Make your Black Friday deals rise above the competition by boosting your paid media campaigns with these three tips.
Prep Existing Customers
Before you begin thinking about a digital media strategy to reach your audience on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, think about how you can connect with your existing customers before the big day to share the deals you will be offering. RetailNext says that 65% of online holiday shoppers plan to browse online and then make their decision in store. Additionally, 38% of Black Friday shoppers say they plan on visiting four or more stores. Take it from an experienced Black Friday shopper like myself — customers plan ahead for their Black Friday hunt. Make sure your’re included in their plan by advertising to them ahead of time.
The easiest ways to reach your customers online in the coming weeks is through email, remarketing, and social campaigns. In your remarketing campaigns, get as granular with your audiences as your data and creative allows. Use creative that highlights specific Black Friday promotions focused on the products users have already indicated interest in on your site. If your business is running outside of their normal business hours (think, doors open at midnight), communicate this in your ad as well. With these ads, your goal should not necessarily be driving direct sales now, but rather driving offline sales on Black Friday. Direct traffic from these ads to a page on your site that shares all of your Black Friday details. To re-create this approach for social, make use of Facebook’s custom audiences to engage with previous customers and prospects. Don’t forget to make these ads and offers enticing enough to share!
Reach Your Audience in Stores
According to Google, 75% of smartphone shoppers plan on using their smartphones while in stores this holiday season. Make sure that when they do go searching for their next stop or product price comparison, you’re there. Keep your average positions on your search campaigns high on mobile devices to ensure your ads are being seen. You may need to make adjustments to your mobile bid modifiers as the season goes on to stay competitive in search.
Another opportunity to reach your customers while they are searching the mall for their next score is through push notifications on mobile devices. One of the largest providers of this service is RetailMeNot. Their audience of 15 million app users is a highly-engaged audience that is ready to purchase. Using their push notifications to send offers through their app when users are in malls or other geo-fenced locations is definitely a strategy to consider implementing for your Black Friday marketing plans.
Be Competitive
Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. You will have to compete against all other advertisers for the same customers on this crazy day. Make sure that you remain competitive both in your Black Friday promotions as well as when you are competing for real estate on the web. To make your promotions stand out, try using Google’s Ad Customizer to highlight promotions on specific products, and/or to create a sense of urgency by creating a countdown to when your promotion ends. These ads can count down exactly how many hours are left in your promotion. Example: “Sales Ends In Just 2 Hours!”
When competing for space in your search ads, bid more competitively on previous customers and prospects using Google’s Remarketing List for Search Ads. These ads allow you to take your remarketing lists and add them to your search campaigns so you can increase your bids accordingly. The users who are searching for your keywords that are already associated with your brand will be the easier sells to make during this competitive season. This is a tactic that can help drive efficiency despite the increased competition.
