Did you know that in 2022, shoppers spent a whopping $211.7 billion during the Black Friday season? 

This is why small business owners worldwide leverage Black Friday as an opportunity to boost sales. But here's a heads-up! The massive sales don't just happen by chance. 

Despite the promo codes and marketing strategies, you need a reliable and speedy payment option to receive and make payments. 

Let's explore five practical Balck Friday marketing strategies you can explore this year. But firstly, where did Black Friday and Cyber Monday originate from?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Brief History.

Various stories surround the origin of Black Friday, with the word "black" having varying meanings. 

A common narration describes this season as the period after Thanksgiving when businesses would record a profit boost (marked as black in accounting) after a massive year-round loss (marked by red). 

Another generally accepted tale tells of a situation in Philadephia in the 1950s when huge crowds of people would rush into the city in anticipation of the big Army-Navy football. This ultimately created traffic jams and chaos, which the police would try really hard to control. 

In today's retail world, people refer to the last Friday of November and the following weekend; for 2024, Black Friday will happen on the 29th of November. On the other hand, Cyber Monday is the first Monday following Black Friday and is used to spread promos and offers online.

Black Friday Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business

1. Organise a Friendly Black Friday Contest

Are you looking for a way to attract customers this Black Friday? You can easily create a light contest to spark potential customer engagement and interest. 

The winner then gets to win a free product from your store or a service your business provides. A great idea for a friendly contest can be asking your customers to pick a favourite product from your store and share how they plan to use it on instagram. 

They can then get friends to like the post, comment, and follow your business page. This ultimately boosts traffic and awareness for your brand and improves customer interaction.

2. Create Timed Deals

Most people dislike the idea of missing out on something trending. This is why, as a business owner, you can leverage the sense of urgency on deals that motivate people to buy. Various ways you can utilise time limits as a strategy for your Black Friday sales include;

• Early bird deals: "The early bird gets the fattest worm." Yup! You can reward your earliest shoppers with a special discount, which eventually attracts a lot of people to your site or shop, especially within a limited timeframe.

• Deals by the hour: A good way to make people' stalk' your website is to offer a special sales deal that changes hourly. For instance, you could offer different discounts on different products at different hours of the day.

• Deals by the day: You can elevate your hourly deals by offering special discounts on the days leading up to Black Friday. 

• Final Chance deals: Here, you can offer special deals to customers who didn't have a chance to purchase before the limit windows.

You can easily promote your timed deals via email marketing, social media channels, or a website with countdowns that increase the hype. 

3. Make use of Email marketing

Promoting special discounts and deals through newsletters can easily expand your email subscriber list. This way, you make it easy for potential customers to make desired purchases by clicking a button on their email. 

4. Offer Free Gifts with Customer Purchases

Most people love to receive gifts, and you can take advantage of that feeling to boost your Black Friday sales. By simply offering an incentive of a free gift item for every purchase they make, you can increase engagement and referrals to friends. 

You can play around with a mystery gift item to boost expectations, complimentary gift items with purchases, small product samples, and free-choice gifts by customers. 

5. Use Speedy Mobile Payment Options

With Black Friday sales comes an increased number of payment transactions. Unfortunately, this can take a toll on payment providers, as there might be delays and glitches during transactions. 

You can stay ahead of the competition by using fast and reliable payment platforms such as a point of sale terminal (POS), and personal and business banking accounts. 

Moniepoint MFB offers business owners and shoppers business and personal bank accounts they can use to pay and receive speedy, reliable, and safe transfers.

On a Final Note

Get creative and efficient this Black Friday season as a business owner and take advantage of deals, promos, and other marketing tactics to boost sales. 

There isn't a single perfect strategy for Black Friday sales, so you can try different ideas and find the unique one that best suits your business. 

Remember, stay ahead of the bustle by using Moniepoint's reliable and speedy payment option.