6 Tips For Moving Product This Black Friday and Cyber Monday

There are few bigger days of the year for e-commerce businesses than Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They are prime opportunities to sell your beard balms, oils, and beard care products in both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce stores.

 Trust me, we know how busy this time of year can be. In order to avoid the stress of the weekend (or at least minimize it!), we have figured out some helpful solutions over the years.

 First and foremost, Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are made far easier with a game plan. A plan will allow you to automate as many marketing tasks as possible so that you can focus on getting your product ready and shipped.

 Start your planning early with these 6 helpful tips. They could help make 2019 your best Black Friday and Cyber Monday yet.

1. Figuring Out Your Black Friday Promotion

Before you knock BFCM out of the park, you need to figure out what you want to do for Black Friday. There are so many options. Do you want to discount a specific product (a loss leader scenario) to get people to your site? Do you want to think outside the beard and do something a little quirkier? Regardless of how you want to go, you need to ask yourself, “what am I going to do?”

Using the data you have collected throughout the year, ask yourself what your customers love. What excites them? You can ask yourself questions like: What social posts got the most engagement? OR What email campaign lead to the most conversions? OR What is your top seller? These questions allow you to learn more about your customers’ interest in your brand.

If you are looking for some ideas to get them excited, here are a few:

• Offering a product bundle
• Gamifying your offers - make the deal fun (e.g. spin-the-beard-to-win discounts)
• Creating daily or hourly deals that are available for a limited time (promote through social, emails, etc.)
• Offer free shipping
• Offer free gifts

Creating a new product or new labels for BFCM can be time consuming and expensive. We have heard from our clients that they have found more success in focusing on what they have and direct their thoughts toward moving your existing product.

Remember that your customer is going to get inundated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals from a multitude of spots. You’ll need to think of a way to stand out.

2. Be Mobile Friendly

Numbers are clear: people are buying on mobile. It’s a fact of Black Friday too. If your site isn’t mobile-optimized, do it now. You must reach your users where they are, and odds are that it’s on mobile.

If your online store isn’t easy and intuitive when it comes to making purchases, you NEED to change it. Examine the whole process from the landing page to checkout to make sure that the user experience is easy.

3. Email Marketing

Shopify’s numbers from 2018 show that email marketing campaigns were the biggest driver of sales on BFCM. It’s not a surprise considering that the people that make up your mailing list are your top fans. Make sure you make them feel special.

You can send your subscribers exclusive deals or the first chance at products. By giving them a sale or promotion that’s not offered to everyone, they will feel like your brand is looking out for them and their beard.

Give your email subscribers a sneak peek too. If you are having daily/hourly deals, send them the times of each deal, so they start planning what they want. 

Whatever you have planned, get your biggest fans pumped for the sale. This not only creates excitement, but these contacts will be more likely to be looking for your holiday promotional offer in their inbox as BFCM arrives (and more likely to tell their bearded friends about it).

4. Social Posts & Social Ads

Creating excitement around Black Friday and Cyber Monday on your social media channels has numerous benefits:

• Engages your followers.
• Puts your landing page and/or website to work.
• Creates buzz and excitement.
• Allows you to target ads to specific demographics.

If you’re thinking of paid ads, BFCM is a great time to use it. Boost your reach on social media with paid posts on the social media channels your customers engage with (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). Use their demographic tools to target ads to people who are likely to buy your beard care products.

Post sneak peeks of upcoming sales on social media, give out promo codes, promote daily deals. It’s your chance to create engagement and get people excited!

We’ve found that creating a social media calendar is a big help. To avoid playing catch up, create a strategy complete with the look you want your BFCM posts to have, what channels you are posting to, and what times you are going to post.

Chart out when you are going to tease the deals and when you are going to launch. Keep in mind that statistics show that the spikes in purchasing happen between noon and 9 p.m. on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

5. Improve your Amazon SEO

If Amazon drives your business, you are going to want to get the most out of it on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We like to think of Amazon as the biggest search engine for commerce. That’s what makes search engine optimization (SEO) for Amazon so important.

Take the weeks before Black Friday to optimize your Amazon product listings.

Here are some of the main areas you can optimize using keyword research data you have collected.

• Your Product’s Title
• Your Seller Name
• Your Amazon Backend Keywords
• Your Brand Field
• Your Product Description and Bullet Points

For a full breakdown of Amazon SEO, we have found this article to be very helpful.

6. Plan Plan Plan

The one thing that all of these tips have in common is planning. There are a lot of moving parts. It makes flying by the seat of your pants impossible. By planning, you can maximize the time and energy you put into Back Friday and Cyber Monday.

Here are some tips for what we have found helpful for Black Friday and Cyber Monday when it comes to selling beard balms and oils:

• Start Early- it makes BFCM feel way less daunting
• Is there a partner business that you can team up with? If your clients love craft beer, is there a joint promotion you can do with a local brewery?
• Are you ready to sell? Is your inventory ready? Do you have the support you need? Is your website ready for increased traffic?
• Keep your message clear and simple, and stay true to your brand’s voice. Build your campaign around your brand (don’t be something you are not).

Good luck this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Get your orders in today, and we will make sure that you have the inventory you need to make your customers happy this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.