Black Friday and Cyber monday are two of the most important days of the year for any company. By providing better offers and sales on stores' products, businesses can generate more income and reactivate the economy. Naturally, for this reactivation to work, all of these products are subject to their own marketing strategies and advertisements.
In this article, you will learn how to make the best Black Friday ad that will help you increase your revenue and attract more customers in the future. You need to consider the timing of the ad too. Black Friday will happen on November 25th, so you will have a little more than two months to prepare, which is quite a good timing.
Most companies like to run "test ads" before they start their actual seasonal campaign. These ads will help them gather information about their potential customers and their consumer habits. After analyzing the data of the test ads, businesses can create a correct segmentation for their products and, therefore, sell more during the demanding weekend.
On the other side of the spectrum, customers are looking for offers at least three weeks before Black Friday. They will compare results with the competitors and create a plan to get their wanted products before other people get to them. We have all seen it, and we have all been there. Inventory is not infinite.
Design the Perfect Black Friday Ad
In this section, we will be looking at the best tips on creating the perfect Black Friday ad. If you would like to see some examples of what we are mentioning below, you can find them at the bottom. But before we look into unique designs to get you inspired, let's look into the essence of the ad. This essence will be based solely on the products or services you sell and generate more revenue for your company.
1. Choose your Product
The first step you need to take is choosing the product you would like to put on sale. You need to define your offer. It is wise to check your direct competitors before you settle down for a specific product. While adding a discount to your most expensive product may be the best way to go, your competition might be headed in another direction. Try to study your competitor's web pages and physical stores to learn about their marketing and sales campaigns for the special weekend. This process will also help you compare your current price listings with your competitors and you can make a prediction on how much will they lower their prices for certain products.
With this information in your hands, you can decide which products you can advertise for Black Friday and which products are better to promote regularly within your store. Another great tip is to look into your last year's sales; if it is not possible, also look into the competition's previous year and compare with their current ad campaigns.
2. Call-to-Action
Call-to-action (CTA) is essential for any Black Friday ad. Any offer you make online will be more appealing if you use a strong word in the CTA button. A call-to-action button could be the difference between making a customer buy your products or simply ignoring your ad. Here are a few examples:
Order now
Buy now
Save now
Click here
More information
Know more
Special offer
Start Saving
You can find a lot more examples by searching the web for powerful marketing words. One last tip from this section is to use a powerful word related to the product you're selling. For example, if you are into the online education business, you can use phrases like "Apply now" or "Learn more here."
3. Choose your format
After deciding on your CTA, you should choose your ad's format. An ad's structure is based on your customers' preferences. You need to do some marketing tests to understand your customers. So, before you settle for a specific ad format, you will have to look into your previous advertisements and analyze which type your customers are most attracted to.
When it comes to advertising, video is the king of all formats, but if your broad audience prefers infographics, that is the way you will need to go. The most important thing about choosing a format is knowing your audience. Here are some examples of the most common advertising formats.
Video
Infographic
Photos
Banners
Instagram Stories
Twitter ads
Text-based ads (such as Adwords)
Prints (flyers, newspapers, magazines)
Promo material (cups, mousepads, pens)
There are a lot of formats you can choose from. After you decide on one, make sure to visit this link. This webpage will guide you through the format's specifics, such as height, width, resolution, and materials for different platforms, such as social media.
4. Choosing a color
All of us would like to use our favorite colors when creating a design, but this is not the case for a Black Friday ad. You will need to study a little about color psychology before you design your advertisement. For example, red and yellow are popular colors used during the holiday season. They represent joy, happiness, and enthusiasm. They are normally used by fast food chains to inpire a quick purchase. By choosing the right colors your advertisement will be eye-catching.
Another great tip is to use colors from the same pallet as your logo or webpage design. If your webpage has an overall blue layout, try combining the blue with the orange. These colors are complementary. Complementary colors are colors you can combine that will be very pleasing to the eye, such as red with green and yellow with purple. Although it is easy not to pay attention while purchasing, all known brands apply the color theory to their products and advertisements. Most of the things that attract your eye have this combination of colors. When it comes to choosing colors, you can try getting inspiration from Pinterest or check out a few pre-made designs on Canva.
5. Choose a layout
Choosing a layout is your endgame. There are a lot of examples you can check from previous Black Friday advertisements to drive the inspiration within you. But before you put the right music to inspire you, there are a few things you need to have in your ad before applying heavy design patterns to it. Let's take a look:
Your logo and company name
An image of the product you are offering
A value proposition
A CTA button
Most of these bullet points are self-explanatory, except for the value proposition. A value proposition is a part of the ad where you will apply value to what you are offering. If you are selling a brand new gaming console, consider the actual value and then apply a discount. One way to do this is by crossing out the retail price and placing the discounted value below and with bigger and bolder letters. This strategy is one of the oldest in the book but one of the most effective.
6. Choose the right software
Once you have the ad in your mind and have created a dummy on a piece of paper or a blank canvas, you will need to choose the right software for creating it There are thousands of pages on the web that can help you achieve the perfect Black Friday Ad.
If you don't have an in-house designer, you can consider hiring a virtual assistant or a freelance designer to help you. Or, if you have a design background, you can create it yourself with any of the pages found below. Some of them are free and others you need to pay for. Read some reviews before committing to any of them.
Images and Stills
Canva
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Fotor
Pixlr
Adobe Spark
Fotojet
Vimeo
Da Vinci
Final Cut
Filmora
Adobe Premiere
Adobe After Effects
AVS
Most of the programs mentioned above have options to make printables, configure formats, and combine them with other programs. In addition, make sure that you are exporting your documents in a readable form for the platform you will be advertising in. For example, Facebook can process PNGs and JPEGs but will not work with PSDs or BMPs.
Now that you know the essence of the perfect Black Friday ad, you can start creating your own. Remember to keep it simple, related to your company, be consistent with your offers and create a sense of urgency. The best deals on Black Friday are based on two things, the product you are trying to sell and how you advertise that product.
Black Friday Ads
Lastly, here are some ads from previous years that will help you get inspired for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Some of these advertisements have a lot of money put into them. Others are simple yet effective. Please do not try to copy exactly what you see below, if you see something you like adapt it to your own line of business. It is better to have a simplistic ad than having an ad which does not correlate with your brand.
Walmart
Bass Pro Shops
The Home Depot
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