Many small businesses feel pressured to participate in Black Friday sales but aren’t sure if it’s right for their brand. Participating in Black Friday promotions should be an individual choice, and small business owners, especially those in high-end, values-driven industries, should evaluate whether it aligns with their goals and brand values.

With this post I just wanted to push the point that you do not need to participate in Black Friday promotions just because everyone else is - if it doesn’t make sense for you, your brand or your bottom line (or if it simply just gives you the ‘ick’) then it’s ok to let it pass you by, safe in the knowledge that your customers will buy from you whether or not you offer promotions.

That being said, if it makes sense for you and you approach it strategically, there is a lot of opportunity to grow your brand, expand your customer base, sell more products and make that all important profit.

The challenges of Black Friday for small businesses.

Black Friday has become a bit of a divisive issue, especially within the small business community. Big discounts have become expected by consumers, many of whom will wait for this period to buy their ‘big ticket’ gifts. Over the past few years it’s also got a little out of hand - Black Friday was replaced with ‘Black Friday Weekend’ and then ‘Black Friday Week’ as bigger retailers try to capitalise on it. (I’m writing this post at the beginning of October and I have already seen two adverts on Instagram pushing Black Friday sales!) 

Challenges for luxury, high-end brands can include:

• It’s impossible to compete with larger retailers who have likely planned for their Black Friday sales over a year in advance and priced certain products accordingly so as to make it possible to heavily discount 

• Oftentimes heavy discounts like we see on Black Friday might not fit a premium brand image

• There’s the potential that heavy discounting can devalue your product or service

• Not to mention the environmental and ethical concerns for brands focused on sustainability and intentional shopping

Using strategy for Black Friday. 

You can still participate in Black Friday promotions but it’s important to plan this from a strategic place, and keep it aligned with your business goals. 

Black Friday opportunities for small businesses can include:

• Enticing new customers who might not usually buy from you. It’s a great way to reach a new customer base (and if you’re good at your email marketing and customer experience they will hopefully become repeat customers!)

• Increasing brand awareness

• Building customer loyalty with carefully crafted, thoughtful offers

• Purposefully clearing specific items of stock, either to make space for new stock in the new year or certain products which have sold more slowly than you’d like

• Simply increasing your revenue in a way you can control, in a way that doesn’t undercut your brand’s value

Why not participating in Black Friday can benefit your brand.

For high-end businesses, not participating in Black Friday may align better with their audience’s values, especially if sustainability and intentional consumption are key brand messages. This approach can actually deepen connections with loyal customers and resonate with those people who share similar values.

Some brands (including really huge retailers) have created non-participation campaigns, which includes messaging around mindful consumption, quality over quantity or simply focusing on relationship-building instead of sales.

In a 2011 Black Friday statement, Patagonia said:

Last year, Google turned Black Friday into  #BlackOwnedFriday and used its platform to highlight and support Black-owned businesses. 

How to create successful Black Friday offers that work for your brand.

There are lots of ways you can sensibly and authentically include Black Friday promotions into your marketing in a way that is on brand and value-driven and use storytelling to connect the offer to your brand’s core values.

Some examples of successful (and strategic) Black Friday offers for small businesses:

• Focus on value-driven offers (e.g., exclusive services, limited-edition products or value-added bundles)

• A percentage discount driven by your AOV (average order value) so as an example, if your AOV is around £75, try offering a discount on orders over £85 to try and get the average spend up

• Product/s you know you have a good margin on already

• Stock you want to shift

• Free shipping (ensure your margins can allow for this)

• Value-added bundles - for example a product bundle where the customer saves money (be clever here and put a bestselling product with a slower selling product to shift stock, or a really high profit margin product with a lower profit margin product)

Always make sure that your messaging is focussed on premium value rather than discounts, and use storytelling to connect the offer to your brand’s core values

Black Friday is a choice, not a necessity.

Make sure participating in Black Friday makes sense for you and your brand. Make a strategic, intentional decision about if, and how you will participate - this decision should reflect your business vision and long-term strategy.

Look at your margins so that you are sure you are still making the profit you need, otherwise you’ll just be a very busy business owner making no money. And nobody wants that!

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