Supporting marketing and sales tactics
Given that there are only a few weeks to go before two of the biggest shopping days of the year, here are some quick ways you can get the word out about your sales events.
1. Pre-promote deals early in-store and on your website
As mentioned earlier, not all Singaporeans are as familiar with the actual dates of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s why it helps to pre-promote your sales in advance. Many businesses start their sales a few days in advance of the main event, as well.
You can start by adding a graphic to your website homepage or get more technical like adding a countdown clock above the fold or in a sticky header. Your strategy depends on your budget and your technical expertise.
Additionally, consider putting up signs in your shop or printing flyers to give to customers in the days or weeks leading up to the sale.
2. Tease your offers on social media channels
If you’ve generated a following on your social media channels, build up some excitement with teasers for your upcoming sales.
Depending on how much time you have, you could promote a different product or offer that you’ll be featuring each day until the main event.
3. Segment and send your offers using your email database
If you’ve built up a customer email marketing list in a tool like MailChimp, now would be an excellent time to segment your customers based on the promotions you plan to offer. For example, you could create one for VIPs, one for customers with kids (if you plan to have a discount on select toys), and lists for men’s or women’s clothing sales.
You could also create a promotion for a list of customers who haven’t bought from you recently but that you’d like to bring back to your store. It’s commonly known as a win-back email. As I’ve mentioned earlier, you could offer them a gift or gift card with the purchase, and let them know about other deals going on for Black Friday, like the example below.
Think about the timing of when you’ll send out your emails, as well. You might want to send out a teaser email a few days in advance. Then, send one out the morning of Black Friday, when the sale begins. If you have the resources, you can also send one out a few hours before the sale ends to capture last-minute transactions.
4. Promote coupon codes and deals on discount sites
Another place to promote your deals is on Singaporean deal finder websites, like bargain queen (BQ.com), finder.com/sg and other finder websites – particularly for airline travel discounts.
Most savvy shoppers are aware of and visit these sites to look for discounts from their favourite brands, both online and in-store.
Many of these sites work like affiliates, meaning they take a percentage of the sale that was generated after a customer used the coupon code, or clicked on the “get deal” link and completed a purchase.
5. Target ads to multi-channel shoppers
Finally, if you have the budget and resources to create and deploy a last-minute advertising or direct mail campaign, consider promoting your sales a week or so leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Online Advertising articles in the Singapore Small Business Resource Center provide tips on how to create and promote a campaign online. Your best bet is to start with a Google paid search or display network campaign, or a Facebook campaign, since it might be too late to create and run an offline print or outdoor campaign. It’s important to note that you will pay among the highest PPC’s (pay-per-click values) for the entire year, as you compete with other companies also wanting a slice of the Black Friday action.
For Black Friday advertising on Social Media, you can quickly put something together with images and text that can be targeted to your ideal customers per the example below:
There may, however, still be time to run offline newspaper ads and a possible direct mail campaign. For tips on how to create and deploy offline campaigns, review our small business advertising tips which include definitions and costs for various traditional media channels.
