When is the best time to start your campaign to bring in sales?

We’re all aware of how the likes of Black Friday and the entire Christmas period can pull in a huge amount of sales for brands of all different industries, but knowing how to capture an audience as a brand is crucial. To understand the influence these types of events can have on sales, we look at data surrounding previous Black Friday and Boxing Day sales:

The power of Black Friday

Making its mark in the UK in 2010, Black Friday has caused a lot of consumer chaos amongst British customers and this has led to the adoption of what once was an all-American event. In 2010, Amazon introduced ‘Black Friday discounts’ to its British consumers, which then had a snowball effect. Now, most retailers around Britain battle for consumer attention — and whether they’re successful or not comes down to their advertising techniques.

As a brand, you don’t need to worry about reminding your customers about Black Friday as it’s a date that’s saved in everybody’s calendar. It proves the perfect opportunity for consumers to get goods at a discounted price. November is the new December! Consumers are looking for the best deals that will potentially go towards Christmas presents for loved ones (and that third cousin who buys for you, so you feel obliged to return the favour!). Whatever the scenario, Black Friday has managed to market itself organically in the minds of British consumers.

Black Friday sales have seemingly increased over time, 2016 saw sales go up by 12.2% where shoppers spent an astonishing £1.23bn.  The day after saw shoppers spend £561m with sales that continued across the weekend. Sunday saw a higher result of spend in Britain with consumers cashing out £676m. Cyber Monday, which has close ties to the Black Friday event, saw £968m worth of shopping.

Research provided from Ometria said that orders placed around Black Friday this year rose by 9%. The same source said that revenue increased for companies by 10% over the Black Friday weekend showing that this is a great marketing opportunity for businesses. In terms of advertising, mass emails accounted for 50% more total revenue than usual.

Popular department store John Lewis reportedly did very well during 2017’s Black Friday, with sales increasing by 7.2% and raking in £214m. Products that sold well included those relating to beauty, with sales going up to 27.5%. Electrical products went up by 9.3% and women’s fashion by 8.3%.

Will Boxing Day sales stand strong?

Before Black Friday was a hit in the UK, Boxing Day sales was a stepping stone of excitement before entering the New Year. This is an event that happens across different British territories, too. However, many people believe that the introduction of Black Friday in the UK has had a huge impact on Boxing Day sales.

As Boxing Day sales has become quite the British tradition, it has self-marketed itself into the mind of UK consumers and has reaped its benefits in the past. But with Black Friday lurking close by, it would seem that the anticipation for Boxing Day sales has vanished…

2016 saw that customers who went out to find the best Boxing Day deals dropped by 9%, on 2015’s record which stood at 32%.  Is it possible consumers already snapped up the best deals from the Black Friday sales that occurred a month earlier? The research shows that this was the likely cause. Boxing Day sales in 2016 had dipped by 6.7% on 2015’s results. This included clothing stores, where they had a small drop of 3.2%.

Getting your advertising right as a brand

There’s a difference in the way you market for different events across the year, and it’s vital to know how to do it right. It’s important to start with email marketing and communicating with your current newsletter subscribers first. They were kind enough to give you their details, now it’s your duty to give them a light and ‘exclusive’ reminder that your store will be providing sales on the corresponding date that you’re wanting to promote.

Simply reminding your current customers will not suffice and will see you fall behind your competitors when it comes to making the most sales – use your presence to your advantage and when it comes to email marketing, inform them that you’ll release some sort of discount code in the run up, make your newsletter subscribers feel powerful – make it feel exclusive to them. After you’ve sent your first, the news that your store will be offering discounts will travel through word of mouth and potentially get coverage from bloggers and seasonal discount posts by larger publications. We recommend that you start your email advertising at the beginning of November for Black Friday and mid-December for Boxing Day sales, which doesn’t give your consumers too much of a long wait. According to Custora, 25.1% of Black Friday sales originated from email marketing, showing that this is a beneficial way to influence an audience.

Email marketing can be tricky and this is where you need to have a more knowledgeable approach to ensure you don’t end up at the bottom of your customers inbox, remember that they get plenty other emails off your competitors – knowing what time zone your customers are in and distribute your email marketing piece accordingly. It’s also important to use language which will equal an action such as “Save the date!” or “Add this to your calendar”. Remember that you could create a segmentation for different customers, those who have been loyal and those who are relatively new — the same campaign targeting two types of people in different styles.

Social media platforms can be powerful if used correctly surrounding the salesy period. With 2.07 billion of monthly active users on Facebook, 800 million on Instagram and 330 million monthly active users on Twitter — it would be a mistake to ignore the huge opportunity that comes with a free platform that provides the potential to reach millions of people. When it comes to advertising, start organically and reach your current followers. As the date comes closer, whether this is the 24^th of November or 26^th of December, start paid promotions to increase awareness for the deals that you have. Using influencers is another good way to get brand recognition, however, this is highly dependent on the type of industry you are operating in.

To get the most out of your advertising, we advise that you start closer to the event rather! Once you start advertising, people will be able to become more familiar with your brand and start looking at reviews. Online reputation becomes crucial at this point, as 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business and 88% of consumers trust online reviews as if they were coming from a friend.

If you’re looking to become a top marketer with global influence, here at Cleveland College of Art and Design, we offer a digital design degree, to help eager creatives make their mark in the industry.