How To Create A Black Friday Offer That Actually Works For Your Business
It’s November, it's a sales month, and you might well be wondering how to create a Black Friday offer that works for your equestrian business. In this article I will outline why I believe a Black Friday offer is essential for your business, what I would avoid and how to maximise the ‘buying energy’ of this time of year.
What is Black Friday, and Why Does It Matter For Your Business?
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and is considered the start of the holiday shopping season, with many businesses offering promotions or discounts. More recently it has turned into a shopping weekend with sales running until Cyber Monday. This year, these dates are 29th November to 2nd December. Many of the equestrian business owners that I coach tell me that Black Friday feels like “something that works for other businesses”, and we typically think of large corporations running these seasonal promotions. In truth, Black Friday can work for any size business, and it doesn’t have to centre around large discounts.
Creating Your Ideal Offer
Deciding what to sell for Black Friday can be difficult. So instead, first start with what you’d like to achieve from the promotion.
Are you looking for a cash injection?
Do you want to increase sales to close down a 2024 goal?
Are you trying to reach a new market?
Do you want to offer a new service?
Are you looking to test something new out?
Perhaps you want to re-engage past/ lost clients or customers?
Maybe you have old stock to sell out?
There is no right or wrong. I have used Black Friday offers to test new ideas out before, I’ve created new products, I’ve created bundles, I’ve made offers exclusively for existing clients and other promotions for new customers. And I’ve had a lot of fun doing this!
Once you’ve decided on your aim, it will be much easier to create an offer.
Do It Your Way
You can put your own individual spin on Black Friday, and create your offer that works for you, your business and your clients, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be centred just around discounts.
I have clients that have run a Green Friday or a Giving Friday offer, where purchases made on Black Friday have resulted in a tree being planted or a charity donation made. If I had been looking at purchasing an item, or signing up for a course knowing that a donation would be made would definitely make me ‘buy it now’. What a win-win situation for a consumer.
Discounts work well when you have a digital asset or stock you want to clear. Personally, I think for equestrian service based businesses a discount isn’t a great idea. Profit margins are usually tighter on these services, and discounts need to be big to stand out at this time of year. Instead of giving away your profit, think about how you can add value to clients and customers.
Product based businesses could offer free gifts, extended returns periods, free shipping or even an event for customers if you have a ‘bricks and mortar’ premises.
Service based businesses could offer packages for clients with extra in person or online support, bundle different offerings together, or offer a bonus for new clients.
There really is no limit on what you can offer, so be creative and have fun.
Remember, any incentive you are offering needs to be useful and exciting to your audience. It needs to feel like a ‘no-brainer’ to click ‘buy now’
What to Avoid
I have mentioned the pros and cons of discounting, and it definitely has a place. If you wish to offer a discount, then I would avoid low discounts like 10% or even 20%. I have two digital products that we offer a discount on, and we tend to offer between 60% and 80% off. I created these products knowing I would use seasonal sales and discounting as part of my marketing strategy, and it works. I would also avoid what I call ‘supermarket deals’, like buy 6 pay for 5. I often see this with equestrian service providers, like coaches and bodyworkers and think why, you have to go and work for free on one appointment.
Make A Splash
Having spent time creating an amazing Black Friday offer, I would also make time to plan out selling it. One post on social media won’t sell it. You need to talk about your offer in a variety of ways, and get it in front of your audience multiple times. For example, a countdown to your offer, talking about the benefits, showcasing other clients or customers and sharing testimonials and feedback. You will need to follow up with interested people, and have multiple reminders that the offer is closing.
Remember to be where your ideal clients are, ensuring your messaging is reaching on email, text/WhatsApp, social media and any other places that your customers are. Have fun and I wish you an amazing start to the Holiday Sales Season! If you’d like more help with your Black Friday offer, then please pop Nicola a message on Instagram with the words “BLACK FRIDAY’ and she will send you a podcast episode on this topic. www.instagram.com/nkcbusinesscoaching.
Nicola Kinnard-Comedie (Msc, BHSAI Int. SM)
is the owner and founder of NKC Equestrian Training, delivering horse care training to horse owners and business and mindset coaching to equine practitioners.
Nicola is a qualified riding instructor and has over 20 years industry experience, and now uses her coaching skills to assist equine practitioners. Nicola decided to combine her experience of equestrian science, sales and marketing, and teach this to others. Nicola works with veterinary physiotherapists, massage therapists, osteopaths and other equestrians across the world to help them build their dream business. Nicola's work focuses on harnessing the power of your mindset, together with cutting edge marketing strategies to support equestrian business owners to realise the business of their dreams.
You can find out more about Nicola here: www.nkcequestrian.com
This article is from the November issue of Equine Business Magazine
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