15 ideas for Black Friday marketing

Black Friday has become one of the biggest sales events of the year, giving businesses a valuable opportunity to attract new customers, bring back existing ones and increase sales before the holiday season gets into full swing.  

Even if online traffic spikes during Black Friday, getting results takes more than just adding a discount to your website the day before. With so much competition, planning a promotional campaign in advance gives you more time to decide what to offer, who your target audience is, and how you’ll get your campaign in front of them.   

Whether you’re running an online shop, offering services or selling products through your website, there are plenty of ways to approach Black Friday. From building anticipation to creating a reason to buy, the right idea can help you make the most of the increased interest around the event. 

Here are 15 Black Friday marketing ideas to help you plan your campaign and make the most out of this high-traffic season. Let’s get started!  

Before Black Friday 

1. Build a dedicated Black Friday landing page

Give your Black Friday campaign a clear home on your website. A dedicated landing page lets you put your offers, key information and calls to action together in one place, rather than sending customers to different pages to find out what the best deals are. 

Keep the page focused and easy to navigate. Highlight your best deals, explain when they start and end, and make it clear what customers need to do to claim an offer. You can also use the page to build anticipation before your deals go live. 

Need a landing page in a hurry? With our Aida AI, you can create a starting point in minutes, so you can get your Black Friday campaign online quickly and spend your time refining the details rather than building the page from scratch. 

2. Create an email countdown campaign 

Don’t wait until Black Friday itself to tell your customers about your offers. A short email campaign can build anticipation and give people a reason to look out for your deals. 

You could start with a teaser email, followed up by reminders as the date gets closer, and conclude with a final email when the offers go live. Keep each message focused on one clear action, whether that’s viewing the upcoming deals, saving the date, or shopping the offer once it’s available. 

3. Segment your customers to offer exclusive campaigns 

Your existing customers already know your business, which can make them a valuable audience during Black Friday. Give them an early look at your offers, exclusive access, or a personalised recommendation based on what they’ve bought before. 

You could also create different offers for different customer groups rather than sending everyone the same promotion. A returning customer may respond better to a relevant product recommendation than to a generic discount. 

You don’t necessarily need to offer your biggest discount. Early access or a deal that’s only available to subscribers can be enough to make your email list feel valuable.  

4. Promote deals on social media  

Use your social channels to put your Black Friday offers in front of people before and during the event. Share teasers, product highlights, reminders and details about when your best deals go live. 

Different formats can work for different parts of the campaign. Short videos can build interest, product posts can highlight specific offers, and stories or similar temporary content can be useful for reminders when a deal is about to end. 

5. Create gift guides 

Help customers decide what to buy by turning your products or services into useful gift ideas. You can organise a guide by recipient, budget, interest or product type, such as “Gifts under £50” or “Gifts for new business owners”.  

A gift guide can also introduce customers to products they might not have considered and give you useful content to share across your website, email and social channels. 

6. Optimise for mobile shoppers  

Make sure your Black Friday campaign works just as well on a phone as it does on a desktop. Check your landing pages, product pages, forms and checkout, and make sure everything is easy to read, tap and navigate. 

It’s worth testing the full customer journey yourself before your campaign starts. A page that looks fine on a large screen can feel very different on a smaller one, particularly when customers are trying to complete a purchase quickly.

During Black Friday 

7. Run a flash sale  

Add a few short, unexpected offers to your Black Friday campaign to create extra interest. A flash sale could run for a few hours or be available on a specific product or service for one day only. 

You can announce flash sales through email and social media or reveal them to visitors on your website. Just make sure the terms and end time are clear, so customers know exactly how long they have to act. 

8. Create urgency with countdown timers 

A countdown timer can make an upcoming launch or expiring offer feel more immediate. Add one to your Black Friday landing page or promotional emails to show how long customers have until an offer starts or ends. 

Use countdowns where there is a genuine deadline. The point is to make the timing clear, not to create fake pressure. Once the countdown reaches zero, make sure the offer and messaging are updated. 

9. Recover those abandoned carts 

Not everyone who adds something to their cart will complete their purchase. Black Friday can bring even more potential customers to your site, so make sure you have a way to follow up with people who leave before checking out. 

An abandoned cart email can remind customers what they left behind and bring them back to your site. Keep the message simple and consider highlighting when the offer ends if the items in their cart are part of a limited-time Black Friday promotion. 

10. Offer product bundles 

Black Friday is a good opportunity to increase the value of each sale by combining related products or services into a bundle. You could offer a selection of products for less than they would cost individually, or pair a popular product with a complementary one. 

Bundles can also make the buying decision easier by giving customers a ready-made combination rather than asking them to choose every item separately. 

11. Promote limited time offers 

A Black Friday offer doesn’t have to run for the entire week or even into Cyber Monday. A limited-time promotion can give customers a clear reason to act while still giving you control over when and how you discount. 

Be specific about when the offer starts and ends, and make sure those details are visible wherever you promote it. A genuine deadline gives customers a reason to purchase now rather than put off their purchase. 

12. Use referrals as an incentive  

Turn your existing customers into another way of reaching new ones. A referral offer could give an existing customer a discount, credit or other reward when someone they refer makes a purchase. Keep the process simple and make the benefits clear. Black Friday can be a good time to test a referral campaign because customers already have a reason to share a deal they think someone else might want. 

After Black Friday 

13. Extend offers through Cyber Monday 

Black Friday doesn’t have to be the end of your campaign. Extending selected offers through Cyber Monday can give customers who missed the initial sale another opportunity to buy. 

You can also use the transition between the two events to change the focus of your promotion. For example, highlight different products or introduce a new offer rather than simply repeating the same Black Friday message for another few days. 

14. Follow up after the sale 

Your Black Friday campaign is a great starting point for building trust and loyalty in your customers. Follow up with customers after their purchase to thank them and provide useful information about what they purchased during Black Friday. You could recommend related products or invite customers to stay in touch for future offers.  

For new customers in particular, a good post-purchase experience can turn a one-off Black Friday sale into a longer-term relationship. 

15. Request customer reviews  

After customers have had the chance to use their purchase, ask them to share their experience. Keep the request simple with a direct link to your preferred review platform to make it easy for them to leave feedback while their purchase is still fresh in their mind. 

Reviews can help build trust with future customers and give you useful feedback on what worked well and where you could improve.  

Don’t miss out on Black Friday opportunities  

Black Friday is a great opportunity to attract new customers, reconnect with existing ones, and make the most of increased shopping activity online. With the right approach, your marketing strategy can do more than just offer discounts. Take this opportunity to create better relationships with your customers, get more followers on social media, and target your ideal audience to help extend the Black Friday boost all year round.  

Choose the ideas that best fit your business, start planning early, and give yourself time to refine your campaign. A well-planned Black Friday campaign can help you turn seasonal interest into relationships that last beyond a weekend.