Your Guide to Black Friday Marketing in 2024 (Plus 10 Tactics to Try)

Last year, despite concerns about inflation and multiple industry-wide layoffs, Black Friday shoppers still spent a record $9.8 billion in online sales in the US. Though Black Friday stereotypes focus on big-box stores like Target or Walmart, the reality is that all businesses can benefit from strategic campaigns.

On this one shopping-centered holiday, consumers actively look for deals on everything from makeup palettes to new stoves. And, with one study finding that 70% of consumers go into the holiday season unsure of what brand to purchase from, there’s plenty of opportunity to increase sales and acquire new customers with Black Friday marketing.

In this post, we’re going to discuss how to create a Black Friday marketing strategy for businesses of all sizes, including tips for multiple different marketing platforms and 10 examples of social media strategies that can work for you. 

Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday: Which to choose?  

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are the Friday, Saturday, and Monday following U.S. Thanksgiving. Each presents significant sales opportunities.

Some businesses wonder which event to choose from, but the answer for most businesses is to choose them all.

• Black Friday often gets the most attention overall, with antsy buyers ready to cash in on deals. It’s also more focused on physical products and B2C deals.
• Many consumers are happy to support smaller brands on Small Business Saturday, and the focus on local small businesses can make it easier to stand out against larger competitors.
• Some customers wait until Cyber Monday, convinced that online and e-commerce brands will save their best deals for the last minute. This can be a great day for D2C ecommerce and SaaS deals. 

Knowing your audience and their buying habits is the first step. Determine when they’ll be shopping and what you need to do to earn their business. If you’re trying to sell large TVs on Black Friday and major retailers are offering them for less than your price, you should prioritize Small Business Saturday. But, if you can maintain competitive pricing and keep up with the ad costs and campaign demands, Black Friday can still pay off.

When to start planning for Black Friday  

When should you start planning your marketing, sales, and product efforts for Black Friday? As soon as possible!

With the massive power Black Friday holds in terms of potential sales and new customer acquisition, you can’t afford to leave this one until the last minute. Black Friday kicks off the busiest shopping season of the year, so it’s one you’ll want to think about early.

Planning early allows you to:

• Plan promotions, including choosing the right products or services, assessing your price points, and considering market demand. 
• Request campaign materials from internal or external specialists, including copywriters, graphic designers, and ad consultants.
• Connect with potential partners and influencers to hammer out contracts and request content well in advance. 
• Ensure a comprehensive cross-platform and full-funnel campaign for maximized efficiency. 
• Create and schedule campaigns early so there’s no last-minute scrambling.
• Get advanced approval from each platform for scheduled ad campaigns.

Many businesses start to plan their Black Friday campaigns in the summer. This includes choosing promotions, creating a Black Friday marketing strategy, and connecting with any external vendors or influencers.

When possible, it’s best to have most of your Black Friday campaigns locked in and at least partially created by early October. Some consumers start researching their Holiday purchases in late October, so you’ll want to start advertising Black Friday promotions — or be ready to do so — by then.

Want to stay on top of all the important days? Check out every social media holiday you need to know. 

What are the best Black Friday marketing channels?

Your Black Friday marketing campaign should include multiple different channels. Let’s look at the most impactful options for this promotion-driven and sales-heavy holiday.

Black Friday email marketing

Email marketing campaigns are your first line of defense for Black Friday promos. Your reach might be shorter than, say, a display ad campaign, but you’ll be reaching a more engaged audience. Since your email list has already opted in to your brand communication, they’re already warm and more likely to care about your promos.

Source: Surreal

For best results on Black Friday email marketing, consider the following:

• Announce your Black Friday promotions by the end of October
• Remind users of Black Friday sales the week before and the day of
• Use subject lines that emphasize savings and urgency, like “1 day only: 25% savings for Black Friday!”
• Personalize the products featured in your emails when possible, especially if you’re running multiple deals or targeting multiple audience segments. 
• Consider linking to Black Friday landing pages featuring promotion details and pricing information. 
• Share the exact days and times your Black Friday sale will run — and don’t forget time zone differences!
• Suspend non-Black Friday emails temporarily so they don’t get lost in your subscribers’ inbox.
• Encourage your existing subscribers to share your Black Friday email with their friends and family by introducing a referral program or giving them a store discount.

Black Friday PPC ads

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are a great way to increase visibility and reach fast, though they do require financial investment. Advertisers often pay per click or per thousand views (CPM), with costs varying significantly depending on the platform of choice and your target audience.

• Popular PPC platforms for Black Friday deals include the following:
• Google Search ads
• Google Shopping ads
• Facebook and Instagram ads
• TikTok ads
• Promoted Pins

Google’s Search and Shopping Ads allow you to capture demand using keywords to show up in relevant searches. You can create campaigns targeting keywords like “Black Friday deal for women’s shoes,” using Google Ad Assets to add pricing or promotional information to the ad copy.

Social media ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest allow you to create demand. Use promotional deals to attract new customers using interest-based or demographic targeting. Some campaigns may be targeted towards the product or service end user, while others may be marketed towards those who will give the product or service as a gift.

An important consideration to note: All the PPC platforms discussed here operate on auction-based marketplace. It’s pay to play, and as more competition enters the market, ad costs can go up. Historically, ad costs increase significantly around Black Friday and associated holidays as more advertisers invest more and bid higher. Be prepared for this, expecting your CPC and daily ad spend to increase if you want to stay competitive.

Black Friday social media marketing

Social media is another major platform that businesses should focus on when it comes to Black Friday marketing. Organic social media marketing is free to post, can keep your followers updated about upcoming promotions, and can help expand your reach. You don’t have to stick to simple image promos — with all the formats available across social channels there are multiple creative ways to slide your Black Friday marketing messages into your organic posts.

We’ll look at some specific social media strategies to leverage for Black Friday 2024 below.

Create multi-touch Black Friday marketing campaigns

One mistake many businesses make is keeping their Black Friday campaigns isolated to a single channel. Don’t keep you Black Friday marketing in a bubble! Instead, you want to create a multi-touch funnel that will continually re-engage potential customers leading up to and on the day of Black Friday.

Here’s an example of a potential customer journey:

• The user searches for “winter jacket Black Friday deals” and sees your Google Ad with copy advertising 30% off all items for Black Friday.
• They view your landing page to see upcoming promotions. 
• You create retargeting ads on Facebook to show users products they’ve viewed on your site before, offering an extra discount for email subscribers.
• The user subscribes to track promotions and get access to the subscriber discount.
• You follow up with multiple email campaigns before and on Black Friday.
• You promote multiple different feature deals on social media, using cross-platform content to maximize your reach. The user sees your social media posts and checks out your product pages again.
• The day of, users open your email showing relevant products based on their interests; they click to the product page and make a purchase.

Consider how you’ll reach new and existing customers alike, and how you’ll consistently engage them during their buying process. 

How to prepare your Black Friday marketing strategy step-by-step

1. Establish your goals

Before you jump headlong into planning your Black Friday marketing strategy, Tim Cameron Kitchen, author and CEO of Exposure Ninja, advises taking some time to determine your goals. For example, do you want to:

• Acquire new customers: You might want to use the opportunity of Black Friday to grow your long-term customer base by attracting customers who haven’t shopped with your brand before.

• Shift old stock: Maybe it’s time to clear out some of your old products and make room for fresh stock. Black Friday is an excellent opportunity to clear your shelves by giving generous discounts on some of these older items.

• Re-engage old customers: Previous customers are well worth targeting because they’ve already shown interest in your brand. So there’s a good chance they like what you offer. Your existing email list is an ideal way to reconnect and strengthen customer loyalty.

• Build multiple segmented email lists for different cohorts: This long-term strategy grows your pool of potential customers for future marketing campaigns.

Be clear about what you want your campaign to achieve, then build your campaign around these goals.

2. Collect and analyze data

Georgia Watson, senior paid media executive from Media Works, recommends an analytical approach to your campaigns. For instance:

• Review your past performance: What worked well for you in 2023? Review the numbers and find out your most liked posts and which platforms saw the most engagement and conversions.

• Test in the run-up to Black Friday: Use A/B testing to pinpoint what works best. Test various versions of your emails, web pages, ads, and posts for their engagement and conversion rates. With this information at your fingertips, you’ll be several steps ahead before your Black Friday campaign starts.

• Collect more data: Collect data throughout your social media campaign to determine what works best.

• Use the built-in analytics tools on social media platforms to gather data about your campaign’s performance. Loomly's analytics dashboard gives you detailed information about the performance of all your posts, and you can schedule automatic reports.

• Track user engagement by monitoring likes, comments, shares, retweets, and mentions.
• Analyze click-through data to assess the effectiveness of your calls to action. Track which links got the most clicks and conversions.
• Set up conversion tracking on your website using tools like Google Analytics. This helps you measure the impact of your social media efforts on actions such as form submissions, product purchases, or newsletter sign-ups.

Once you’ve collected all the data, write a report so that all your data is conveniently compiled in one document. Then, use your report to plan an even better campaign next year.

3. Prepare your website and online store

Optimize website performance

Slow website load times test people’s patience, meaning they’re less likely to hang around long enough to make a sale. Research examining data from 10 million visits to Renault’s website found that slower load times led to significantly lower conversion rates. So make sure your website is fast and reliable at the start of your campaign to give visitors the best experience when shopping for Black Friday deals.

Update existing landing pages

Throwing up a new page just before the Black Friday holiday period isn’t a good idea if you want it to rank on search engines. A better strategy is to keep a Black Friday page updated throughout the year. 

A 2022 survey revealed that shoppers preferred Black Friday sales to start between a week and a few days before Thanksgiving. So it pays to have a regular Black Friday page, like electrical retailer Currys:

Source: Currys

Notice how they encourage visitors to sign up so they can hear about the Black Friday offers first.

Update existing content

In addition to your landing pages, if you already have ranking content like a list or comparison post, you can modify it to highlight your Black Friday sale. For example, say you have a list of “Top Holiday Gifts 2023” that ranks well — you could update it to “Top Holiday Gifts 2024” and refresh the content with some of your current Black Friday Deals.

Note: this only works if your existing page URL is dateless, e.g., www.example.com/top-holiday-gifts instead of www.example.com/top-holiday-gifts-2024

Or, if you have a non-Black Friday comparison article that’s already ranking, you could update the pricing section to show how your Black Friday special deals are better than your competitors.

Add popups or banners to your best-performing pages

Another option is to use your best-performing pages and guide visitors to your Black Friday offers. For example, you could have a popup or banner that makes visitors aware of your upcoming Black Friday sale with a button to tap that takes them to your landing page. From there, you can introduce your offers and ask them to sign up for reminders.

Consider shoppable content on social media

With more people shopping online, you need to make the most of every available channel, including social media.

Social commerce lets you sell your products directly through social media networks. Rather than redirecting users to an online store, you’re enabling customers to checkout on the social platform, which reduces friction. 

From Instagram shoppable posts to Facebook product tags, Pinterest rich pins, YouTube cards, and TikTok shoppable ads, it’s never been easier or more efficient to sell on social media.

4. Build your audience

Focus on building your email list and social media follower counts before the shopping rush begins. Not only will it be helpful for your Black Friday campaign, but it’ll be a valuable asset for other holiday marketing campaigns and the rest of the year, too.

While it's important to build a multi-channel Black Friday strategy, email will probably be your most valuable marketing asset as it gives you a direct and personal channel to reach your audience. In the months leading up to Black Friday, focus on building your email list so your promos have more reach. Here's a few tactics to build your email list:

• Prompt online shoppers to sign up for your email list by offering an extra discount. For example: “Take an extra 10% off any sale price when you join our mailing list.”

• Encourage your social media followers to sign up for your email list via a link to subscribe in your bio. Promise them early access to deals and exclusive deals, or you could use other lead magnets such as a voucher, free trial, or sample.

• Use your existing email list to create a Facebook Lookalike Audience that resembles your existing customer base. Then, when creating Facebook ad campaigns for Black Friday, you can target this audience, knowing they’re more likely to be interested in your products or services.

5. Choose what Black Friday marketing tactics you'll use

Now that you've prepared your website and strengthened your potential reach, it's time to decide the types of promotional tactics you'll use on Black Friday. We're going to cover 10 strategies and tactics you can use in the next section. These can be used separately on individual channels, or they can be used in combination to back a more robust Black Friday marketing strategy. 

10 Black Friday marketing ideas (with examples) 

Let’s look at 10 different Black Friday tactics, most of which involve completely free and organic marketing strategies and all of which are small business friendly. 

1. Work with influencers

Influencers are one of the best ways to reach new audience members quickly. They’ve got the trust and respect of their followers. Even micro-influencers with around 10,000 followers can have a huge sway over their followers’ buying decisions.

• They align with your brand
• Their follower list includes members of your target audience
• They have solid engagement and reach metrics
• They’re within your budget
• They create brand shoutouts and video content you like

For best results, have influencers promote your product in the weeks leading up to Black Friday. Ideally, provide specific recommendations for the types of content you want created, including any key talking points and promotional details you want discussed. That may include asking them to promote a specific product, or to create their own gift guides like you can see here: 

Source: Shawn Johnson on Instagram

2. Focus on immediate conversion actions

When it comes to Black Friday, everyone has deals on their mind. B2B and B2C brands alike should focus on conversion actions that result in immediate sales or sign-ups.

• Extended or enhanced free trials
• Significant discounts on select or all products
• Freebies or gifts with minimum purchase amounts
• Bundled product options

In the example below, Hand and Stone promoted a Black Friday deal for free services with gift card purchases. This had the potential to increase sales volume significantly by incentivizing members to purchase gift cards for others.

Source: Hand and Stone on Facebook

B2B brand tip: This is not the best time to push demo sign-ups. People who purchase on Black Friday want to make a purchasing decision now, so free trials and discounted offerings are the way to go. 

3. Create a sense of urgency 

You can create a sense of urgency and build up to the annual shopping frenzy with countdown timers, limited quantities, and surprise discounts across all your marketing channels.

71% of customers prefer different channels depending on the context, whether browsing, seeking advice, or making purchases.

Using timers or limited quantities encourages customers to make an immediate decision. Shoppers like to hunt around for the best price and compare products before deciding. But if you include a countdown timer or list the quantities of items left, shoppers know they need to hurry and buy now before the sale ends or stock runs out.

Source: Walmart

You can also use the element of surprise in your marketing. For example, you could send your email subscribers a unique, random-generated gift code. Shoppers enter the code at the checkout to see what discount they get. Here’s what Death Wish Coffee did in 2019:

Source: Death Wish Coffee

It’s a great way of building surprise and intrigue as shoppers have to wait until the final moment to see their discount.

4. Use lookalike audiences for ad campaigns

Most ad platforms have a lookalike audience feature. This allows you to create a target audience based off your existing website visitors, user lists, or even email subscribers and then reach users similar to that audience with ad campaigns.

Create lookalike audiences based on your most high-value audience segments. These are users who may have higher than average purchase values, or who retain longer, so your odds of generating high-value sales on Black Friday go up!

Learn more about Facebook’s lookalike audiences to get started.

5. Leverage social proof

Social proof can include user-generated content (UGC), awards, or even customer reviews — and it can be an incredibly powerful selling tool. When users see that other people love your brand and products, they’ll be more willing to spend the money themselves.

For this reason, social proof and Black Friday sales go hand-in-hand. You can build trust and offer a discount at the same time, going a long way to increase your sales.

You can see a great example below from Prose: 

Source: Prose on Facebook

6. Run retargeting campaigns for abandoned carts

When people add items to their carts and then neglect to purchase, follow-up with re-engagement campaigns. This is true year-round, but make sure you go hard with Black Friday promotions to try to turn those abandoned carts into converted customers.

Start with email campaigns leading up to Black Friday, letting customers know about updated pricing.

It’s also a good idea to run retargeting campaigns through platforms like Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads to capture their attention on prime sales days. Again— feature that discount front and center.

7. Promote gift guides

Want to increase your average order value? Gift guides are a fantastic marketing option on Black Friday for this exact reason.

You can highlight products at different price points or for different use cases. The idea is to appeal to different users, showcasing multiple products quickly. Ideally, customers will want to purchase multiple products — think a main gift and a stocking stuffer or two.

You can see a fantastic example of a holiday gift guide here:

Source: REI on Instagram

For best impact, don’t forget to mention Black Friday promotions on the gifts you’re marketing. 

8. Experiment with your timing

Source: Target on X (Twitter)

You don’t have to keep all your products on offer the entire Black Friday weekend. Try introducing special deals at different times to encourage people to visit your store more frequently.

• Tease with pre-Black Friday sales: Whet people’s appetite with a pre-Black Friday sale, like the retailer Kohl’s did in 2022 with their early Black Friday deals (see below).
• Don’t limit yourself to one weekend: Instead of limiting offers to the holiday shopping weekend, try extending the sale for a weekend or two.
• Extended sales after Black Friday: Why not add some different offers after the Black Friday weekend for those shoppers who missed out.
• Pre-orders and pre-sales: Another experiment you can try is running a pre-sale. In this case, you run a Black Friday online sale in which items are available for pre-order so customers can reserve them in advance and avoid the rush.

Source: Kohls on Facebook

9. Offer sales support through private messages

Customers who discover your products or services on social media may leave comments or send private messages there. We’ve seen customers ask clarifying questions like whether chocolates are gluten free or if custom orders are available, and a prompt and thorough answer can absolutely impact whether or not they make a purchase.

Here are our best suggestions:

• Create canned responses to commonly asked questions that your team can copy, paste, and customize quickly. 
• Set up social media chatbots for basic inquiries with easy-answer questions about return policies or product sizes.  
• Have social media managers or other team members on-hand and ready, checking each platforms’ messages at least once per hour at minimum.

10. Ditch Black Friday if it’s not right for you

Black Friday isn’t right for everyone, and our last social media marketing Black Friday tip honors that.

Don’t want to do Black Friday? At the end of the day, you don’t have to.

REI has famously created their #optoutside campaign, where they note that all stores are closed and they don’t run any discounts. It’s a statement against consumerism, which ailgns with their brand and resonates with their audience.

Source: Patagonia

Black Friday marketing strategies, in a nutshell

It’s easy to get wrapped up in a Black Friday discount frenzy. But above all else, your brand should focus on providing value and a good customer experience.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Choose a few of these tips and get them right rather than trying all of them at once.

And lastly, make sure you plan your campaign in advance to make this Black Friday your most successful ever. Create your campaigns early and getting them ready to go with social media scheduling software like Loomly. You can review and approve posts long in advance so the only thing you need to worry about is being ready to respond to any potential questions your customers have.

Start your 15-day free trial now so you're ready to start scheduling Black Friday content when November rolls around.