Boost Your Black Friday Sales: Innovative Strategies and Essential Tools for Maximum Impact

Ready to supercharge your Black Friday sales strategies? Discover how to turn the biggest shopping event of the year into a golden opportunity for your business. You'll learn how to leverage online sales trends, capitalize on a 9% year-over-year increase in digital shopping, and understand the power of an average 31% discount rate to convert potential clients into loyal customers. Reflecting on our favorite Black Friday finds, from essential business SaaS products to exclusive concert tickets, we share insights on how both online and brick-and-mortar businesses can maximize this shopping frenzy.

Unlock the secrets to adding unprecedented value to your offerings without slashing your prices. Imagine bundling consulting sessions with courses, offering exclusive VIP days, or launching group coaching programs with enticing early bird pricing—these creative strategies can help you stand out this Black Friday. We also dive into the renewed interest in webinars as a powerful engagement tool and discuss innovative holiday-themed offerings designed to captivate and retain your clients. Plus, find out why discounted speaking packages and expertly executed masterminds can be game-changers for your business.

Get equipped with essential tools and timelines to ensure your Black Friday campaign is a smashing success. We'll guide you through a comparison of top email marketing platforms like MailChimp, ConvertKit, and Amplify, and introduce you to landing page creators like LeadPages and ClickFunnels. Master social media scheduling with tools like MetroCool, AgoraPulse, and PromoRepublic, and create stunning visuals using Canva and Adobe Spark. With our comprehensive timeline, starting six to eight weeks in advance, you'll be ready to build buzz and execute a flawless launch. Tune in to Scale Up Strategies and take your Black Friday sales to the next level!

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Chapters

• 0:03 Black Friday Sales Strategies for Business
• 12:30 Maximizing Black Friday Sales Strategies
• 22:12 Strategies for Black Friday Marketing
• 34:30 Podcast Success and Motivation

Transcript

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:03

You're listening to Scale Up Strategies, the business growth podcast for coaches, consultants and speakers. We're your hosts and business coach experts Mary Fane Gran and Laura Bay Shore.

Laura Bashore: 0:16

We're sharing all our insider tips from 20 plus years in business, including how we successfully scaled our businesses without losing our minds or our husbands.

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:27

Sure, you can piece it together and try to DIY your way to success. Or you can listen to us every week and learn the shortcuts, because we promise they're really awesome.

Laura Bashore: 0:38

So grab your favorite cup of coffee, tune in and let's start the show.

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:42

Lauraura, do you know what is only 99 days away from today? I?

Laura Bashore: 0:48

think I do what. What is it?

Mary Fain Brandt: 0:51

I am so excited it's christmas. Christmas is almost here. I am already making my baking list and grocery shopping list of what I need to buy so when they go on sale I can start stocking up.

Laura Bashore: 1:02

I know a little crazy right, right, A little bit, but I I'm already doing my Christmas movie list.

Mary Fain Brandt: 1:08

Like you know, I've got to watch Elf and all the fun things Right, but you know what comes before Christmas?

Laura Bashore: 1:14

Christmas Eve.

Mary Fain Brandt: 1:16

Well, this is technically true, Okay, but Thanksgiving comes before Christmas, so I'm making that list as well, and you know what comes before Thanksgiving.

Laura Bashore: 1:28

What.

Mary Fain Brandt: 1:29

Black Friday specials. They come way before Thanksgiving nowadays.

Laura Bashore: 1:33

That's true. That's true. We purchase on Black Friday, but you can purchase even before, right?

Mary Fain Brandt: 1:39

Yes, you can, and before we dive into today's episode, which is all about Black Friday specials for coaches, consultants and speakers, let's share some of our favorite Black Friday purchases. What did you purchase on Black Friday in the past that you're like that was a smoking deal?

Laura Bashore: 2:02

Well, I definitely used to do all the shopping, uh, before the online piece was there, like I was there early in the morning, uh, and I was yeah, I was so well, mervyn's right, remember Mervyn? Yeah, um, but anyways. So I was so happy once it all turned more into um, online ways of doing Black Friday, because I'm not a morning person. So I think, probably the best thing I bought though so professionally I bought a training course on funnels. Like I stocked it for days and waited until it was going to come in, and it was one of those things where I've never purchased one of those before. But I figured, since her funnel got me, maybe that funnel could help me get other people.

Laura Bashore: 2:51

Right, I love that, yeah, and then I think I purchased some concert tickets, which sounds normal.

Mary Fain Brandt: 2:59

That doesn't surprise me, Like some festival yeah some festival tickets, so you know. We bought concert tickets before at thanksgiving uh, they were like ten dollars for this country concert festival at tumbleweed park here and we look for those every year because. So we buy the tickets in november and the concerts in march, right?

Laura Bashore: 3:20

but you just know, you just have to plan. So besides that, what are some other cool things? So I, I know you are in there shopping. So besides that, what are some other cool things? Cause I, I know you are in there shopping for the things, so what?

Mary Fain Brandt: 3:28

are some things that you've gotten. It was always a tradition that me and my mom would go to target Kmart, walmart and get like wrapping paper right, all the supplies. And then I we bought a TV one year for my mom a TV one year for my mom.

Mary Fain Brandt: 3:51

I used to buy boots Like I would buy like really nice leather boots because you could get them like half off, right Coats and sweaters. So I used to buy all of that on Black Friday. And then you know the TVs and electronics. But then, as a business owner like you, I've moved to buying SaaS products. So I bought BigMarker, which is a webinar platform that I just used for the first time last month. I've had it since 2019. I know.

Laura Bashore: 4:21

And then you're always like, let me look at my catalog. I'm sure I have a program for that. You know, at some time I've purchased this and I'm going to be using it.

Mary Fain Brandt: 4:31

I bought wave video at a lifetime deal at a black Friday. So I do buy more uh platform SAS products now as a business owner. But I think black Friday is um, I love it. I love seeing those deals and I think that as business owners, we need to really understand the power of a Black Friday special. So I'm going to share some stats with you guys Now. These are obviously from 2023.

Mary Fain Brandt: 5:02

So online sales for Black Friday online sales in the US has increased 9% year over year. Year over year. It doesn't go down, you guys, it just keeps going up. It's a 16.4 billion industry last year. So just that statistic should make you go. Let me grab my pen and paper and start taking notes. In-store sales so I know we talk about online, but in-store sales are still happening and they increase by 1.1% year over year. So brick and mortars are still benefiting from a Black Friday special. And then the total sales and this is all US-based. So total US retail sales increased 5% year over year. So I want you guys to take note of that. It keeps increasing online or brick and mortar.

Mary Fain Brandt: 5:57

And then the average discount on a Black Friday sale in 2023 was about 31%. I think it's important yeah. Yeah, so it's good to know what is the average. So you can be like what should I do to attract those people that are on the fence? They're right there. Should I buy it? Should I buy it? I?

Laura Bashore: 6:17

don't know Right, because if you only do like a 10%, then maybe that's not even going to do anything. So you put all this time and effort, but it's not enough to move the prospective client or customer forward. Yeah, good, okay, keep going. I'm having fun with these.

Mary Fain Brandt: 6:36

Okay. So I have one more stat, and it was from 2022, but it's still relevant 76.2 million Okay, listen to that again. 76.2 million people shopped in store on Black Friday in the US. I'm sorry, this was from 2023. That was up 4.5% from 2022. So you know. Covid's behind us People are back in the stores. I think a lot of people missed going to stores and actually looking and touching things right.

Mary Fain Brandt: 7:09

So I think that that is really important for our viewers to understand that Black Friday specials are still a thing Now. I know you have some statistics and numbers to share with us as well.

Laura Bashore: 7:21

Well, yeah, I mean no surprise here that some of the top shopping destinations during Black Friday are Target and Walmart, because I mean, who isn't going there looking for hot deals, right?

Mary Fain Brandt: 7:35

Right.

Laura Bashore: 7:37

And then embedded finance services. So thinking about like, buy now, pay later, and buying online or picking up at the store, which I especially since COVID like yeah, it takes a lot to get me out of my car, I feel bad, but those are a huge draw for customers. I can tell you I rarely go to the grocery store now unless I need like special fancy things. I just get them shipped or delivered. And then cross-border sales. So 15 of global orders are cross-border cells with the most popular routes and again, we're basing this off of us based right. So the most popular routes are canada to the united states, united states to canada and united states to the United Kingdom, yeah, yeah, which that all kind of makes sense. Especially someone who just came back from London recently, I can tell you, yes, lots of cross-border sales, yeah. And so thinking about how do we start to utilize all this great information that we're putting together, I think we all feel like, okay, black Friday is important, but really as business owners, no matter where you're at in your business, we need to figure out how we can get in on this and take advantage of it, because otherwise you're missing out on something that could really propel your fourth quarter sales, so something to dive into. Um. So, obviously for service-based businesses as well, because people start thinking more about what they can do for themselves or for others, and whenever you're thinking like that, services really come into play.

Laura Bashore: 9:20

So the purpose of doing these types of sales is obviously increased visibility, attracting new clients, driving the urgency.

Laura Bashore: 9:29

I think that's something that this naturally does, and so why not take advantage of this time of year and Black Friday sales? And then you can also clear out any old services or old packages, so those things where you say last time that this is going at this price, right, or these services are expiring. We're rolling out new things, and I think, mary, that would apply to you right how you have taken out the career services now and are really pushing forward a lot of the AI consulting that you do. I've seen you start to position that as well. So something to think of, and you know it's just perfect time of year for you to offer any of those, especially as a speaker consultant. Other thing is the visibility factor. We're in conference season right now. Right, this is the conference season, so getting you out there as soon as conferences close, then they open back up for applications for their speakers. So getting yourself some more visibility can also help in that way too.

Mary Fain Brandt: 10:33

Yeah, absolutely Well, laura and I want to share some ideas for your Black Friday specials. We have 10 that we're going to go over and these are really good for coaches, consultants and speakers. And before I dive into them, a little announcement If you struggle with what you should offer for a Black Friday special, if these ideas they're like well, that sounds good, but I don't know how to put it together. I don't know how to create the launch. Laura and I are both certified AI consultants and we're here to tell you that AI can create your Black Friday special for you, create a launch series, your emails, your social posts. So if that's something that you're like, hey, I want to do a Black Friday special, but I need help with it, just reach out to us and we can help you by having a strategy session with you on AI. So a little plug for us, but I'm going to tell you it is amazing and it takes all the headache out. Okay, it certainly does. So let's talk about 10 different Black Friday ideas.

Laura Bashore: 11:38

Now the first one.

Mary Fain Brandt: 11:40

I'm going to say it and then I'm going to disagree with it. Okay, so just hold on. The first idea that is always listed is discounted coaching packages. I disagree with this, and this is why, years ago, a business coach said never discount your packages or services, mary, because then other people who have purchased from you will get a little offended, like, well, wait a minute, I paid a lot more and now it's on sale, right? So instead of discounting your package, your services, she suggested that you throw in something extra, like oh, you know, it's still the same price, but for Black Friday I'm giving you an extra month of coaching, or I'm giving you a free course, or I'm giving you 10 extra images. If you are someone who creates content, a content package, laura, what do you think about that?

Laura Bashore: 12:37

Yeah, I agree. As you were saying it, in my head I was like the add-on. Yeah, I always add. Add to something, don't take away. That's such a good point, because then you're also making those who've purchased your services previously wonder the value of what they've actually purchased.

Mary Fain Brandt: 12:54

Exactly.

Laura Bashore: 12:56

Good point.

Mary Fain Brandt: 12:57

So number two is bundle services. You have a bunch of different services that you offer. Put together a package so you're creating more value. So you could combine like a three-session consulting package with a course or with an exclusive webinar recording or with downloadable PDFs. So bundle your services together. The third one is create VIP days. Right, these are great. Someone who just wants to get it all done. So it's a one-time discounted VIP day where you work one-on-one with them, and VIP day, you guys. It doesn't mean eight hours. The VIP days that I have offered and the ones that I have purchased are like a four-hour session right.

Laura Bashore: 13:40

So that's a good point to put out there, because you need to think about what you're offering in those four hours.

Mary Fain Brandt: 13:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eight hours. I couldn't. I couldn't be on the phone or be on zoom for eight hours. Now I do know business coaches that fly out to their VIP clients and they do in-person sessions with like lunch and everything, right? Uh, the next item that you could create for Black Friday is group coaching, right? So, again, instead of offering a discount, maybe you're launching a group coaching program, maybe you offer early bird pricing I don't think there's anything wrong with early bird pricing versus different, because you're launching it or it. Hey, if you renew your group coaching, I'm throwing in two months. So I think it's all about how you position that.

Laura Bashore: 14:25

Um, if you're launching renewing too.

Mary Fain Brandt: 14:28

Yeah right, renew, uh, my black friday special. Renew your membership for the year and get two months, so add to it. Don't discount it. Um, course launches if you're offering a new course launch, you might offer a discounted rate Again. I think it'd be like an early bird special. I would throw this in as a freebie for a bigger package. Right, I probably wouldn't discount the course. I would probably throw it in like, hey, sign up for the coaching package and you're going to get access to my courses.

Laura Bashore: 15:01

Right Because you'd be like to get access to my my courses. Right Cause you'd be like either free access to this course or be like beta this, right, yeah, exactly, yeah, I like that, okay.

Laura Bashore: 15:15

And then here's another great one for us, which is exclusive webinars and workshops. I feel like there's been a lot more engagement on this because maybe, like a year and a half ago, I was feeling like there's been a lot more engagement on this because maybe, like a year and a half ago, I was feeling like there was webinar fatigue. Were you feeling that too? Like everything is a webinar, absolutely.

Mary Fain Brandt: 15:29

Everybody. Because of 2020 and everything being online, I feel like up to last year, right, there was a lot of webinar fatigue and nobody was like really engaging, but I feel that's taken a turn for the better and webinars are back.

Laura Bashore: 15:48

Exactly. I couldn't agree more with you. So I have done in the past four months, I've done a webinar twice and I've seen a lot of engagement on it and it was paid. So you can have people pay for your webinar and your workshop. Don't have to gift away things for free, but do something special in it. You know, wrap in something around the holiday, like what if they get like a special takeaway? Like that would be a stocking stuffer for Christmas or something right? Yeah, really think about something fun. If you're doing in person, I mean, I don't want to mail stuff out. Neither does my husband. Anyways, I'm sidebarring Webinars and workshops Very good, very good and then also speaking packages, so offering discounted rates for speaking engagements booked in 2024. So this is again we're not really lowering the prices of the service. Instead, we're saying these are the things I'm rolling out until the end of 2024. So if you book this now, you're going to get this pricing here and it might be like think about speaking packages, Laura, all the conferences that we've been to.

Mary Fain Brandt: 17:05

So it might be book me now for 2024 and I'll throw in a workshop, or I'll throw in a private lunch, or I'll throw in this oh yeah, not just a hat rack Lots of ideas up here, folks.

Laura Bashore: 17:21

Okay, I'm liking that one. I want to talk with you more about that one. That could be really fun. We could do a Laura and Mary. Laura and Mary is fun. People get to have lunch with that, but it wouldn't be lunch, it'd have to be brunch, cause that's what you like.

Mary Fain Brandt: 17:37

I do. I love me a good brunch.

Laura Bashore: 17:39

Yeah, so hey, that could be something. That could be something All right. So mastermind membership discount Now, really quickly. The only thing I want to say here is that I have seen lately people calling things masterminds that are not masterminds.

Laura Bashore: 17:58

Do your research, yeah, yeah, if you're going to say you're doing a mastermind, then do a mastermind. Doing a group training once a month is not a mastermind, it is a group training. That's completely different. 100% yeah. And then you're gonna have people who are questioning your credibility because you don't know what you're talking about. So, anyways, though, I love the idea of a mastermind, especially if you've done your research, discounting that, because around the holidays is when people are really into this, like we are going to upgrade what we're doing personally, professionally, this is the time to run something like this and an exclusive mastermind and make it interesting, please, okay, so, and then customer service packages. So creating different customer service packages, offering something. Maybe you're targeting a specific type of client or group, something that really speaks to them. That's a little bit more tailored. You know entrepreneurs can we get more specific, maybe? Where are they at in their journey, right? So maybe?

Laura Bashore: 19:06

like industry specific like if you were going after credit unions, create a package just just for them.

Mary Fain Brandt: 19:13

Or if you're going after um insurance industries, right you create, create a package just for that industry.

Laura Bashore: 19:23

Exactly so make it specific and then start to go ahead and put it out there and that's something that if you were going to specific industries, you could also send that out to organizations, like actually email that directly out to them and kind of get in front of them that way, and then limited time private sessions, ooh, okay.

Mary Fain Brandt: 19:45

Maybe you don't offer sessions. Maybe all you do is group. Yeah, there are a lot of people that only do group or you know, or your private sessions are so limited that nobody can get in, so maybe you offer you know Right.

Laura Bashore: 20:02

So is this exclusive based off of how you do your business? And then that's where this offer comes into play. If you regularly do one-on-one coaching maybe not Like, instead you do like a VIP day or you know something like that and then buy one, get one, everybody loves them, everybody loves a BOGO at this time of year. So you gotta, you gotta be on that, and I love all of these ideas. I feel like I want to do all of them. So my last thing I'll say is don't do all of them.

Mary Fain Brandt: 20:33

Pick one, pick one and go for it hardcore right, and I want to add to that, before you pick one, do some research, because we would hate for you to spend hours creating this, launching it, to just hear crickets. So you really need to understand what your clients want. Laura just said I love all of them. You know what I love most of these too, but that doesn't mean that's what my clients want, right?

Mary Fain Brandt: 20:58

So make sure that you understand just because we want it doesn't mean our clients do so. Make sure what you're creating is something of value and interest to your clients.

Laura Bashore: 21:09

Okay, Well, just got an idea. It's time to put out some polls. Yep, time to do those polls. Linkedin.

Mary Fain Brandt: 21:17

And also, why not email your existing list Exactly? Ask them what they want? Yeah, how can I support you further in your journey on XYZ? Is it tools?

Laura Bashore: 21:30

courses, webinars.

Mary Fain Brandt: 21:31

I'm really liking this.

Laura Bashore: 21:33

I'm on fire today. I love it. I'm really liking all of the things that are happening.

Mary Fain Brandt: 21:38

Okay. So now we're going to talk tools to create and launch your Black Friday specials. The number one tool is going to be AI. I'm sorry, I'm going to say it again and again and again. It can sound like you, it can speak to your ideal client and it will save you 80% time. Not even going to lie, I'm going to throw that out there Exactly, especially if you're somebody who procrastinates.

Laura Bashore: 22:01

The number one reason you procrastinate is because you don't know where to start. Let AI get you started and then let's execute get it done.

Mary Fain Brandt: 22:09

So, ai, I'm going to say that off the bat. But then you know your email marketing platforms. If you're just starting off, a lot of people start with MailChimp. I'm not a fan of it. A lot of people love it. I've switched to ConvertKit, which I'm still we're figuring it all out, but I like it so far and the prices right. Laura, what are you using for your email?

Laura Bashore: 23:40

I have an all-in-one Amplify, so that's been going really well, okay, and it's made it easy because it already had some of the funnels and the systems and those campaigns set up so I could plug in and play, which is what I need, which is why I love AI so much, because I'm not techie.

Mary Fain Brandt: 24:04

Yeah, so you've got to find the tool that works for you. So we're just here to suggest a few general tools, but if you wanted personalized tools for you and your business, that's a one-on-one conversation with us. So number two you need to have a landing page. If you're just going to put social out, you know when they click there, where do they?

Laura Bashore: 24:22

where are they going?

Mary Fain Brandt: 24:23

Right, yeah, so you can use things like lead pages or click funnels. These get expensive and tricky of how to build out, or you can just create one on your website, you guys? Okay, you can just create a landing page. So let's simplify that. Social media scheduling tools. If you are still scheduling every day, you're doing it wrong. Um, so, I know that you use Metro. Cool, right, is it Metro? Yes, okay.

Laura Bashore: 24:50

And that I I love it. Like I said before, they get you your analytics, you don't have to rely on the social media platforms themselves and they integrate with LinkedIn, which you know so hard, and you can do multiple brands and I think the the medium level is it gives you like five different brands.

Mary Fain Brandt: 25:11

So it's great. So Metro cool is a tool, Agora pulse is one I use and I use promo Republic with my clients. So the content that I'm managing for my clients it's on a whole separate platform.

Laura Bashore: 25:23

Which is great, so you don't get crossed over. I mean, yeah, I can see the value in that.

Mary Fain Brandt: 25:28

And then your design tools Canva. Canva is really advanced with all the AI. There's Adobe Spark. You know, if you're an Adobe user, then use that. But you want to create some eye-catching graphics for your emails, the website landing page and your social media posts, and you probably want to have black friday special listed on there.

Laura Bashore: 25:49

Don't, don't ignore the obvious right, don't make people guess or try to figure out what's happening, and I know a lot of people are, you know, up in arms maybe about Canva and their pricing that's coming, but honestly it's such a great tool. I mean I'm sad that they're increasing the price because I was like this is a great value, but it is still a great value.

Mary Fain Brandt: 26:19

I will still use it because it integrates everything.

Laura Bashore: 26:21

It's clean, easy to manage. Yeah, it's still a great value. I will still use it because it it it integrates everything, it's clean, easy to manage, yeah.

Mary Fain Brandt: 26:26

I mean, you just kind of got to use it, yeah. And then finally, um, do you have your payment processor set up? You probably do if you're an established business owner. Stripe or Square are two of the top ones. Some people use PayPal, but I use Square top ones.

Laura Bashore: 26:45

Some people use PayPal, but I use Square. I'm those people, I'm a PayPal, but I also then have. Well, for one of my businesses I'm PayPal, For my other one I'm yeah.

Mary Fain Brandt: 26:52

So you, just you make sure that those are connected properly. So you know, those are some of the different tools. There are tons of tools that you can make sure the link's not broken. Yeah, Make sure the test, test, test. But that's all in the launch and the testing. So, Laura, I mean it's September. Let's talk about the timeline for launching a Black Friday special.

Laura Bashore: 27:16

Well, you really have to think about it because, in order, okay, I'll put it to you in this way A lot of people are familiar with Eventbrite, right? You've used Eventbrite for something. If you go in and you are going to create a new event, it naturally puts you out six to eight weeks. I don't know if you've noticed that, but that's where it throws you at first. It's like this is what you should do, and the same thing applies to the timeline you should be using for launching your Black Friday special, which is why we're talking about it now, because you have to create buzz, right? So you need to already start in the six to eight weeks you got to identify what is your offer, what are you going to want to create, and really start off with pricing, bundling and then any kind of limitations, meaning like number of spots or number of sales that you're going to have. So that's that.

Laura Bashore: 28:13

And then you want to move on to what do you need to do in weeks four? So your ideations there you've got your basic, simple outline. So in your week four, now you need to start creating things, all right? So now that I've let my dog out, we're back. So week four is designing your landing pages, creating your email sequences and promotional materials. Yeah, you need to do this at least at the week four out, because you need to have time for people to see it, because people don't purchase things the first time they see things.

Mary Fain Brandt: 28:51

You need to be organized. You have so much time to remember. And being organized is good, and I just want to say again if this seems overwhelming to you, AI can take you from overwhelmed to calm. It can really calm the chaos. So just I'm going to say it over and over again, because I used to be that person, I'd get stuck right, yeah. Or like oh, I've got to create email and a landing page and social media and it's just too much. But it's not too much anymore.

Laura Bashore: 29:21

Yeah, no, I completely agree. I just recently used it to help me planning our nonprofit gala, our annual nonprofit gala that we do for Team Referral Network, and so I used it a couple weeks back to say, okay, we've got our committee plan in place and now we need a timeline. So here's the things that I need done, what, my timeline and it was a perfect timeline and it was great too, because then I realized I had more things done than I knew. Um, so use AI as your friend. Um, sidebars, okay.

Laura Bashore: 29:57

So in your planning now you're thinking about what do we do in week three? That's when you really need to start to tease the offers right. So you need to start promoting through special teasers, so something that's going to grab attention social media posts. Maybe you're sending that out to your email list and it's just kind of like a sneak peek instead of what the full offer is. And it's just kind of like a sneak peek instead of what the full offer is, and then create a countdown that can generate some buzz and some urgency. People love a good countdown.

Mary Fain Brandt: 30:30

Oh yeah, I love a good countdown, yeah.

Laura Bashore: 30:33

And then one to two weeks before Black Friday, it's time to really go. Full promotion Now see, all the things you were doing leading up is going to make it so that it's easy for you to start executing this, because you're going to have a lot of competition, so you need, you're going to have everything scheduled out right.

Mary Fain Brandt: 30:52

We talked about scheduling tools. We talked about AI. You already have that done. And if you already have all of that, laura, like, created your one to two weeks out you're going to have everything scheduled. It's not like one to two weeks out You've got to go in and schedule your emails, you should, and so instead monitor how it's going.

Laura Bashore: 31:13

This is where, instead of having to post this or get it out there, think about how you can drive engagement. So, if you see somebody who is interacting with this cell, how can you reach out to them in a way and encourage them or, you know, tag somebody who's interested or who's supporting you in this? Like, just really think of how you can drive engagement during this time to get more eyes on the cell that you have going on. And then Black Friday week, so you got to launch it like official launch. So send a final reminder email on the morning of Black Friday. Yes, because I mean, I do the same thing on Black Friday, don't you when it's like okay, I pick up my phone now and see what's happening, what's out there after I'm all you know, and if they've been warming me up.

Mary Fain Brandt: 32:04

I'm waiting for it, Right yeah.

Laura Bashore: 32:06

I'm their ideal to see it.

Mary Fain Brandt: 32:08

Yeah, if I'm their ideal target market and they're sending their. I'm seeing social posts and then I'm getting an email I'm like well, that looks interesting, well, maybe I want that. You know, they say it takes 12 touches and marketing for someone to do business with you. So if you think you're posting or sending too too many emails, I'm here to tell you you're not.

Laura Bashore: 32:27

No exactly, Exactly. I mean, it's okay Like it might feel strange to you, but just get comfortable with it, because that's what your competition's doing Exactly. So then there's also though. So then there's also though, and this is where everybody?

Laura Bashore: 32:42

falls down is on the follow-up, right. So, okay, post Black Friday follow-up. So, for those who missed out, send a follow-up email offering a smaller discount or an exclusive Cyber Monday deal, because we all know Cyber Monday, but don't forget the follow-up. A lot of times people do this great lead up to their campaign, then the day it happens, and then crickets let people know how it turned out, maybe even right, and like oh, did you feel left out? Well, we got this cyber deal now, so it's okay. Yeah, I love that.

Mary Fain Brandt: 33:18

Yeah, follow up, follow up, follow you guys. We talked a lot about Black Friday specials, you know. We gave you 10 ideas, we discussed tools, we discussed the timeline, so now is the time to figure out what you're going to launch for Black Friday. Pick one thing. Like Laura said, you can't launch three one thing. Focus on one thing and share with us what your favorite Black Friday special was Like. We just want to know what was that one thing that you bought that you were so excited to buy on Black Friday.

Mary Fain Brandt: 33:52

And it doesn't have to be service-based. It could be your favorite purse, or maybe it was a trip, I don't know. And then also, I'd love for people to share what tools you use. What are you using in your business that's helping you with your Black Friday special? And then a final note just don't forget use AI. Don't be afraid of it. Use AI for the ideation, for creating the launch of your SOPs. Maybe you need your SOPs, maybe you need to strategize more. You can use AI for all of that. So reach out to Laura if you need help with that.

Laura Bashore: 34:28

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we're here to help. There's one of the reasons why we have this lovely podcast, but there's so much more that we can do if you're looking for some one-on-one or two people to help you, so remember to please subscribe, rate and review this podcast. We've got some excellent guests coming up in the next few weeks and we also have some wonderful topics that are really going to help you push through Q4. So, once again, you know, thank you for listening to us today, spending time with us, and here's to good coffee, great conversations and even greater success.

Mary Fain Brandt: 35:09

Ciao. If you enjoyed the podcast, show us some love. Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, and if you have any feedback, go ahead and share that with us too, because we want to hear from you. Until then, stay focused feedback. Go ahead and share that with us too, because we wanna hear from you. Until then, stay focused, stay motivated and stay caffeinated.