The most strategic Black Friday and Cyber Monday yet

The consumer party is almost here! Black Friday is on 25th November this year – a day of juicy discounts and offers that is the starting gun for the Christmas shopping race. What’s more, immediately afterwards it’s the turn of Cyber Monday, the equivalent in the world of e-commerce.

Large and smaller shops, on-line and off-line businesses, companies in the food, computer, fashion, mobile and sports industries… every kind of business must plan for these two days when consumers are focused on shopping. And if they don’t? Just ask Amazon: on Black Friday 2015 they beat their sales record in Spain with an average of 352 orders per minute.

Foresight is vital to achieving the best results. It is essential to plan our campaigns in good time, and this is even more important for those small companies who are trying to compete with the big guys. There is still a bit more than a month to go, so let’s get the ball rolling!

Tell me who you are and I’ll give you what you need

Focusing on the type of consumer, their profile, their buying intentions and their needs, here we offer some keys to make sure your marketing strategies hit their target:

• Be creative: both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are known worldwide and therefore your public will not settle for more of the same, but rather will appreciate the most creative promotion possible. Dazzle with something innovative and splash out on originality.
  Millennials (young people between 16 and 35 who are well-informed, demanding and with an eminently digital profile) form the largest group of consumers on these days and they want to be surprised by interesting offers.
  In addition, several studies have shown that during Black Friday men do most of the buying, whereas during Cyber Monday, it’s the women. Take that into account when developing your campaigns.
• Use all the channels at your disposal: from off-line publicity to SMS or email, passing through social media and mobile apps. And why not a YouTube video?
  This is where the Millennials, inseparable from their smartphones, come back into play. They use their mobile to keep up-to-date, but more and more often they use it for shopping too. That is why it is essential that you have an optimised website, so that it can be navigated perfectly from one of these devices.
• Give immediate attention: these two days are especially busy and you must deal with your clients quickly and well. They want to buy, here and now, without any snag. Be ready to respond to their queries and requirements. If necessary, bring in “reinforcements”.
• Offer much more than discounts: Black Friday and Cyber Monday stand out for their discounts on thousands of products that entice shoppers. But you can also feature other special offers and advantages, such as removing postage costs or offering discounts on future purchases.
• Create a sense of urgency: the profile of many of the shoppers on Black Friday fits impulsive people who are attracted by tempting products and offers. Exploit this by making imperative and evocative calls to action that create “urgency to buy”.
• Take advantage of before and after: many shoppers are anxious for Black Friday to begin, so put your clients on alert with a prior communication that announces your participation in the event. Also, extend your offers over the weekend (and a few days more after Cyber Monday) for the “stragglers”. It will certainly lead to a more fruitful final outcome.

And don’t forget that Christmas is just around the corner!