Black Friday vs Cyber Monday vs Giving Tuesday
Did you know Black Friday is also known as Unsubscribe Day?
Cyber Monday is really 1 week long... and by Giving Tuesday plenty of your would be donors are broke.
Well if you didn’t know, now you know.
Holiday season is an important time of year for small business owners. Historically this is the one season where shoppers want to spend and retailers want to get out of the red and into the black.
Fun fact: the name Black Friday evolved from an accounting term. As you may well know running a business can be expensive. Therefore many same business owners acquire debt throughout the year. The debt is known as “being in the red.” During the holiday season retailers run sales and promotions to get out of the red and into the black. Year after year this cycle repeats itself and somewhere along the way Black Friday became just as much a part of the holiday season, as gathering with family to enjoy memories and good food.
Thanks for letting me nerd out for a minute...back to the blog.
#TeamBlackFriday
Pro: Your customers already expect you to run some kind of Black Friday deal. As long as you participate your business will mostly likely see some activity.
Con: More and more shoppers depend on online shopping instead of shopping in-store. That means you need to have systems in place to handle a 24-hour influx of traffic. An added bummer is email marketing. I mentioned before that Black Friday has the most unsubscribes over any other day in the year. This is because of the stream of sales emails sent on this day. Every year consumers get fed up and react by unsubscribing from retailers in their inbox. Proceed with caution.
#TeamCyberMonday
Pro: You don’t have a store-front and you don’t need one because your shoppers will buy online. Your consumers like shopping from the comfort of their nearest device and you already have systems in place to handle an influx of traffic.
Con: Cyber Monday is no longer a one day affair. If you’ve been running your business for a while you may notice the blurred lines between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday does not have the same urgency that it used to. Your job is to educate your shoppers on why they should buy within YOUR timeframe. Let’s be honest, unless you’re running a sale or announce your Cyber Monday terms, shopping online the day after Thanksgiving will feel exactly the same as shopping online the day after President’s day.
#TeamGivingTuesday
Pro: Society did the advertising for you. Most donors who plan to give, generally know about Giving Tuesday. Your role is to remind your supporters that your organization is participating.
Con: Philanthropic organizations are not often equip to manage marketing campaigns. We do our very best here at Behind the Leaf to offer free useful information but to get the most out of Giving Tuesday you will need a solid marketing plan. In Miami, (where we live outside the computer) we have a local initiative called Give Miami Day. The idea is just like Giving Tuesday but it’s local and takes place Nov 15th.
We designed a marketing campaign for Genesis Hopeful Haven, a foster care organization, that raise over $36k in 24 hours. That is what you want for your organization on Giving Tuesday. Learn more about our Behind the Leaf program for your brand.
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season. May it be joyous, profitable, and a lesson for what to improve next year.
