I know – it’s only October. And as a business owner, the holidays are probably the farthest thing from your mind right now. But we’re approaching the most competitive time of the year right now in the marketing space.
Last year, online sales alone reached 2.4 BILLION dollars on Black Friday (more than 5 billion if you include Cyber Monday). People are ready to whip out their wallets and spend their cold hard cash. So if you aren’t getting ready for this – you are falling behind.
So how can you take full advantage? Don’t have a plan yet? I’m about to give you 3 ideas so you can whip one up real quick!
Idea #1: Run a Contest to Generate Leads
This is actually REALLY easy to implement. The first step is coming up with an awesome giveaway. Own a dental practice? Give away a free whitening treatment. Gym owner? Offer up $500 towards membership.
Run ads on Facebook to promote your contest. In order to enter, make sure participants submit their emails and phone numbers so you are building up your list with prospects who are clearly interested in your services.
And to make things even better, you can send a follow-up email after the contest is over to all the runners-up with a discount they can redeem. Boom!
Idea #2: Come Up With An Irresistible Offer
On Black Friday, everyone is searching for the best deal. And if your end game is long-term customers, offering up a strong discount isn’t a bad idea.
Consider offering up bundles (we’ll go back to our dental example) like get a free whitening when you bring a friend for their first exam.
Idea #3: Run a Pre-Sale Messenger Bot
Before all of your competition starts promoting their deals, give your prospects a “sneak peek” via Facebook ads and have them opt-in via Facebook Messenger.
You can set up an automated Messenger Bot to fire off Facebook messages to them so they can stay up to date with the deal and you can stay ahead of expensive advertising costs when the holidays are here.
Keep the messenger flow fun and engaging so they stay with you the entire way!
Questions? Drop them in the comments!