It's no secret that Black Friday and Cyber Monday inspire some of the most creative marketing campaigns on the high street. From striking banners to viral social content, late November brings one of the most significant shopping events of the year, both in-store and online.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which bring in a combined $87 billion in sales from the high street and online stores, are key events for a marketing team to prepare for.
What was once a high-street affair now sees 79% of sales traffic coming directly from mobile phones. These statistics highlight not only the significance of e-commerce when it comes to crafting a powerful BF marketing campaign, but also the importance of targeting customers from each and every touch point your brand has to offer.
With this in mind, we've crafted a beginner's guide to creating an omnichannel Black Friday marketing strategy that aims to generate leads for your brand from all angles.
What Is The Omnichannel Approach?
Omnichannel marketing is the process of integrating numerous sales channels to create one seamless shopping experience for customer-centric marketing.
Omnichannel retail strategies combine cross-channel and multi-channel marketing for the ultimate targeting approach. They aim to target customers using one touch point and guide them to the next in one unified buyer journey.
Defined by experts at McKinsey: The prefix "omni" means "all," and "channel" is a reference to the many ways customers might interact with a company—in physical stores, by surfing the web, on social media, and in emails, apps, SMS, and other digital spaces.
Starbucks is a great example of omnichannel marketing in action:
Offering customers a mobile experience like no other, Starbucks connects its app, website, and store in one big rewards program.
Customers can earn in-store rewards that appear on their Starbucks app, as well as online rewards that can be applied to their in-store purchases. Do you see the omnichannel synchronization?
Omnichannel approaches are known for creating and providing a seamless, comprehensive experience across all channels, which is why they will be the most popular for brands with a brick-and-mortar and ecommerce presence moving forward.
The question is, how can you apply this approach to your next Black Friday campaign? Below, we've compiled five easy ways to kickstart your own omnichannel Black Friday campaign ahead of the festive period.
1. Link Your Omnichannel Campaign Using QR Codes
As you prepare your store for Black Friday sales, there are plenty of ways to connect your physical and digital sales campaigns.
Black Friday signage in your high-street window is a must-have, especially if you plan to slash prices on particular products. These, however, can be upgraded with the addition of a QR code, especially if you're running the same deal on your ecommerce website.
56% of Black Friday shoppers simply browse the high street before purchasing their desired products on a brand's online store.
This makes your window display even more important in facilitating an omnichannel buyer's journey. QR codes offer your customers the ability to jump straight to your online store while still on the high street and place the product they just saw straight in their digital basket.
QR codes can accompany brand posters, sale banners, and even products themselves as a gateway to your online campaign. By simply scanning a QR code with a smartphone, customers can be transported to a specific landing page or a social platform of the brand's choice to continue their buyer journey.
You can also use A QR code to enhance in-store purchases by rewarding code scanners with exclusive discount codes and deals that can be immediately enjoyed in-store.
2. Build A Powerful Online Presence
In order to see omnichannel success this Black Friday, building a powerful online presence in the run-up and throughout the festive period is essential.
If you have an ecommerce store, the best way to maximize your lead generation is to use your social channels for advertising your Black Friday campaign.
Not only can social channels such as TikTok and Instagram play a huge role in communicating messages to your current customers, but thanks to the power of the For You Page and Instagram Explore, brands with enough follower engagement are likely to find themselves on the feeds of new target leads from the same demographic.
Some of the best Black Friday social campaigns contain at least one omnichannel element. For example, Steve Madden SA's early bird X campaign encouraged followers to sign up to their email list for first dibs on their upcoming Black Friday offers.
The embedded post link took viewers to an email list sign-up page that, once filled in, allowed the brand to reach out with Black Friday offers, exclusive discounts, and one streamlined pathway to the ecommerce checkout.
3. Integrate Loyalty Programs Across Channels
If you haven't got one already, introducing a loyalty program cross-channel is a great way to enhance the reach of your Black Friday campaign.
If you offer consumers consistent Black Friday rewards across all platforms, shoppers won't get that FOMO feeling when they choose one channel over the other.
A great way to sync your Black Friday promotions across your physical store, ecommerce store, and mobile app is to introduce an integrated loyalty program that allows a customer to create a loyalty account with your brand and build points at each checkpoint.
Not only can you leverage a loyalty program to drive engagement, but offering exclusive Black Friday perks such as early-bird offers are great incentives to encourage more customers to sign up.
Integrated loyalty programs ensure that rewards are consistent both in-store and online. They also promote a more cohesive customer experience with the brand that is personalized based on each shopper's buying journey. This, in turn, can also improve your customer lifetime value (CLV).
For retail stores with a modern POS system, this process becomes even easier. By tracking customer sales data and creating profiles for each shopper, your point-of-sale system can recommend automated customized Black Friday discounts for each loyalty member that are applied directly to their loyalty profile.
This omnichannel Black Friday deal can then be accessed on multiple channels such as your online store, app, and even in a customer's email inbox.
4. Prioritize Mobile Shoppers
It's no secret that mobile shopping is on the rise. In fact, mobile conversions have risen by 50% during Cyber Monday year on year since 2016.
In order to see success during the festive period, your Black Friday campaign should be crafted with mobile shoppers in mind--that means mobile-friendly across devices.
This includes ensuring that your ecommerce site is fit for multi-device viewing and is powerful enough to offer consumers a seamless browsing experience, especially in periods of high traffic such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
For a brand with a mobile app, focus on building a responsive, easily navigable interface. The key here is to create a mobile checkout process that is just as simplified as your in-store experience, if not better. Why not consider integrating one-click payment options and BNPL schemes such as Klarna for more checkout flexibility?
5. Introduce Click-and-Collect For Flexible Black Friday Shopping
Last but not least, let's talk about the power of click-and-collect shopping as a BF campaign must-have.
In the run-up to a busy festive period, offering your customers the chance to buy online and pick up in-store (BOPIS) will help your brand avoid the Black Friday rush and provide a frictionless experience for each and every customer.
This payment approach allows customers to skip the line in busy stores, which is very attractive during the Black Friday period.
This said, click-and-collect also benefits your in-store sales too. Instead of relying on traditional footfall on the high street, click-and-collectors are guaranteed to step into the store, giving you the chance to market your shop floor products to them all over again.
With Black Friday offers on display and the power of festive merchandising, these customers could walk away with more than just one purchase, if you're lucky.
Walmart is a great example of a retail store that takes an omnichannel approach to pickup and delivery of goods.
Allowing customers to choose their own delivery options in-store and online, including curbside pickups and home deliveries, gives their shoppers more flexibility when it comes to checkout during the festive period.
Final Thoughts
Black Friday is one of the most profitable times of the year for retailers across the globe.
In a physical shopping landscape, an omnichannel marketing approach is essential when targeting your customers with seasonal offers and discounts.
Creating a strategy that unifies your brand's unique touchpoints allows you to market your products successfully to customers from all angles. From QR code connections to cross-channel loyalty programs, there are plenty of ways to use each channel to produce a powerful festive brand campaign.
