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It’s no longer enough for companies to have a Cyber Monday/Black Friday marketing strategy. The largest retail event of the year now extends for a full week, beginning the Friday after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday online sales have climbed from $7.9 billion in 2018 to $10.8 billion by 2020. Even more revealing are statistics showing that Cyber Week sales grew by 67% year-over-year in gross merchandise volume.
While the bulk of eCommerce sales take place on Cyber Monday, a strong Cyber Week strategy helps you get your slice of the pie throughout the week, paving the way for a strong holiday sales season. The best Cyber Week and Black Friday marketing strategies should actually begin towards the start of Q4, to build brand recognition, grow your following, and make sure customers know to look for upcoming product releases, sales, and more.
Set Your Cyber Week Goals
The best Cyber Week and Black Friday marketing strategies begin by outlining specific, tangible, and measurable goals. What are your sales goals for the week? What products need a boost in visibility for the upcoming holiday season? Where can you slash prices, and what products will be in hot demand? What are your loss leaders? Do you have enough inventory of the season’s hottest items?
Work with your sales and procurement teams to determine the goals, and then you can develop your marketing strategy around those goals. You’ll also want to determine what channels deserve the most attention and the biggest slice of your time and marketing budget. Reference traffic sources to your eCommerce site from last year.
Most people did their holiday shopping online last year, with sales at brick-and-mortar stores declining by 23.9% during Cyber Week 2020. This year could bring shoppers back to malls and big-box stores. If you have a brick-and-mortar presence, look for ways to integrate SMS campaigns with geotargeting. If you don’t, you can still use SMS to let consumers know your deals are just a click away.
Develop Your Editorial Calendar for the Holiday Season
Create an editorial calendar that outlines all the moving parts of your Cyber Week marketing strategy, including blog posts, third-party editorial campaigns, newsletters, Cyber Week/Black Friday/Cyber Monday emails, and social media. Laying it all out can help you see how your different assets will work together for consistent branding and strong impressions.
Decide on Sales and Promotions
Many eCommerce brands are already hinting at their Cyber Monday sales, which should include laptops, appliances, and plenty of smart home tech. If you haven’t come up with a plan, it’s not too late. You may decide to offer steep discounts the entire week to drive sales, or you can keep people visiting your site regularly throughout the week by offering flash sales on different days of Cyber Week.
Remember, you’re likely to get the bulk of shoppers on Cyber Monday, but there will be those who either couldn’t find what they wanted on Black Friday and Cyber Monday or were holding out for a better deal. Surprise them with a flash sale, and you’ll capture their attention and earn their loyalty.
If your eCommerce site specializes in fashion, niche gifts, or something other than tech or household goods, you have a unique opportunity to capture eyes without the need to compete with big-box, big-name retailers. Whatever sets your brand apart, keep your value proposition clear as you craft your Cyber Week marketing campaigns.
Plan Your Black Friday and Cyber Monday Emails
Email marketing should represent a significant portion of your Cyber Week marketing efforts, and you’ll want to create and implement those campaigns now. Get the attention of those on your mailing list with holiday shopping tips, gift guides, and advice that will help make their holiday-season shopping easier.
Track the results of these pre-BFCM campaigns to see which layouts, subject lines, and messaging get the best open rates and conversions. With this in mind, you’ll have a better idea of how to approach your Cyber Week email campaign, since recipients already know they can count on you to deliver great deals and useful information to their inbox regularly.
Ramp Up Your Current Digital Marketing Efforts
Blog campaigns can take up to three months to offer any sort of SEO lift. Paid search can deliver results faster, but ads may take some trial and error before you start successfully reaching your target audience and generating sales.
The takeaway? Start your Cyber Monday and Black Friday marketing ASAP, hinting at deals and providing valuable content that can help people make their buying choices once you launch your sales.
Spruce Up Your Social Feeds
Your social promotion is just as important as blog content, which means it’s also a good time to take a look at your social feeds and see how you can deliver more value. If you intend to use affiliate marketing as part of your Cyber Week plan, now is the time to line up product placements with key influencers. Develop an affiliate marketing strategy that dovetails with the rest of your social efforts to increase brand visibility and drive sales.
A RetailMeNot survey determined that 83% of customers start their holiday shopping before Black Friday. That means your email promotions for Cyber Week should begin now. Create a plan for the products you want to promote and start creating social assets now.
If you aren’t using a social media scheduling platform, consider implementing one sooner rather than later. Also, be sure that you’re responding to customer inquiries and engaging with your followers to build relationships and warm, fuzzy feelings with your audience now. This might mean staffing up your social media team or looking at a full-service marketing agency to assist with your social efforts in advance of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday season.
Get the Marketing Consultancy Help You Need
Overwhelmed with the prospect of executing your Cyber Week and Black Friday marketing strategy? Hawke Media is your full-service marketing consultancy, designed to help you create a strategic marketing plan for this crucial time. We help keep all the parts moving on the appropriate timeline and execute your strategy with our expert content creators. Get in touch today for a free consultation.
Dawn Allcot is a full-time freelance writer specializing in technology, eCommerce, and finance, and is the owner of boutique content marketing agency Allcot Media and GeekTravelGuide.net, a travel and entertainment website.
Sources
FinancesOnline.com — 67 Remarkable Cyber Monday Statistics
BigCommerce.com — 2020 Cyber Week Trends Report
RetailMeNot — Holiday Shopping By the Numbers: Trends for the 2021 Season
