It’s that time of year when most business owners are busy bustling in preparation for the big shopping weekend that starts with Black Friday and ends with Cyber Monday. We are most likely bulking up our inventory and researching means of promoting our sale. I wanted to share a few tips to help make your sale this weekend a success!
Choosing your deal.
The first step is deciding what kind of deal you want to offer. Try to figure out a deal that will not only give buyers an incentive, but will also benefit you. Instead of offering a percentage off each order, you could require buyers to spend a specific amount in order to obtain a discount. This ensures that, while you’re still offering buyers a good deal, you will also be earning a comfortable amount per order.
For example, let’s say you sell soap. Rather than offering 30% off everything (aka: a $3.00 bar of soap), you could offer $10 off all orders over $30. The buyer still gets a big 30% off, you are just ensuring that you’re still getting $20 per order. Or maybe you have extra stock of a certain item. You could offer that as a free gift on orders over a certain amount.
Advertising your promotion.
Once you’ve settled on the deal you want to offer, it’s time to focus on promoting it. This is really the majority of the battle since competition will be fierce this weekend and buyers will most likely face good deals at every turn. You want to spread your deal across as many outlets as you can.
Etsy Tags – Be sure to add “Black Friday Etsy” and “Cyber Monday Etsy” to the tags in ALL of your item listings that are eligible for your sale. This will make it easier for buyers to find you.
Gift Guides – Many bloggers post gift guides this time of year to help other business promote their deals. Some are free, some are not. This year, I will be participating in several. Again, you want to reach as many potential buyers as you can (and pull them in with your amazing deal!). If you will be paying to participate in these gift guides, keep in mind the blog’s following. Not just the size, but the demographic, and where their gift shopping interests will be.
Blogs – If you have a blog of your own, make sure to post about your deal! However, to get more traffic to the post you may want to include something else along with the information on your sale. Perhaps a free holiday printable, or your favorite Thanksgiving recipe ideas. You can also make an advertising button specifically for the sale and host it on your blog all four days of the shopping weekend.
Social Media – Obviously social media is a huge means of promotion these days. It is your friend but don’t overuse it and get all spammy spam on your followers. If you share your deal on Twitter include hash tags such as #blackfridaysale or #cybermondaysale. You can even give your followers an exclusive promo, like an extra 10% off for Twitter followers only with the coupon code “twitter.”
Are you having a sale this weekend? I am! And I plan to follow my own advice to make it a successful weekend! Do you have any more tips for me? I’d love to hear them! xo JA
I can’t wait for your sale xoxox
I was just thinking about having a cyber sale!! Thanks for your tips!!
Great tips! I was wondering how to make a better deal for customers and myself.