engaging video pre-roll or even expand to YouTube.

And speaking of video and increasing exposure, TV reach is still unmatched.

If you planned to run a TV campaign, syncing it up with digital media is extremely important. Think about your potential buyer behaviour and how he/she uses multiple medias, touch points and its journey.

According to a Facebook case study, dual screen visibility gives your brand 25% more impact when you combine both. This is particularly important because you mix television’s brand trust to the short consumer journey to purchase of Facebook Ads.

To end, we suggest a Throw Back to the 80s by searching YouTube for Black Friday Crazy Shoppers. Enjoy!