Black Friday Marketing Ideas and Examples For 2024

Black Friday is a global tradition of shopping madness that traditionally kicks off the Christmas shopping season. Retailers, initially only offline, offered huge discounts on their products, which sometimes led to crowds besieging stores and stampeding each other in pursuit of the desired items.

Today, Black Friday is seen both online and offline, with companies extending the period to Cyber Monday or even Black Week. The changes are reflected by adjusting the Black Friday marketing strategy to the new reality. Yet it is far from easy.

Building a comprehensive Black Friday Marketing Strategy

In its reality, Black Friday Sales are a super-competitive environment, where brands, shops and organizations compete for target audience - its attention and purchasing power. Online shoppers are basically flooded with messages and offers that can merge into a puddle of indistinguishable noise.

So are the Black Friday Marketing Campaigns futile? Not at all. Yet the key is to build a Black Friday marketing strategies that follow the rules below:

• Understanding the audience - Black Friday deals are everywhere, so offering just a discount code is not enough to get noticed. The key is in understanding how the audiences is thinking and that different groups of

• Creating a compelling offer - Black Friday Shoppers perceive Black Friday deals in different ways. Some of them fight for discount only, some want exclusive deals with no vip discount required, while others can be convinced by an early access to their favorite goods or free shipping. On the other hand, free gift from an online store is a common and widely seen Black Friday marketing strategy.

• Omnichannel approach - creating a Black Friday marketing strategy requires also an orchestration of available channels and messages. Black Friday marketing efforts need to be planed and executed in an omnichannel way, so the potential customers are reached on social media platforms they use, email marketing remind customers about special deals or flash sales, they see products they look in carousel ad, or dynamic ads and are reached by paid media.

• Personalization - the tools mentioned above will not support Black Friday marketing strategy without personalization. With ecommerce store having a direct access to user's purchasing history, what customers spend their money on and what attract customers the most, it would be a waste of money and effort to not use this knowledge for company benefit. Also, personalization is something holiday shoppers are used to and what they expect from the company.

• Transparency - last but not least, it is vital to stay transparent when launching the Black Friday campaign. One cannot design the Black Friday Marketing Strategy without being fair toward potential customers. Even the best and brightest holiday season ad will not work if the rules are unclear or ambiguous. For example if there is a conditional free gift or conditional free shipping, the conditions and rules need to be comprehensive and easy to understand. The ecommerce store that delivers super-tempting Black Friday sales yet full of traps that make the offer impossible to get will never transform new customers into loyal customers. Also, instead of building the reach, the brand gets hurt and the overall customer satisfaction drops.

Black Friday Marketing Examples

There are multiple tricks in Black Friday campaign playbook and Black Friday marketing strategies to use. The most obvious (and least creative) ones include:

Offering discounts

this is basically what triggered the tradition. Black Friday promotions are traditionally used to save on holiday purchases, especially on Christmas gifts for friends and family. Depending on black Friday marketing strategies fitting target groups, there may be either flat, sitewide discount, conditional discounts, or combinations of both. Loyal customers may also get exclusive discounts based on their purchasing history.

Early access

For example to new products or services, that may be super attractive for existing customers, to show them how valued they are. Early bird specials can be also extremely tempting during a freshly started holiday shopping season. If the store visitors are looking for some more exclusive gifts for their significant ones, offering something extra for only few hours a year can be a perfect black friday marketing campaign. When switching between Black Friday and Christmas campaigns it is always good to use our scheduler, so you don't miss any traffic during the learing period of targeting algorithm from the channel you use.

Mystery savings add

This technique offers the combination of discount with a thrill of discovery and surprise. Mystery savings is an idea powerful enough to support a whole Black Friday campaign - if executed properly.

Bundle deals

From the online shopping companies perspective, bundles are one of the best black Friday marketing strategies to combine high- and low- margin deals into one, to flatten the discount's impact on profitability.

Offering free shipping

Logistics and shipping costs may be a significant blocker for customers. Cutting the shipping costs for Black Friday season is undoubtedly a smart Black Friday Marketing tactic.

Countdown timers

Countdown timer has a great psychological impact on the users and tend to boost sales by creating a high sense of urgency. When paired with other Black Friday promotion ideas, the countdown timer can be a perfect way to build anticipation for the holiday sales.

Yet the problem with Black Friday promotion ideas listed above is the fact that they are common and seen everywhere. With customers flooded with information about upcoming black friday deals, standing out with some Black Friday marketing idea is extremely hard.

The challenge here is that not only does everyone offer discounts, but bigger players tend to offer deeper ones, and on more products. Combined with the overall shopping frenzy during Black Friday and Black Week, discounts alone are usually not enough to stand out from the crowd—not to mention the fact that discounts hurt profit margins.

However, creativity is the solution, and the strategies and examples below illustrate this perfectly.

Anti-Black Friday Ad Examples

Some companies simply go against the flow and don't embrace the Black Friday period madness of shopping, for various reasons—from brand philosophy to social responsibility, or just to stay consistent with their identity.

Cards against humanity ad example

Cards Against Humanity is a party game renowned for its political incorrectness and offensive content. The players need to finish the statements printed on the cards, usually in most offensive way. The game was a Kickstarter success and communicates accordingly to its brand.


 

To challenge the worldwide buying madness, the company has actually increased the price of game by $5 instead of giving discount. One would think that the company that does such an insane move would massively lose sales. Not this time.

Interestingly, despite higher price, the game not only defended its Amazon's best selling status, but also witnessed a spike in sales (according to Wikipedia). Offering price increase instead of discount and to encourage customers to buy in the same time is truly nonconformist Black Friday marketing idea!

Patagonioa's Don't buy this Jacket ad example

Patagonia is a renowned outdoor company, known for longevity and reliability of its products. The company also is respected for its commitment toward ecology. A Black Friday sale with no sale at all.

To challenge the Black Friday shopping madness, the company launched "Don't buy this jacket" campaign, where instead of providing the audience with discounts, it asked for a more conscious shipping.

Humorous Black Friday Ad Examples

Not every brand is suited for going 100% against the flow. Following the shopping frenzy, yet with a more relaxed, tongue-in-cheek attitude is also a popular approach.

Target Crazy Lady ad example

Target is a popular retail discount chain, competing directly with Walmart and Amazon. The company has shown how "crazy lady" is preparing for the shopping madness, running a litera; "shopping workouts" with baskets.

Apart from being funny, the ad is putting a strong emphasis on how a good preparations for the shopping day can be not only fun, but also worth the preparations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFBsxwKHT14

Bed, Bath Beyond for the house ad example

Bed, Bath and Beyond sells home goods, including sheets, towels and curtains. The Black Friday ad shows the customer's internal rationalizations for buying particular products in a form of dialogue between the lady and the shop assistant. The phrase repeated again and again is that the purchase is not for her, but "for the house"and Black Friday sale is in fact a way to serve a "house", not a way to have a shopping fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AG6hh7oKVA

Amazon cardboard epicness ad example

Amazon is the biggest e-commerce on the planet, with distinctive smiles on every cardboard used. Showing the cardboard person running in slow-motion, with an epic music in background an uncommon and funny way to show the company's convenience from the user's point of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Eynq2pEuc

Gamification Black Friday Ad Examples

Gamification is a popular tool to engage the users and encourage them to interact with the ad. On the other hand though, it is challenging to do so in a smart way. Yet there are companies succeeding.

Toumani's Guess the image ad example

Finnish retailer Toumani has invited the users to participate in a game of guessing the image. Starting from a tiny bit, the image gradually expands, unraveling more details. If one guessed, the discount was granted. This approach that engages the audience is way more interesting than simple countdown timers.

BabySam's swiping game ad example

BabySam is an another example of Scandinavian retailer in this list. The brand has played with the concept of swiping left or right in the Tinder-like manner, showing that one likes or dislikes the discount. The users could later see the summary of liked deals and add them to the basket. Again, going less mainstream than simple countdown timers proved to be an interesting and exciting approach.

Truly unique Discounts Black Friday Ad Example

Giving a discount is simple. Yet there are multiple reasons to actually not give a discount - from the overall image of the luxury brand, to tiny margins, that cannot be easily reduced without hurting the profitability. Yet still there are ways to overcome this challenge.

Barnes and Noble signed books

Barnes and Noble, a renowned publishing house has approached offering more for less in a more innovative manner. Instead of cutting price, it has rather increased the value of the item by selling half million of signed books from its leading authors for a regular price. The compescame from authors including Lee Child, Rupi Kaur, Nick Offerman, Reese Witherspoon, and many more.
 

Glossier's the only discount of the year

Glossier is a beauty brand that offers no discounts throughout the year. Black Friday sale is the only exception of this rule, with 25% discount for all offer. This approach creates a sense of urgency. If one will not make it this season, the next opportunity will be no earlier than next Black Friday sale.

This approach is interesting for a multitude of reasons. First of all - it boosts customer loyalty by making them wait for a discount for a whole year. Also, when this is the ONLY discount throughout a whole year, it is a killer move among limited time deals.

Community engagement Black Friday Ad Example

Going viral is one of the holy grails of modern digital marketing. If the users are willingly sharing the images and encourage others to participate, the reach may be unbelievable. Yet, there are brands that consciously engineered the viral by encouraging the community to engage.

Walmart's tiktok dance

Walmart has shown true understanding of the nature of TikTok challenges. The company encouraged the users to dance while showcasing the discounted items. The Black Friday campaign was kickstarted with influencer collaboration.

Black Friday Marketing Ideas For 2024

The incoming Black Friday is a great opportunity for e-commerce brands and online stores to reach new customers as well as activate existing ones. To do so, the company needs to leverage the following channels:

• Social media - depending on the type of the product, using Facebook or Instagram is one of the key ways to promote the offer. Depending on the industry and niche, there are multiple ways to leverage this channel. With its hunger for impressive visuals, Cropping can be a super-helpful tool, enabling the company to produce massive numbers of images for social media posts in a fully automated way. Automating the creative work may not only help to reach new customers but also boost the social media presence.
• Email - email marketing enables the user to reach the customers that were already interested in brand or acquired. This channel encourages the company to make the ad as personalized as possible, by leveraging all the data stored in its database. Also, emails are perfect tools to reach our early to build anticipation and support other Black Friday marketing strategies, for example flash sales.
• Paid ads - last but not least, the company may use the paid ads to reach both new, and exsisting customers.Again, the exact strategy depends on the type of goods sold, target group, and industry among others. Depending on the context, ads may perpetuate conditional discounts or early access offers. On the other hand though, this overall expensive channel may get extremely competitive during the Black Friday weekend.

When Black Friday Campaigns Start?

So when is the best moment to start the Black friday marketing campaign? Usually, the earlier the better, assuming that the starting point is not overlapping other important events that could be leveraged for the benefit of the company. Yet starting at least a month before is nothing to be surprised with when launching the Black Friday marketing strategy. Want to know more about Black Friday strats for the upcomming boom in sales? Check out our top tips and Black Friday strategies.