According to the latest research, Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days in the UK with Britons planning to spend an estimated £7 billion on Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases this year alone.
As a service-based small business, don’t think that it’s just bricks and mortar and eCommerce businesses that can participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
You can put together Black Friday marketing offers as well.
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday started in America and is the Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday.
It is the beginning of the Christmas holiday sales season and has significantly risen in popularity amongst both offline and online businesses in recent years.
While it used to be a one-day event, many businesses now extend their specials and incorporate the promotion around Cyber Monday, which is aimed at online buyers.
This year, Black Friday sales will occur on Friday 27 November 2020. Cyber Monday will be on 30th November 2020.
So, how can you a service-based business participate in Black Friday promotions?
I have put together these three ways as a service-based small business, that you can create an offer and promote your services on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can choose whether to promote these as one-day only offers on Black Friday, or over the whole sales period through to Cyber Monday.
If you create Black Friday marketing materials that take advantage of the hype around this sales promotion, as this encourages urgency.
It is a good idea to share on social media in the days leading up to this, that you have a special offer coming up that your clients should look out for.
You can promote your offer in multiple places, including sharing it across your social media pages, emailing your list, and where relevant, posting it in Facebook Groups that have Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotional threads.
1. Create a value-added offer
One of the best ways to attract clients is with an irresistible offer.
That is an offer that’s packed full of value and solves the exact problem that they have.
You can use what you already have within your business that you could include, rather than having to spend time creating something different.
Do you have any resources or tools that you give your VIP clients? Or, perhaps do you have a training or workshop that you’ve provided, which could be easily turned into a short online masterclass?
If you’re stuck for Black Friday marketing ideas and wondering what value you can add, check out my list of suggested bonus offers below:
An extra coaching or accountability session with you
Resources such as a checklist or workbook
An audit or review where you will critique their business and provide feedback
Access to a short course or online training program
A ticket to an event that you will launch in the future.
Whatever you choose to add, ensure that it’s related to your services and something that will add extra value for your clients.
2. Bundle your services
Combining your services into a bundle is another excellent way to provide increased value to your clients.
Perhaps you have several resources or tools that you provide your clients individually that you could bundle up into a unique ‘Offering’.
For example, you could create an Email Marketing Offering where you have a training video on how to set up your email system, a workbook, email copywriting templates, a list of subject lines that get opened, and a swipe file containing an email welcome sequence.
If you sell each of these resources separately, then you can show a saving on the discounted bundled price.
Alternatively, maybe you have several online training courses that you could offer on a 2-for-the-price-of-1 basis.
The key to effectively bundling your services is to pack as much value into your bundle so that you have your clients saying, 'I really want that deal'.
3. Discount your services
I recommend that you do not discount your main service or signature offer in your Black Friday marketing campaign.
Instead, you can offer a discount on one of your introductory or lower-cost services.
By doing this, you can introduce your services to new clients without them having to spend much money or take a significant risk to work with you.
This is a great way of getting new clients to work with you so you can show them what you can do. You then have the option to up-sell them to your other offers or programs.
If they don't take you up on your more premium offer, then you can ask them for a testimonial that you can add to your website sales page.
The keys to a successful marketing campaign over this Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales period is to plan out your communications and to create an offer that’s irresistible.
If you need help where to start when it comes to marketing your service-based small business, I can help.
