You can try hard to ignore it, but I have to tell you, Black Friday is coming. Before the turkey is cooked, big brands and small businesses will be going head to head flooding inboxes with sales and deals no one can refuse (but anyone can delete). 

Is your business ready for a Black Friday promotion? Do you have a game plan and strategy in place ready to execute? If you do, you may want to take a moment to listen to the knowledge big brand strategist Maureen Mwangi is sharing in this episode.

Today we’re talking about:

• Benefits of being a small business and brand
• What businesses are Black Friday sales best for? 
• How can service-based businesses use Black Friday promotions?
• How to strategically setup of a Black Friday promotion
• Measuring and evaluating the success of your Black Friday promotion

Having worked with large brands we all know such as Loreal, Dove, Pepsi, and Chobani, Maureen easily sees one of the biggest perks of being a small business is the flexibility and ease with which you can move and test new strategies without obstacles and politics that tie up bigger brands.

“Just because you're small, doesn't mean you're not potent”

Planning and strategizing are key to successfully running a Black Friday promotion for any business, but are Black Friday promos great for every business? Maureen shares great insights on how to determine if this is right for your business. 

Keeping your existing customers in mind can help you decipher if offering deep discounts for new business may leave your loyal customers with a less than favorable perception of the high-end value they’ve been using.

TIP #1: Maureen suggests knowing where Black Friday fits into your strategy. Make sure to use it skillfully to either eliminate inventory or boost an introduction to your brand.

Service providers have to be careful to not jeopardize customer retention for new customer acquisition. Exposing your loyal customers to an early access deal or a sneak peak is a great way to consider navigating this terrain. 

Whether you are a service-based business or product-based business, knowing how to set up for your Black Friday promotion takes lots of planning, but is so much easier with these reminders that Maureen shared:

1. Know the timing of your sale; 1-Day versus full weekend
2. Which products (or services) you will promote and why!
3. Plan for your prelaunch campaign 

TIP #2: Maureen advises that you don't get comfortable. Get really smart at knowing what your customers want and know where they are.

You cannot copy and paste another person's strategy because you don't know what they're trying to fix on the back end.

You have to know your marketing, have a plan, track your metrics, and have everything thought out. Your business and your brand are unique to you. When you have to audit the health of your promotion and evaluate if it was successful, Maureen lays out nice details on how to look at your data and make these important determinations.

The ultimate goal is not having to reinvent the wheel for your Black Friday promotion next year. The goal is to know how you perform this year so you can tweak your strategy and execute better next time. 

I want you guys to know this..... Black Friday and Christmas is not your time to test [...] Black Friday and Christmas, you're executing on your best promotions.

Maureen is the queen of turning data into revenue and growth. She’s done it effectively for brands we probably use everyday, and you can book a call with her or follow her on her socials below.

Links to connect with Maureen:

Website

Instagram

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices