Thanksgiving conjures up an image of warmth and happiness, of cozy dinners surrounded by family and friends, (6 max this year if you live on the West Coast). The reality is that prior to all the turkey deliciousness, hours are spent hunched over laptops, sipping pumpkin lattes in preparation for the busiest, and most fruitful, time of the year, Black Friday!!!! Never are consumers more ready to spend and never are organizations more ready to digitally show off their goods, and for that, we are truly thankful.
Last year, brands spent nearly $6 billion on digital ad spend from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, some devoting as much as 25% of their annual digital budget to these 4 days. The objective at this time of year is not to raise brand awareness or traffic but customer conversions. Ads are designed to tug on the heartstrings and also the purse strings of consumers.
It’s not just these 4 days where brands go full throttle. There’s lots to serve up in November pre and post-Thanksgiving, so here’s what’s on our menu for a successful season of campaigns.
For Starters
As with any good Thanksgiving dinner, the preparation needs to be done in advance, these pre-Thanksgiving campaigns typically begin two-three weeks prior to Thanksgiving and can be used as a warm-up to the big event. This year some of our clients have been using retargeting campaigns that tap into their ’friends and family’ (anyone who’s engaged on the site and with their social media). Exclusive, limited time offers are an appropriate thank you to those who’ve supported us throughout the year and encompass what thanksgiving is all about. If done correctly it will not only incentivize our hot audience to purchase but also encourage them to refer to their own friends and family.
For The Main Course
The turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy of campaigns are the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Typically these are launched Thursday-Friday and last until Cyber Monday. Companies offer all-out deals and discounts with ads designed to contain strong product images with calls to action that inspire the audience to convert. And it’s not just in the US where you can take advantage of this holiday, Black Friday is a ‘thing’ in many corners of the globe.
Our French client Roxine Club launched a successful campaign for Black Friday last year that embraced the seasonality around Black Friday. Vendredi Noir, however, has a pretty gloomy meaning in French so they refer to it in English.
Conversion aside for a minute, if you’re looking for an example of a campaign that checks all the boxes for brand awareness, take a look at REI’s 2015 campaign #OptOutside. It was designed to take a stand against consumerism in favor of spending time in nature and was primarily used for growing reach. Within the first 24 hrs, they saw a 7000% increase in impressions. Fast forward 5 years and it’s become a movement with the campaign’s goals shifting to engagement and advocacy.
For Dessert
Within hours of finishing Cyber Monday campaigns, along comes dessert, Giving Tuesday campaigns! This little treat is a great opportunity to launch campaigns that show off an organization’s sweeter side, their support for non-profits. By tapping into the emotionally driven nature of the event, this mutually beneficial partner relationship allows you to extend the reach and relevance of your message whilst gaining great exposure to a new audience group. This year one of our female fashion companies, ONDRwear, is partnering with the HER foundation by donating 25% of all sales. Through the use of digital ads, clever hashtags and linking to each other’s sites both organizations stand to benefit.
The Clean Up
Once the campaigns have run, it’s time to analyze the data. As we mentioned earlier, these November campaigns are all about conversions, unless of course, you’re REI. If the campaigns have gone well you should have a system stuffed full of sales and many happy, contented customers.
Time to sit back and digest, well...not quite! Leveraging the seasonal period doesn’t stop in November, not long after we shut down our November campaigns it’s time to start initiating campaigns around the most wonderful time of the year….Christmas!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
If you are thinking about advertising on social media and don’t know where to start we offer a free campaign checklist to help you get started. https://www.springhilldigital.com/ihaveaplan