Book extra sales with a quick Black Friday campaign (using 3 emails or less)

“Even if you’re not a retailer”

You only have a week until Black Friday.

Forget the pumpkin pie; I want you to get a slice of the Black Friday pie.

And it’s easier to do than you think.

Before you say, “I don’t sell on Black Friday because I’m a blogger, a nonprofit, an information marketer, an author, a coach, or a consultant and don’t sell holiday gifts…”

… you are missing out on some prized revenue—and smart business strategy—with that thinking. Here’s why…

Grab a FREE Black Friday Email Checklist here

Six ways you lose revenue if you don’t run a Black Friday offer

#1 Black Friday spending is a tradition

Americans are now adapted to looking for deals on Black Friday because great deals are to be had—but only if you act quickly. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Black Friday is a cultural phenomenon that only happens once a year. Miss this year, and you’re on hold for 12 months.

#2 Snatching a great deal gives us pleasure

Getting a great deal makes us feel superior, and can be downright fun. Any time we find a great deal, there’s that psychological joy of pleasure. It’s not just limited to holiday gifts or toys or cars or electronics. People are looking for deals on everything during this end of year time frame.

#3 Year end budget surpluses

If you primarily sell to businesses and think Black Friday is only for direct consumer sales. Hold on, stud!

Businesses and nonprofits have year-end budget surpluses that they need to spend, or give back. In some company and nonprofit cultures, if you give your surplus back, it hurts your budget approval for the next year, so that money is going to get spent. Give your business clients a great reason to spend their budget surplus with YOU.

#4 More money was spent online on Black Friday than CyberMonday

Let’s not mince words here: You need to get your share of that revenue pie (possibly to compensate for over-spending yourself—no judgment).

#5 Black Friday is a golden opportunity to turn your email subscribers into first time buyers

If your email list is full of lurkers who haven’t converted into customers yet, use this opportunity to convert some of those folks because once you turn those folks into buyers, they’re more likely to buy from you again.

Or better yet, use this as your “reactivation” campaign. Nothing reactivates an email subscriber better than a hot once-per-year deal.

#6 It’s easier to do than you think

I’ve boiled your high-grossing Black Friday sales deal down to four easy steps. I love you.

#7 Your Black Friday campaign can all be set up in advance so you don’t have to work that weekend

Every step that follows could be set up THIS WEEK or next so you don’t have to work over the holiday weekend—other than to look at the sales coming in.

Want to download this list for handy access? Click here for a FREE checklist of these steps.

Four Steps to a High Grossing Black Friday Email Campaign

#1 Your Black Friday Offer

DO NOT sell your flagship or premium program on a Black Friday special. You could hurt the value of your program and cause delayed sales in 2017, because people will think they just need to wait for your next deal.

Instead, offer a ONE-TIME product or service that gets quick results and turns your buyers into raving fans. Here are some ideas:

Bundle of your best eBooks
A mini-course
Branded products from your eStore (great strategy for nonprofits)
Your introductory offer for your sales funnel ($19 program)
One of your most popular modules from your flagship course
Templates
Swipe files
3-Session Coaching Jump-Starter
A program or service you plan to retire in the next 18 months
A low-cost 30 day trial of your membership program

Nonprofit Black Friday ideas:

The most popular item(s) from your online store, if you have one
A popular item from one of your sponsors that you can promote on Black Friday with a portion of the proceeds benefiting your charity
Yes, you can run a Black Friday special, even if you are participating in Giving Tuesday

You could run a “new product” flash sale in this campaign, but I’d encourage you to run that as a stand-alone flash sale in December. It will perform much better and give you genuine product feedback.

How much should you discount?

A lot.

Only Apple can be chintzy with their Black Friday deals.

Discount Boldly

I’m encouraging you to boldly go where none of your discounts have gone before—way more than you ever would for any sale the rest of the year. Probably more than you are comfortable with.

Why? You need to stand out in a crowded field quickly.

And, in addition to capturing Black Friday revenue, you are wisely using this sales campaign to convert non-buyers into buyers, and you’ll need to deeply discount to do that.

Only you know how far you can discount and still register a tidy profit. I would suggest a minimum discount of 50% and as high as 90%. You will grab attention (and sales) when you print 60%, 70%, or 80% off in your emails.

This is where a bundle deal becomes irresistible to your email list. Bundle several of your eBooks that might retail for $250 if bought individually into a one-time offer of $27.

Finally, make it clear that this is a “one-time” special deal that goes away forever if they don’t buy now.

#2 The Best Audience to Target

Your audience for your Black Friday special offer is somebody who’s already “problem aware,” “product aware,” and probably already aware of you.

In other words, they are already on your email list.

Your audience for this offer is not brand new people that need education. There just isn’t enough time in a 48 or 72 hour sale to run an entire sales funnel.

If someone is on your email list, they are already:

Aware they have a pain or problem in your field or industry
Aware there is a solution to their problem or pain
Aware that you might be a credible answer to their problem or pain

Don’t even THINK of using this campaign to attract new leads. Yes, you will capture some newbies like brand retailers do with their doorbuster deals, but that’s where the similarities end.

As a professional service, information marketer, nonprofit, or author, your Black Friday email copy will skip all the sales stuff you usually need to convert a cold lead into a customer and focus on people already “most aware.”

#3 Your Email Sequence

Let’s start with your landing page.

This is the ONLY time I will say it’s okay to not create a dedicated landing page for a promotion.

If you already have a high-converting landing page, you can use that same landing page and just give your Black Friday buyers a special discount code that gets them the deep discount.

Be clever with the code and post it on every landing page, except your cart, so it’s easy to use. I like to tie the discount code to the “results” or “transformation” your buyers will get by buying your product or service.

Why is it okay to use your current landing page this ONE TIME?

Because it reinforces the temporary nature of the best deal you offer all year.

If you don’t have a high converting landing page, create one for this deal. And, oh, by the way, create one for your everyday use too!

If you have the time and can create a dedicated landing page, by all means do so. It will convert better. But if you can’t, don’t let that trip you up. The campaign is still worth running.

An example of the basic email sequence is:

E1 — Send out an email with a stunning offer and a killer opening for Black Friday morning. It would be unexpected that you would do this. It might even look like a last minute thought, and even if it’s not, you can say, “Hey, in all the rush of this, I want to make sure that my email list, my customers, my clients are taken care of so here’s a fantastic offer…But here’s the issue. It’s time limited. It’s going to go away Sunday night at midnight (or Monday night at 10 pm).”

You can even put your offer in the subject line for this email, because your audience is already primed.

Open with a stunning opening hook that maybe speaks to their transformation or results from using your product or service. Remind them it’s a once-a-year offer. It’s not coming back again. Throw in some transformational-type testimonials.

Suppress anyone who buys your offer from your list.

E2 — Drops Sunday morning and says, “Today’s the last day you’re going to get this fantastic offer.” Or, “This once-a-year deal is (almost) gone.”

E3 — Drops a few hours before your cut-off. I find a “one-hour” notice performs really well. No matter when you drop this, the message is: “This deal goes away and you’re about to lose out.”

#4 Sales Boosters

Sales boosters aren’t required but will rocket-fuel your sales if you use them.

The Teaser Booster

Because more money was spent online on Black Friday than was spent on Cyber Monday online last year, major brands are investing millions and millions of advertising dollars in advance Black Friday.

Bloggers and magazines give major coverage to helping people strategize the best Black Friday deals.

Piggyback on all this advertising by sending out a “teaser” email any day of Thanksgiving week: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

Tease people that you have an incredible once a year offer coming and tell them to look in their email inbox Friday morning because it’s going to be a stunner.

You might even have a creative discount code for your offer and tease them with what the discount code will be. Make it something really clever that they’re going to want to remember because this is a once a year deal and they will kill themselves if they miss this opportunity, such as “48HOURS.” Or, tie it to the “transformation” or “results” they will get by buying your product, such as “FREEDOM.”

Social Media Booster

Boost your Black Friday with organic social media posts. Create a bunch of posts and schedule them in advance so you don’t even think about it Thanksgiving weekend.

Drop a social media post every two hours because everyone’s news feed is going to be so crowded that weekend that it’s going to take that much just to get you to the top. It’s okay if your posts repeat because you have this incredible offer that is highly relevant, so your fans won’t be bored or annoyed.

Paid Ads

Facebook ad rates increased last year during the holiday season because of demand. Expect the same this year, so be super-wise about your spend.

Here’s the smartest ad set you can run if you have limited ad dollars:

Retarget an ad to anyone who visits your offer page, starting with your teaser email. This is your hottest audience and this ad drives the bulk of your revenue, no matter what the campaign. Remember to set this ad up so that once someone has purchased from you (landed on your thank-you page) they no longer see the ad.

If you have more ad dollars to spend, the next ad I’d recommend is:

Run an ad to your email list saved as a “custom audience.” These ads cost far less than ads to a cold audience and make it easy for your email list to click and buy from their computer or mobile device. In my experience, this ad will boost your sales anywhere from 5% – 8%, which more than pays for the ad plus profit.

How’s that?