Marketing to Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Though most people in the U.S. celebrate Thursday’s day of thanks with family and friends, come Friday through the following Monday, thankfulness transitions from what they have to what they can purchase.  Thanks (no pun intended) to ever growing technology, the tradition of Black Friday shopping in person at brick-and-mortar stores has extended to include online shopping with a day of its own: Cyber Monday.

Last year Adobe – which collected data on the 2015 Cyber Monday – discovered that $3.07 billion was spent on online purchases alone, breaking the all-too-recent new record set by the 2015 Black Friday amount of $2.74 billion.  Having just “celebrated” Black Friday and having yet to “celebrate” Cyber Monday tomorrow, we shall see what is to come of this years’ totals.

But regardless of the amount spent, this is clearly “the most wonderful time of the year” for companies to shine through marketing.  So how should marketing go about to be able to “dance like sugar plums all in [people’s] heads”?  Well, there a few things a company, wanting to do so, should consider.

In the United States, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving that marks the beginning of Christmas shopping.  Cyber Monday, is the Monday immediately following that Black Friday that promotes similar shopping via online stores.  When it comes to marketing, a company needs to know their target audience well enough to consider whether there should be a focus on marketing for only Black Friday, only for Cyber Monday, or both.  A company should also consider its resources. For a large company tackling the whole weekend from Black Friday to Cyber Monday may not be as challenging as compared to a small business.  It is critical to know the target audience and understand that though marketing efforts may reach new people, the focus should be much more on retaining the current audience.

Additionally, a company needs to consider the variety of technical devices – especially mobile, hand-held devices.  Because of such gadgets, people shopping in person on Black Friday may very well be researching and comparing simultaneously to online deals.  A company would need to consider whether they want in-store deals to be different or the same as online deals and whether those deals will be different or the same on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or both days.

Lastly, a company needs to consider social media – especially when it comes to Cyber Monday.  With so much engagement taking place via social media, this needs to seriously be considered within the marketing strategy as it ties in to these large kick-off holiday shopping days.  The engagement must be consistent and be of the proper “language” according to the social media platform being used.

These considerations are nothing outside of what many would consider to be in likeness to common sense.  However, though they appear to be minor, they can be significant in the success or failure of a company’s marketing for the start of the Christmas shopping season.

References:

Wattles, J. (2015). Cyber Monday hits $3 billion sales record. CNN Money. Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/30/news/companies/cyber-monday-sales/