Today I saw all the retailers rolling out their holiday ads.
It inspired me to write this.
Be forewarned: You don’t have much time.
I encourage you to give serious consideration to conducting a Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale.
NOW’S THE TIME to figure it out and get your copywriter to work.
To take best advantage, treat Black Friday as a true campaign. Not just one or two emails.
For instance, here’s one template I use:
1) During the week leading up to Thanksgiving, I’m dropping hints about a Black Friday sale.
Once a day, in every email we send out, I let them know.
2) Then Thanksgiving day and night, I’m giving people a serious heads up. Benefits and opportunity galore.
Yeah, two emails get sent on Thanksgiving.
3) Then on Black Friday, we start early. 6AM east coast time, we launch. Maybe even 5AM to beat the other marketers to the punch.
You should know, the offer should be pretty amazing. Like they’d have to be an idiot, not to take you up on it.
In other words, don’t be a Scrooge.
It also helps to engineer some scarcity into the offer. Some sort of an inventory count down.
“Only 3 left!”
Then another couple of emails alerting people to the status that day of the sale.
4) Then, for whatever the reason you want to give them, keep the momentum going.
Don’t shut the sale down until Sunday night. On Saturday and Sunday, send out two emails a day, morning and night.
I’d structure them as “updates.” Again, keep the scarcity going.
5) Then Sunday night close it all down. Tell them thanks for playing.
6) Then Monday, start it all up again. 🙂
This time with a DIFFERENT, possibly even better offer.
Note: Always keep the emails fresh and original. Don’t drone on, like some marketers do.
Put some creative muscle into it. They don’t have to be long, but they DO have to be different.
And don’t be boring.
Now, about your offer:
It should be an offer Walmart shoppers would be willing to throw hands for.
You know what I’m talking about.
It should be a steal.
Don’t be stingy. No, you won’t cannibalize your sales.
In fact, you’ll be seen in a very admirable light if you position your offer as such.
(I’ve seen examples where it could be the start of a funnel process.)
In the past, what works best are high ticket offers. Things the majority of your list couldn’t afford anyway.
Black Friday gives you a reason to slash prices–and you won’t look desperate. You’ll look like a hero.
Now, you can add caveats, like:
“This doesn’t including monthly webinars, or one-on-one coaching or email interaction. This is bare bones.”
You make the rules, whatever works. But that’s the template I’ve seen work over the past five years.
Get into the holiday spirit and err on being generous.
Try it and let me know how it works for for you.
Nihil Obstat (“Nothing stands in your way”),
–Matt
