Digital Marketing Strategies for 2022 Black Friday and Cyber Monday E-Commerce Success
What Is Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM)?
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday is the following Monday. Those two days are considered the two most important shopping days for any e-commerce or brick-and-mortar retail brand.
But those two days aren’t two days anymore. They’ve gradually expanded over the years into a shopping season with the grand finales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The sooner you prepare and launch those campaigns the better, especially this year.
How Important Is BFCM? Some experts say it can make or break an e-commerce brand’s business for the entire year. Whether that’s true or not, you can’t discount the substantial financial and psychological boost e-commerce brands can get from BFCM success.
Per the graph below, e-commerce outshone brick-and-mortar in the 2021 BFCM race to sales – even though supply-chain and shipping issues affected those sales. We believe e-commerce brands will also win the BFCM race in 2022, partially because shopping online is much easier and provides far more choices than brick-and-mortar stores.
As in 2021, however, your BFCM digital marketing campaigns must consider variables caused by a lingering pandemic and other emerging issues to ensure optimal success.
It Will Take More Than One Strategy to Win BFCM in 2022
Your digital marketing plans and strategies are not wartime military campaigns; however, your 2022 BFCM planning and strategizing may benefit from some military tactics.
Military generals know they can’t rely on one plan or strategy for battle success.
They also know hope is never a plan because no plan or strategy survives first contact. Since they know that, they create plans and strategies for every conceivable possibility, including the unlikely ones.
Planning and strategizing will help your e-commerce brand pivot quickly and win the 2022 BFCM “war.”
Here are a few reasons why complex planning and strategizing are needed this year:
- Supply chain issues are still a factor, with complexities that didn’t exist in 2021;
- Fulfillment and/or delivery delays may result in multiple types of negative impacts; and
- Inflation, recession realities or rumors, and an unstable housing market may cause some shoppers and existing customers to spend more conservatively.
The good news is that you don’t have to be perfect at planning and strategizing your 2022 BFCM season.
You do have to be ready to pivot quickly when something affects this shopping season. That way, you can immediately put the appropriate backup strategy into action. However, if you wait until that “something” happens to create those strategies, it will be too late.
Pro Tip: This is a great time to use A/B testing to see which campaigns perform best.
You will need to constantly monitor campaign analytics and gauge how outside circumstances are affecting your results so you can make fast corrections.
Being able to switch strategies fast will be essential to 2022 success. Why? Circumstances will shift around you this Fall, and some may shift quickly. Stay on top of what’s happening in the world so you can move quickly to maximize results.
We know it’s a pain, but it’s a little dance we all have to do when the world is like this. It’s been like this before – It will be like this again. Just know your timing will be critical during the 2022 BFCM season.
Reality check: One key is catching the need to pivot quickly and having your strategy prepped to go instantly. That’s all anyone can do; however, doing that will put your e-commerce brand ahead of other brands.
Pro Tip: Be sure you plan strategies for your customer and target audience groups. Getting caught up in a “get new customers” BFCM strategy is easy. Remember, your brand’s loyal customers are often the most lucrative sales opportunities during times like these. Remember, those loyal customers will also bring in new customers with the right approach.
Factors Affecting Your 2022 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Planning and Strategy
You will probably want multiple contingency digital marketing campaigns prepared in advance and loaded offline or online as needed.
Label each campaign clearly, so it’s instantly identifiable by potential variables. Then you can turn each one on or off fast with no mistakes. Change campaigns when and if a vital impact variable dictates the need.
Make it easy on yourself. Don’t reinvent the wheel for each potential variable campaign. You probably only need simple modifications that entice while addressing the impact variable.
For each issue, look at how to smooth your target audience’s potential considerations without detracting from what they need to inspire action. You may be able to do that with a couple of copy adjustments.
Start with the three listed potential impacts above if they apply to your e-commerce brand. Then include other potential major impact issues unique to your brand.
Pro Tip: Remember, your 2022 strategies must work for your unique e-commerce brand, your loyal customers, and your target audience. That’s the only way to achieve a win-win solution quickly and effectively under changing circumstances. And a win-win is what you need to maximize your success.
Again, be sure to watch your analytics carefully. You’ll know when to adjust campaigns to maximize effectiveness based on CTR (click-through rate), ROI (return on investment), and other defined indicators.
Digital Marketing Campaign Platforms for More Effective 2022 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Strategies
Google Paid Search Campaigns: Paid search (SEM) lends itself well to uncertain situations. In addition to your usual Google Adwords BFCM campaigns, you can create campaigns that include variables for each defined potential impact you suspect could affect your 2022 BFCM results.
Ensure you know how to turn SEM campaigns off and on seamlessly so they don’t violate AdWords policies or rules. Consider how turning campaigns on and off might affect ad ranking and other important SEM campaign parameters. Those considerations will be vital in deciding how to maximize your SEM campaigns for the best 2022 BFCM results.
Google Display Network: You can highly target your e-commerce brand’s display ads for appearance on websites with Google’s Display Network. This network includes about two million websites, which can be very effective if your marketing is done correctly.
Set parameters based on your segmented target audience, your demographics, and any other data unique to your e-commerce brand in addition to normal ad-based parameters. The more thoroughly you define your brand and target audience parameters, the better the match you’ll get with this platform.
If you’ve never used this platform, test it first and analyze the results before committing to a larger budget.
Google Performance Max: Google began phasing out Smart Shopping in April 2022. Phase-out will be complete by November 2022, right in the middle of the BFCM season. Performance Max replaces it but does more for your e-commerce brand than Smart Shopping.
In January 2022, this Search Engine Journal article discussed how the phase-out works and the change’s benefits.
Google introduces its Performance Max features in the video below. This new platform was designed to help improve and maximize your Google ads across all channels.
Pro Tip: Always use the Performance Max preview feature to check everything you put into Performance Max. Why? Previewing what will appear lets you catch unexpected issues and correct them. You can also use it to fine-tune settings before your ads go live. Doing both will help your campaigns achieve optimized performance.
YouTube Campaigns: If you already market your e-commerce brand on YouTube, you’ve got a built-in target audience that knows and likes your brand. They like it enough to keep tuning in to what you present, so it’s a ready-made market. That’s perfect, so include YouTube strategies in your BFCM campaigns. YouTube is a unique platform so stick to what you’ve found works best for that platform.
Here’s an article from Canva that you might find helpful, “30 Proven Strategies for Promoting Your YouTube Channel.”
Creating a new YouTube following doesn’t happen overnight, so you have to decide whether it’s wise to jump onto YouTube for the 2022 BFCM season if you’ve never used that platform. After all, it would be best to put your marketing dollars where they produce the best result.
The 2022 BFCM Season Doesn’t Have To Be Overwhelming
Feeling overwhelmed after reading all of this?
Because it’s such an important shopping season for e-commerce brands, BFCM can be a significant stressor even when everything in the world is moving like clockwork. When unpredictable stuff happens around you, stress can go through the roof.
The AdQuadrant team takes pride in maximizing BFCM results for our e-commerce clients, even during shifting outside circumstances. We can brainstorm with you to find the right Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategies for your unique e-commerce brand. Want us to take some of the stress off of your shoulders?Don’t wait until the last minute to get help because optimized results can’t be achieved overnight. Let’s talk now so we can work with you to create the best 2022 BFCM season plans and strategies possible for your unique e-commerce brand.
About the author: Merikay Noah has over 20 years’ experience in digital marketing. She worked with e-commerce B2C and B2B websites of all kinds, from Fortune 100s to small start-ups, at two of the top three search engines and at a Los Angeles ad agency. Her successful e-commerce book publishing website, PopcornReads.com, attracted an international audience of bookaholics for over eight years. She now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she works as a copywriter and loves to hike with her small but fierce doggy protector – Miss Lucy.
