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[00:00:00] So, how to prepare for Black Friday, how to set everything up and get the most out of this month, because it's going to be quite strange overall. And then Jonathan will go into detail about how we should create campaigns, budgets, and all that stuff. OK. So, we'll talk a little bit, we'll
[00:00:24] both talk a little bit today. First, I'll talk about the main points. How to prepare for Black Friday, how to set everything up and get the most out of this month, because it will be quite strange overall. And then Jonathan will go into detail about how we should create campaigns, budgets, and all that stuff. But before that,
[00:00:51] does anyone have any ideas, thoughts, questions, or anything that we want to discuss? Hello, Golden. Oh, hello. Greetings. I'm thinking, um, how are you? How does a funnel strategy work during, you know, Black Friday? Do we use Black Friday text only in remarketing campaigns, or throughout the entire top of the funnel? This is probably
[00:01:21] my main question. Yeah, that's right, I think, I'll let Jonathan talk about that a little later and in more detail, but I would say that on Black Friday, the main thing is to make as many sales as possible. One of my points is the use of Advantage Plus, which I usually don't like to promote too much; but during a promotional period like this, I don't care where the sales come from—whether it's a returning customer, a new customer, or someone who visited the site a hundred times in the last year. It's
[00:01:55] simply a matter of getting every sale possible. First, I wanted to touch on what we need to set up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday — this is an email address collection campaign, lead generation in Meta. This is purely from a return on investment (ROI) perspective— creating maximum interest now as efficiently as possible, and then converting via email.
[00:02:22] You won't see ROAS from this on the platform, but it's worth warning the client in advance that it will bring a really good ROI. You just need to know that I can provide all the information about the number of leads generated and how much we spent on the campaign itself, and you have to check everything yourself in Klaviyo or another email marketing service they use. But I
[00:02:49] think it's worth taking advantage of if the client has the opportunity. This is a very powerful tool that works every year. And it seems to be getting better and better. Since we know that purchasing behavior depends on the season or promotions, we understand that November will be a bit unusual in terms of sales during the first three weeks.
[00:03:15] Since Black Friday is late this year, we will have a long waiting period, which will likely result in a week-long decline in sales. So when it comes to increasing awareness for most of the month, I think it's a great idea to run an email campaign because you get the benefit of it. And I have to
[00:03:38] let me share the screen. Here is a good example. I like what you say. This is funny. It's like I didn't have anything to say, I just came to listen, and now I'm adding my own thoughts, but I read on Google that the best time to prepare your audience is right now, because people aren't shopping until Black Friday or Cyber Monday. But
[00:04:01] if you can increase brand awareness in the first two weeks, it will reduce your cost of acquiring customers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and encourage them to buy from you. It's always tricky because sometimes clients just don't understand this and say, "I don't want my results to look bad in the first two weeks," but it will actually improve your results if you do this.
[00:04:20] OK. That's right. John said something very pertinent on Monday. He said : don't evaluate your KPIs right now. Don't say: "I spent so much and got no profit." It 's better to say, "I'm spending this now with the expectation that it will pay off on Black Friday." You don't realize your full sales potential until the sale itself occurs because of this learned buyer behavior. Every
[00:04:49] year, Black Friday gets longer and longer. We know that people are constantly delaying it. This year, for the first time in my life, I launched a Black Friday campaign back in October. October 31st is the day it all started, and it's just crazy. So, we know that this period is getting longer every year. Here's a
[00:05:10] good example of a lead generation format we launched for a client last year. They're actually reusing the same creative because we're targeting a cold audience. But it's all very simple. This does not require much effort from the client. It's just Black Friday, we know the discount will be 50%. Here is
[00:05:33] early access to it. We're giving people the opportunity to sign up now to get early access. Very simple. And I've noticed that you'll typically see lower cost-per- click on these ads and generally lower CPMs, at least for Black Friday campaigns. Just a little unofficial information. Yes, that
[00:06:05] was the first thing I wanted to talk about. And now the budget structure. Again, what John talked about on Monday is a very important part of all of this: whatever your buying cycle is, you have to align it with your budget scaling. So, let's say your buying cycle is about a week. It takes
[00:06:27] about a week for someone to buy your products after learning about your brand. We should start scaling the budget a week before the promotion starts. This way, they will be prepared by the time of the promotion to make a purchase in time during its validity. When it comes to scaling
[00:06:49] the budget, it needs to be done carefully. I would say that there are some accounts that can handle doubling their budget in a day, if not more. So, I think it's important to know if your account will survive this. But to play it safe until you know for sure if your account can handle it, I would say that 50% of your daily budget is a reasonable amount to scale at a time.
[00:07:18] So just plan it in advance. Let's say you plan to increase your budget in a week, maybe start in eight days. Then on day seven you will be in the middle of the scaling protocol and can scale further. Yes, I think that's a pretty reasonable approach, at least to play it safe. I'm
[00:07:38] always extremely cautious when it comes to Black Friday. There are horror stories of people losing access to their advertising accounts a week before Black Friday, or increasing their budget too much, causing their account to be blocked for various reasons. All of this can happen, and
[00:08:01] it can be a real disaster for a business. So it is worth acting as carefully as possible. If you currently have restrictions or disapproved ads, it's best not to request a review. Don't put too much pressure on Meta. You don't want to end up on their " black list" right now. You want to
[00:08:22] do everything you can to be as careful as possible. And the last thing I wanted to talk about is Advantage +. I've already mentioned this, but using this campaign format during Black Friday is incredibly important because we don't really care where the sales come from. Whether it's a regular
[00:08:48] customer or someone buying for the first time, we're equally happy. Advantage+ may be more likely to retarget than find new customers, but then again, I don't think it matters to us right now where the sale comes from. Using all possible avenues is the most important approach. Yes. In my experience,
[00:09:10] during Black Friday on Meta, the bulk of sales are usually driven by people who are already familiar with the brand and are your customers. So I would advise you to actively work with this audience. On normal days, we don't want too high an impression rate. But during this period, we have to
[00:09:30] reach them, because this is the most important group. That's why it's worth making teasers, for example, to collect registrations. This is a great way to be the first to know — like " don't miss out." Or you can make an exclusive offer via email, or just a teaser without any registrations to announce: our biggest sale is starting soon.
[00:09:53] I know that some big brands go offline for a few days, turn off their website, and then—boom— they open again. So yes, I would lean towards that approach. And, you know, on the creative side, it's important to note that the Black Friday sale is already underway, when it's relevant.
[00:10:13] Best price ever, biggest sale of the year, something along those lines. So that people understand that they will lose the most advantageous offer if they don't take advantage of it now. So time constraints are a really important factor to leverage. I would recommend using all formats. Videos,
[00:10:34] images, stories. It could also be a dynamic catalog with promotional text that mentions Black Friday. And if customers ask what promotions are best, I advise you to keep things simple, for example, a 25% discount on the entire range. Some offer multi-level discounts, “buy one, get the
[00:11:00] second one free,” etc., which is also good, but sometimes customers don’t understand this; it's better to have something simple with a large banner on the site or a pop-up window highlighting the best Black Friday price. I think this is the best approach. And so. Regarding the budget: I think
[00:11:23] you can save a little during the teaser campaign, maybe even reduce the costs, because people who know the brand are likely to wait if they know a sale is coming. So you can save a little budget a few weeks before the start, and when it starts, I would advise you to triple the budget or so. I would
[00:11:45] recommend leaving a permanent ad so that when the sale ends, you are not left empty-handed and see a sharp decline. If you have a permanent ad, it will work better, because the site should still have Black Friday branding. When the sale ends, they will continue to work. This way, you
[00:12:06] will avoid a serious drop in sales. Of course, there will be a decline, but not that significant. You can kind of combat it this way. Well, yes. So, it's, you know, Black Friday—it's sometimes half of a company's revenue. So, um, I would advise, you know, putting all the effort you can into it. Um, and, yes, regarding
[00:12:31] customer acquisition, of course, customer acquisition, I would highly recommend doing that. Um, but, you know, some brands only want to work with their warm audience and existing customers, which I disagree with. I think it's worth taking this opportunity to attract new customers. But,
[00:12:52] um, yeah, I think focusing on look-alikes and your best interests, of course, is a great way to go. Are there any thoughts or questions about what I just said? I have one. Come on, I'm listening. Sorry, Nick and John. Um, regarding evergreen sales for the company. Let's say I have a company and
[00:13:17] they have regular sales. They are "old school". They never want to update anything or do anything new. Do I just need to convince them to file this sale as Black Friday or Cyber Monday so it just changes the status? Do you often see this? This seems so insincere. But I feel like this is my
[00:13:36] only option. Yes, that's right. It's a bit disingenuous, and people who interact with the brand frequently will know about it. But to attract new customers, it is a way to grow your business. So yeah, if they have ongoing discounts, I would suggest maybe bumping them up by 5-10% and calling it "Black Friday." Yes. Yes. The thing is
[00:14:00] , they really have a hard time retaining customers and they don't have a product for frequent repeat purchases, so I think they're just "pumping" the sale. Um, but okay, I have some thoughts that I'm "stealing" from you. Thank you. Yes, of course. Yes, I would advise doing this and
[00:14:22] starting as early as possible. Because, you know, some competitor might start earlier, and they might spend their budget on the competitor. Or I know that some people may be having a harder time right now because of their income situation. So if their budget is exhausted or simply smaller, sometimes you will get fewer results or fewer orders from it. So
[00:14:52] I would advise brands to start earlier. Some brands start on November 1st, or as I know, car companies on TV or radio say, "We have Black Friday all November." But I understand that this is not the best option for everyone, but launching Black Friday on the site now is fine if it suits your brand.
[00:15:16] Yes. Aha. I had a question, I'm trying to remember it now. Oh, I found it. I think I know the answer to this, but I want to hear your opinion, I think it would be useful for people to know. Regarding "evergreen" creatives. Clients have asked me before: can we just update the ad text to " evergreen" and then go back to the way it was after Black Friday? Will
[00:15:42] this affect optimization during and after Black Friday? Yes. I know that there is a new feature in Meta that allows you to update your ad text a little. So if the client wants Black Friday and doesn't want "evergreen" content, I think you have to do it. But I would advise just leaving the "
[00:16:02] evergreen" content, it has a lot of engagement. This will allow it to run consistently, because sometimes when you update creatives... I mean, it's usually easier for brands with a lot of data to launch something new. But for those who are having difficulties, I would advise being more careful and keeping your " evergreen" content unchanged so as not to lose optimization. Yes.
[00:16:31] That makes sense. Yes, I think that's quite logical. And after Black Friday, if you revert the text to the old format, you get another optimization phase that defeats the very point of using evergreen content during a sale. That's right. And you can also use the post ID if you switch back
[00:16:52] to maintain engagement. So that's a good strategy too. Yes. And also, I guess, regarding the site, I had a short note. Sometimes people just add some free stuff to spice up the offer, like a free sticker, mug or t- shirt, or something like that. And sometimes people have daily sales on top of that.
[00:17:21] For example, a 25% discount on the entire site plus the release of new products. I think this is a great time for such promotions. So you have both a 25% discount on everything and new arrivals or products. This is a great time to launch and combine it with Black Friday. You can also add
[00:17:45] offers to increase sales after placing an order, which are timed to coincide with " Black Friday". Let's say this offer is only valid on Black Friday, and since you bought X, you can now get a second one for 50% off or buy related items for less. I think this is a good way to present
[00:18:04] information, emphasizing that the offer is exclusive and will only last a week or as long as the promotions are valid. I was going to start. I'll tell you what, I'll wear a hat and a wig. How do you like this idea? I like it. You will have long hair sticking out from under the hat, and there will also be hair on top, like this.
[00:18:34] And this, friends, is the introduction to our first
