8 Last-Minute Black Friday Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Thanks to the increasing popularity of Black Friday deals and changes in the way people shop online, there’s more opportunity than ever to take advantage of holiday sales. That’s why in this article, we’ll look at the current shopping trends for 2022, give you some tips on SME marketing and provide some advice for your last-minute Black Friday strategies.

2022 shopping trends

In 2022 we finally started to see businesses recover from the impact of the global pandemic, and shoppers returned to the high street in their thousands.

We’ve seen a significant shift in the way people research and purchase products, with considerable increases in those shopping via social media. While bargain hunters will likely always enjoy hitting the high street to sniff out exclusive deals, the post-pandemic shift toward online and social shopping is something to prepare for.

Black Friday marketing strategies

1. Get your website ready

Thanks to the post-pandemic changes in user habits, most retailers expect a good percentage of their Black Friday sales to be online this year. To capture these sales while providing a stress-free shopping experience, it's the right time to ensure your website is optimized and ready to handle the traffic.

Whether your website is managed in-house or through a developer, it's worth checking and optimizing certain aspects, such as:

• Speed, ease and flow of checkout
• Page load speed times
• Calls to action 
• Product images and descriptions 
• Refund and return policies 

Ensure your analytics tracking is optimised to capture and sort conversion data after Black Friday, too. This valuable data will track customer journeys, reveal conversion rates, highlight leading product lines and identify opportunities for improvement.

2. Optimize your social media 

Making sure your social media channels are up-to-date and informative will not only help your small business through promotional periods but help to build user trust and serve as a two-way platform for customer support.

It’s best to start seeding your Black Friday promotional messaging early instead of leaving it to the last minute – within the first week of November should do it. And make sure to be active with all your social media enquiries and interactions to build up as much customer trust and engagement as possible.

All this means you’ll have a primed audience ready to receive your promotions, and it can also aid in early-on data acquisition, such as email subscriptions or loyalty scheme sign-ups. 

3. Build your customer list

Following on from building an engaged audience on social media, you'll want to start building your customer subscriber lists early on. Avoid bombarding your users and instead try offering an incentive for signing up and make it easy to do with things like:

• Website pop-ups 
• Running a giveaway
• Early access to promotions
• Exclusive deal and product updates
• Loyalty programmes & perks
• Website chat 

4. Set up reminders 

Thanks to the competitive nature of Black Friday deals, users often switch between sites, adding various items to their baskets to snap up the best deals. To reduce cart abandonment rates, bring users back to your site and capture conversions, consider setting up email 'abandoned basket' reminders.

In the same email, remind your customer of the costs, shipping methods and the most common payment methods. You've got to make it as easy to purchase and be transparent to engender trust and conversions. 

Offering the best Black Friday deal isn’t just about having the cheapest deals around, but the most straightforward user experience and removing barriers to purchase.

5. Add value with packaging 

For many consumers, Black Friday is the perfect opportunity to make some serious Christmas shopping headway. That's why it's common to see more festive gift-like packaging from October onwards – because certain styles of packaging and multi-product bundles add value for customers and take away the hassle of gift wrapping or labelling.

So why not explore ways to add value, upsell your products and boost your sales this Black Friday through your packaging? Consider:

• Grouping products to create a gift set
• Releasing Christmas-themed products
• Offering product personalization 
• Adding stocking fillers near the checkout
• Creating a product advent calendar

You could even offer an optional gift-wrapping service. Not only is this extremely valuable for busy shoppers, but it’s also a great way to promote your brand further. Think themed paper, festive branded stickers instead of tape, limited edition packaging, physical or digital loyalty cards and other promotional collateral.

6. Promote incentives and USPs

This Black Friday, retailers will be facing more competition than ever before as consumers try to bag a bargain to save some money during these turbulent times.

One way to stand out is to promote incentives. For instance, instead of repeating the same Black Friday messaging and standard promotions, get creative and leverage your unique edge to earn customer loyalty beyond Black Friday. Whether it’s offering extended return policies, multi-buy discounts, eco-friendly packaging or next-day delivery, putting the benefits of purchasing from your business at the forefront of your customer's mind is paramount.

To take it further, consider promoting your USPs on social media, website landing pages, via ad copy and email marketing.

7. Create a gift guide 

If you’ve got a niche brand, a business with market authority or a knack for helping shoppers choose gifts, why not create a gift guide to boost inspiration? You could work in tandem with a blogger or influencer to do this or create an informative post on your website or social channels.

It's important to try and find a niche for your guide – if it’s too general, it may fall by the wayside – so use your customer data to help you target a specific audience. You could also use personalized gift guides derived from sign-up surveys as incentives for email or loyalty programme sign-ups.

8. Post-event data assessment 

To boost future promotions, it’s a good idea to evaluate data from your past Black Friday promotions. For example, products you expected to do well via paid social may have outperformed your expectations on organic channels.

Take the time to evaluate:

• Channels: Which marketing channel performed the best and for which audience segment?
• Return on investment: Which promotional efforts provided the best value for money?
• Timing: Could you have extended some promotions or added scarcity to others?
• Product upsells: Which products were purchased in conjunction with promotional offers?
• Retention: What percentage of your customers were new vs returning?

These insights will be valuable when it comes to informing future campaigns, and they can help you save time, money and increase promotional efficiency.

Small business marketing tips

As a small business, getting your marketing right is about playing to your strengths. While larger companies can appeal to the masses and drive down their costs, you have the opportunity to own your niche and home in on your unique offering.

Here are some top small business marketing tips to get you started:

• Communicate your value proposition: Share what sets you apart in your market and why
• Be present on the right channels for your business: Whether social media or niche industry forums, you need to find your audience
• Do more of what works: Be led by data and find new angles on successful campaigns
• Enable repeat business: It’s far cheaper to convert a returning customer than to acquire a new one, so incentivise repeat transactions
• Be consistent: Reinforce your marketing comms across relevant channels to prime your audience and remind them of your value
• Take a stand: Resonate with your target market by showing you care about mutual causes, such as reducing plastic or supporting social equality
• Maximize organic channels: Ensure your business is easy to find on search engines and accessible on social media
• Know your audience: To resonate with your audience, you should know who they are, where they spend their time and what they care about

Now you have all the knowledge you need to make this year's holiday shopping season the GOAT. Question is, which marketing tactic will you try first?