Black Friday & Cyber Monday Digital Marketing Strategies: Maximizing Your BFCM Sales

As the holiday season approaches, Black Friday and Cyber Monday—or BFCM—are the most significant shopping events of the year for eCommerce businesses and retailers alike. BFCM typically marks the start of the holiday shopping season and presents a huge opportunity for businesses to maximize online sales. Retailers must employ the right digital marketing strategies to attract new customers, drive conversion rates, and maximize order value. We’ve identified 8 key efforts for your Black Friday Cyber Monday marketing strategies to see the best results.

1. Plan Your BFCM Marketing Strategy Early

Creating a plan early on is the best way to develop a successful Black Friday Cyber Monday strategy. We recommend you start by reviewing the overall performance of your past year’s campaigns and sales. Look and see what worked and what didn’t, check customer feedback and emails, and analyze all marketing efforts surrounding BFCM. Take these insights and data to set realistic goals and develop a strategy based on what was most successful.

Pro Tip: Launch a dedicated landing page early to tease your upcoming black friday deals and cyber Monday deals. Offering early-bird access or sneak peeks can build anticipation and grow your email list.

Pro Tip 2: Have your creative briefed in ahead of time because a lot of brands already know what their sale is going to be. It is also important to upload/update those CRM lists in the platform early too so they are completely populated by the time we need them.

2. Run Effective Digital Ads

Running ads during BFCM can feel like you’re throwing money away if you’re not doing it right. BFCM is one of the most competitive times of year for ad spend, but we’ve cracked the code on how to make your ad dollars work and how to get the ROAS, conversions, and increased profits without drastically increasing spend. 

• Performance-Based Segmentation: Categorize your products into hero products, medium performers, & lower performers. This allows you to assign targeted ROAS goals & optimize ad spend based on product performance & AOV.
• Detailed Audience Signals: Leverage extensive audience signals to ensure your ads are shown to individuals most likely to convert based on their previous interactions with the brand & similar interests. This includes: past website visitors, in-market, affinity and custom audiences, as well as demographic details. If your brand utilizes GA4 and Shopify, make sure to leverage those audiences as well.
• Custom Messaging & Promotions: Create ads that feature specific promotion language & product-specific messaging tailored to resonate with your target audience and showcase the value of your for consumers.
• Combat Ad Fatigue: Implement a creative rotation strategy, refreshing ad creatives frequently, not just setting and forgetting your ads during this critical time.
• Use Real-Time Data: We like to utilize custom-built reporting, we utilize hourly data or Intra reporting. Additionally, if possible, analyze platform data from as early as Q2, to identify similarities between platform vs GA4 analytics or your brand’s source of truth.

Check out how Socium helped Eberjey increase profits, ROAS, and conversions YoY for their 2023 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Campaigns.

Pro Tip: Set up back up Primary Conversion Actions in Google and other platforms, in case the tag falls off or has an issue during BFCM. If your Primary Conversion Action is a GA4-based “Purchase” for example, set up a Website-based “Purchase” as a secondary action as a back up in case you need to switch to this. 

3. Create hype with BFCM email marketing campaigns 

Email marketing campaigns tend to be some of the most effective marketing tools for BFCM because you are marketing to people who already know and love your brand. Creating BFCM email campaigns that highlight your sales, give early access, and emphasize limited-time offers allows customers to feel special and they are more likely to convert.

• Create a sense of urgency: Use subject lines like “Don’t Miss Out on the Best Black Friday Sales” or “Cyber Monday Deals End Tonight” to drive clicks.
• Use countdown timers: Highlight limited-time offers and early access promotions with dynamic countdowns.
• Segment your email list: Tailor your messaging based on past purchases, browsing behavior, and engagement to increase relevance and boost conversion rates.

4. Optimize Your Website for SEO & User Experience

Ensuring your online store is ready to handle a surge in traffic is essential. Begin with SEO optimizations to increase visibility during the holiday shopping season and make your product pages easy to find.

• Create Dedicated BFCM product pages: Include keywords like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday sales in your meta descriptions, headlines, and image alt text.
• Enhance user experience: Make navigation seamless, optimize your checkout process, and reduce shopping cart friction to prevent cart abandonment.
• Mobile optimization: Many online shopping purchases occur on mobile devices. Ensure that your website and landing pages are mobile-friendly.
• Click Rate Optimization (CRO): Run tests before the holiday to determine opportunities for improving your conversion rates.
• Check-in on Google Search Console: Identify and resolve lingering search engine indexing issues so you get the most out of this year’s holiday marketing campaigns.

5. Leverage Social Media & Influencers

Social media plays a critical role in any BFCM marketing strategy. Use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to showcase your Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday sales.

• Visuals matter: Invest in high-quality images and videos that highlight your promo offers.
• Partner with influencers: Tap into influencer networks to extend your reach and drive online sales with limited-time affiliate promotions.
• Run ads: Implement targeted ads to reach your ideal target audience and use retargeting to re-engage visitors who have shown interest but haven’t converted.

6. Use Pop-Ups & Notifications to Capture Attention

Pop-ups and notifications can be great tools to communicate limited-time offers, highlight early access deals, and minimize cart abandonment during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Set up exit-intent pop-ups to offer a last-minute discount before a user leaves your site, or use notifications to inform customers of new sales and bfcm deals.

7. Implement Retargeting to Drive Conversions

Retargeting is a powerful tactic for reaching potential customers who have interacted with your brand but didn’t make a purchase. Whether they visited a landing page, added items to the shopping cart, or clicked on your CTAs, retargeting ads can remind them of your upcoming sales and holiday marketing campaigns.

• Personalized messaging: Use customized messaging to entice potential customers to return and complete their purchase.

8. Use Automation to Simplify Your Marketing Efforts

Automation can streamline your marketing efforts during the busy holiday shopping season. Implement automated email campaigns, set up cart abandonment reminders, and schedule notifications to keep your customers engaged.

Final Thoughts

To sum up, success during Black Friday Cyber Monday marketing strategies comes down to thorough planning, understanding your target audience, and executing a digital marketing plan that creates a sense of urgency, improves the user experience, and leverages retargeting to maximize online sales. With these tips, your small business or large ecommerce brand can navigate the busiest shopping days of the year and come out ahead of the competition.

By deploying the right Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing strategies, you can turn the holiday rush into a season of record-breaking success for your brand. Happy selling!