For those Small Businesses that didn’t get a chance to participate in BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) promotions this year, and for those business owners who did but went into the weekend feeling under-prepared, don’t worry! We can help you do better next time.

 

Having Black Friday FOMO? Don’t Sweat It!

Not all small or medium businesses have the budget or manpower to hold huge Black Friday promotional events each year. It is also understandable if a small business doesn’t have the ability to invest in expensive paid advertising campaigns, which have the tendency to become even pricier between November 24 - November 27. Luckily, there are other ways to make the most of the popular shopping holidays and to boost sales during the BFCM phenomenon.

 

Some budget-friendly Black Friday and Cyber Monday ideas worth trying are:

  

  1. Opt for Organic Reach.

    Instead of pooling more cash than you can afford to a lost cause against big corporations, focus on providing value to your customers through content and utilizing keywords, optimizing your SEO and reaching users via social media organically.
    This takes a lot more time than paying for an ad, but the results can be tremendous and it costs far less.

  2. Leverage Your Contact List.

    Use your database of existing customers or contacts for Email Marketing. This can be a powerful tool to use, just make sure not to abuse any customer information by calling them too many times. I recommend sending a visually appealing newsletter detailing the exclusive upcoming promotions or holiday-only items.

  3. Start Early With A Fully-Formed Strategy.

    It doesn’t cost you anything to plan early and make sure you are well-prepared with a battle-plan early on. Shoppers on Pinterest already start saving items they are interested in and pinning them months before the holiday season!

  4. Give Them A Sneak Peak!

    Shoppers have enough stress to deal with, knowing they only have a limited amount of time to make all of their wise purchases. If you want one of these purchases to include what your business is offering, let your customers know what will be available early on! Make sure they don’t miss your promotion the day-of by giving them time to plan and take your goods into account.

  5. Target Local Customers, It’s Trending.

    As an SMB, you may not be shipping to Asia and your audience may be closer by. Make sure that if you are running any type of campaign, you aim for the correct target audience. If you are already marketing to a local demographic, why not capitalize on it? Buying local and supporting your local economy is in, so let everyone know your company is trendy and why they should support you!


buy local

As an SMB owner, there are also constant difficult decisions you must make in the best interest of your business.It might seem impossible to compete against the big leagues in paid advertising, whether it’s due to the obvious gap in resources they have as an advantage over you, or due to the brand recognition, they have had so much more time to perfect. Don’t let this discourage you, however, as holidays are not only relevant to the big leagues.Luckily, smaller companies have a whole different ball game complete with their own set of rules and opportunities.

 

Creative Ways To Boost Sales During BFCM:

 

  1. Focus On Your Existing, Loyal Fans!

    You can try offering them incentive to pass the word onto their friends and family, but make sure that it will be worth their while, or you risk losing precious assets!

  2. Be Tech Savvy

    Set yourself apart from some of the other small business competition. No matter what type of sales or services you offer, prepare to accept payments of all forms, even if this means installing a payment app on your phone and purchasing a small hardware to accept credit cards.

  3. Stock Up!

    This may seem exceedingly obvious, but nothing could be worse than missing out on numerous sales during the holiday season simply because you were unprepared for the right quantity of best-selling items. Make sure you have plenty of goods left in stock!


  4. Be Mobile.

    Shoppers today expect to be able to purchase any goods or services from the comfort of their smartphones. According to CNBC, already at 10am on the morning of Black Friday this year, online sales were up 18 percent since Black Friday of 2016. According to Statista.com, in 2021, 53.9 percent of all retail e-commerce is expected to be generated via m-commerce. Be sure your business is prepared for this tremendous growth and plan accordingly.

 

When all's said and done, I must admit that certain holidays aren’t for everyone. Although the above tips can help many businesses peak during the mother of all sales holidays, they can also be utilized for your business all-year-round. If the madness of BFCM is not suitable for your particular industry, target audience, or brand, don’t let the FOMO get to you. The integrity and ultimate success of the business you run and hold dear is far more important than any trend or fleeting opportunity, so don’t throw away money or give away goods just because you feel you have to. Chances are your sales will increase around the holiday seasons either way, simply because demand will be higher than usual. If you are amongst the business owners who wanted to participate and feel like they missed out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday profits this year, make sure to implement as many of the strategies above going forward so you can thrive during BFCM 2018! 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!