We’ve shared highlights from Black Friday 2018 data and explained exactly how many marketing messages you should be sending out during BFCM this year. We’ve also given you specific dates and times to use when scheduling your campaigns. Now, you’ll learn what content to put in your messages. Follow this guide for the best results.

BFCM marketing tip #5 - what to include in your message content

The Black Friday pre-sale period - Fri Nov 8th to Thurs Nov 28th

During this period, you’ll be sending out up to four BFCM marketing messages. Two of these should be specifically about your early bird sign up - this is where you’ll encourage interested prospects to register for early bird exclusive deals. Within your messages, link to a dedicated landing page where you’ll be attracting those people to sign up.
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The other two messages should focus on content marketing. To prepare for these, write two blogs for your store and include a call-to-action at the bottom with a link to your BFCM sale landing page. Publish them, then draft your message content to promote those blog posts, including a link to the respective content on your website. Tip - if you don’t have time to create fresh blog content, repurpose some existing content. The important point is to include that CTA to your sales landing page.

Black Friday

Your first message should be to your early bird subscribers. The content should contain a unique deal that’s available just to them. Your second message should be to your entire list of subscribers, promoting your BFCM sale. 

The remaining messages that you send on Black Friday should all promote your sale. Your last message of the day should communicate a sense of urgency, especially if you’re only running your sale on Black Friday itself. All messages you send out on this day should link to your BFCM holiday sale landing page.

Saturday Nov 30th

Your first message at midday should remind your subscribers that discounts are still available on your store. Link to your holiday page. Take a softer approach to your second message - this one should relate to your brand and vision. Link to one of your new blogs that has a CTA about your sale.

Sunday Dec 1st 

Your single message on this day should again reflect your store brand and vision. Include a link to one of your blogs.

Cyber Monday

Your first message should inform your audience of any specific deals for Cyber Monday, or remind them that your weekend deals are still on. Your message at 15:00 should promote your sale again and your last message of the day should do the same, while signaling the end of the Black Friday weekend. That one should incorporate a sense of urgency - it’s the last chance for people to buy. All these messages should link to your holiday sale landing page.

Post Black Friday holiday sale period - Tues Dec 3rd to Sun Dec 8th

After the BFCM weekend, you’ll be promoting your hero product (your best seller). To prepare for your marketing messages here, prepare and publish in advance two more regular content marketing blogs with a call-to-action to visit your hero product sale page. 

Four of your messages during this time should be pieces of “mini-content” related to your hero product. That content could be product benefits, testimonials, or social proof. Include a link to your hero product sale landing page. The other two messages should focus on those blogs mentioned above. Link to those blogs and not your hero product page.

Further reading

This has been a comprehensive read already. But if you want to read this strategy in more depth, check out our Black Friday marketing guide.