Black Friday is, like, next week. Do you have a sale prepped? … no? Well, you’re cutting it awfully close, aren’t you?

It’s OK, I’m a procrastinator too.

BUT if you’re sure a last-minute sale is what you want to do, this post is going to help you think through some ways you can last-minute market your Black Friday sale BEFORE the sale hits (because if you’re only doing it during the sale, well then, you’re SOL my friend). 

https://youtu.be/MOC8ITL_64Q

The 9-word email 

Email is one of my favorite ways to get comfy-cozy with my leads before Black Friday. If you haven’t started a plan to utilize your email list, though, there’s still something you can use that’s pretty effective — the 9-word email. It goes a little something like this…

“Hi (first name), are you still interested in (offer name)?”

Okay so with the product name, it might end up being a little more than nine words, but you get the idea. 

I send this in size 13 Helvetica font so it looks like it’s coming from my personal email (with the legally-required info in the footer, of course!)

Because this email looks personalized, people are much more likely to respond, and over the years, I’ve gotten lots of them. It’s a great way to gauge who is truly interested, add a touch of personality to your email plan for Black Friday, and then to also clean off your list and re-engage your hottest leads for all that BF excitement. 

But to make this work to its fullest potential, you have to be willing to respond (and you can do that in an actual personal email response). 

Where to put your (marketing) focus 

Putting all of your eggs in one basket is a good thing here. You don’t have to (or need to) market your Black Friday offer across all platforms if you don’t think you can show up effectively at the last minute.

I had that experience before, and it wore me out. But the further I got into my business, the more I learned what really works for me and my audience. 

Now, I put the majority of my attention into my email marketing efforts, and if there’s any time or energy left, I’ll also use TikTok. 

Listen, Black Friday is a lot. Don’t overwhelm yourself during your first or second year doing this sale by trying to show up in all places at once. 

Retargeting ads

These types of ads are great if you’re still pretty new to running ads. They essentially require a tad bit of tech setup on your website but are worth it for the return. They’re ads that retarget people who have already engaged with your business by going onto your website, which means the ad targets warm leads. 

I’d also suggest using a short face-to-camera video the size of an Instagram story so it can show up in multiple places (Stories on Facebook and IG, TikTok, feeds, etc.). 

Alternatively, you could use a short 5-second or less visually appealing video clip with a little bit of movement. 

These are some of the easiest, low-effort ways to use ads in your last-minute Black Friday plan! 

Create a cashflow plan

I’m not a fan of counting my chickens before they hatch, but I am a fan of planning what you’d do with those chickens if they do decide to hatch. 

Okay, soz for the farm analogy…what I mean is: Don’t spend money from your Black Friday sale before you have it — but do create a plan for what you’ll do with that money should it come in, and use it to guide your revenue goal from the sale. 

This could literally be anything you want — whether that’s a Chanel bag or investing in your retirement fund. Just make sure you wait until you actually have the money to spend it (don’t make the same mistakes I did LOL).

More last-minute Black Friday tips

Though Black Friday is about to knock on our doorstep and bring in the big sales, there’s still time to prep. It’s just going to be more difficult. 

If you want more insight from someone who has been running Black Friday sales for the last 7+ years (and sales for TWO brands since 2019), check out the video below to see what you should most definitely avoid this year.