Several of our service-based business clients have asked for suggestions on strategies for increasing sales for Black Friday. While the much anticipated day after Thanksgiving is a whirlwind of product-based sales, our coaches, consultants, and service providers can also take advantage of the exposure and exciting buying sprees that customers are enjoying.
Hosting a flash sale is a great way to encourage your current customer/client base to purchase as well as gain new customers/clients. A flash sale is a limited time sale with deep discounts. For example, I have a client that offers a coaching package that she never offers for more than 10% off. She could host a 2-day flash sale for 20% her coaching package to increase sales. She’s created a sense of urgency for her offering and delivering a high-value discount as a rarity, increasing the sense of FOMO (fear of missing out).
There are a few key factors to think about as your get prepared for your Black Friday promotional campaign in order to be well position. There are three steps you’ll need to consider: creating the campaign, marketing, and post-campaign engagement. Let’s discuss all three aspects a little further.
Create Your Flash Sale Promo
The first thing you’ll want to do is the think about what you want to accomplish with this campaign. Consider the goals that you have for your business. How do you want to finish out Q4? Create a few KPI’s (key performance indicators) for this campaign.
Next, you’ll need to determine which service, program, or products you’d like to use for your flash sale. I recommend including something of high value. The idea is to offer a deal with something that your audience doesn’t usually have access to at a discounted rate. This will make the offering pretty irresistible.
One of the best marketing tactics I’ve ever seen is executed by The Girl Scout of the USA. They offer those AMAZING girls scout cookies once a year, if you’ve ever had them, which most people have, you’ll know what I’m talking about here. The product is delicious (high-quality), yet offered for a limited time. AAAAND, it seems no matter how ridiculously high the prices are, people buy them by the crateful. Why? Because they know that the cookies will be inaccessible after around mid-March every year. This is the type of excitement and anticipation that you want to build around your “once (or twice) a year” rare offering.
Another option for your flash sale would be to include two or three complimentary programs/services together as a bundle and discount those as a great deal. For example, you might bundle a course or workshop with 3 coaching sessions at an price point that works for your business.
Marketing Your Campaign
The next step in your process will be to get in front of your audience both existing and new. You’re going to want to begin building some anticipation around your promotion. I invite you to get your community involved. Ask them which programs/service that they’d like to see go on sale for Black Friday. If you’ve already decided on the programs/services that you’re going to include in your promo then begin providing them with information on those services. Share on social media and through email the BENEFITS of the services that you’re going to include in your promo, not the actually offering.
Now that you’ve built interest and awareness on the benefits of your offer, you’ll want to create a special email for your current email list sharing the actual offer. They should have access to the flash sale information first as a perk to being a part of your community. Let them know that they are getting VIP early access to this information as a loyal customer/client. Ask them to share the offer with their friends and family. You could even offer a “VIP ONLY” day of the flash sale for your email list tribe.
Next, you’ll want to share out your offering to your social media network. You’ll want to add a call-to-action to these campaigns asking/encouraging folks to share the sale info.
PRO TIP: If you decide to host a VIP ONLY day of your flash sale, you could offer this to prospective customers by including a simple form in your promotion. For example, create a form with first name and email that says something like “GET AN EXCLUSIVE INVITATION TO OUR 1-DAY ONLY VIP SALE” This will bring in new prospects for your business and help you determine the demand for your offering.
Post Campaign Engagement
Now that you’ve had a successful Flash sale campaign, you’ve made plenty of sales, grown your email list, AND gained visibility around your brand, what’s next? Be sure to stay in touch with your new found customer/client base. Send engaging emails full of valuable information, invite them to follow you on your social media outlets, and provide them with an opportunity to connect with you on a deeper level.
It’s also important to analysis the data that you’ve collected from this campaign. Did you meet and/or exceed your KPI’s for this campaign? Do a deep dive into your numbers: How many sales did you make, how many engagements did you get, website impressions, who purchased the most (gender, age, location, etc.), how did they make purchases, etc. This information will be helpful in creating a better campaign moving forward and better understand the needs of your client base.
Wrap Up
Planning a flash sale for Black Friday is a great way to increase your businesses visibility, provide your customers/clients with high-value products and services, and to increase your revenue at a time when people are in the market for a great deal.
Also, don’t sleep on the post-campaign information. Nurturing existing customers/clients usually lead to them becoming recurring clients AND becoming raving fans of your brand. Want more information on how to connect on a deeper level with customers/clients? Get on our waitlist for the How to Scale with Small Signature Events Workshop
I hope you enjoyed this content! If so, be sure to keep an eye out every week during the entire month of October, I’ll be sharing Black Friday tips for service-based businesses all month long!!
