Black Friday is traditionally seen as a brick-and-mortar retail event. As a result, service providers – like website designers, copywriters, or voiceover artists – often think the event doesn't apply to them. But the truth is there's a market for just about everything on Black Friday.
People are already expecting to spend money on that day, so they may also be looking for sales on the services they need. This means that, as a seller, you can make some serious money – if you play your cards right.
The first step to making bank on Black Friday is to start marketing yourself on social media before the day even arrives. In other words, set the stage for the sale. Remember, people are planning to spend big on this day. If your clients happen to be savvy entrepreneurs, they're probably looking for a good deal – so you need to let them know they can get one with you.
Even if Black Friday isn't on your clients' radar, by letting them know they can save money on your service that day, you start planting the seed. Suddenly, clients may go from "Yeah, I don't really see myself spending money on a voiceover" to "Wait a second, this is a good deal. Maybe I can pay someone else to do it so I have more time to do other things."
While promoting yourself on social media is a great way to create awareness for your Black Friday sales, it's not enough. First, social media moves very quickly, so only a portion of your followers saw your posts. Second, the real money is in the email list.
If you have an email list of leads, start priming them for Black Friday a few days ahead of time. Again, this is to set the expectation. You'll also want to market to them the day of and in the days following.
Up until this point, you've been creating anticipation with your marketing. When Black Friday actually arrives, it's time to switch gears and create a sense of urgency. This means reminding people that the deep discounts will end in X amount of time. It also means sending several emails throughout the weekend counting down the moment until the sale ends. In fact, don't be surprised if most sales come in on the last day – because people don't want to miss out.
The final step in raking in the cash on Black Friday is to extend the sale. More specifically, if you noticed one particular service sold very well during the weekend, you'll want to extend the sale on that.
Let your social followers and email list know that, due to popular demand, you're extending the sale on a particular service for X amount of time. From there, you repeat Step 3 until the sale is over.
This time, once the sale is over, it's really over. Otherwise, you cheapen yourself. Making money as a seller on Black Friday doesn't need to be difficult. If you ride the wave of anticipation and follow some simple marketing practices, you'll make money instead of spending it all that weekend.
Got any tips for improving sales on Black Friday? Tell us in the comments below!
