17: How to get the most out of Black Friday - even if you’re not selling anything
If you’re planning a Black Friday promotion, you’ve probably written your emails, ads, and sales pages, and are busy testing your tech to make sure everything’s connected and ready to go.
You’ll want to bring your A-game to your emails and ads because you’ll be fighting for attention. Make sure to check out my previous episodes and the resources I have linked below to help you prepare.
However, if you, like me, aren’t planning to participate in Black Friday or Cyber Monday promotions, you can still leverage this weekend to your advantage.
In this episode of ill communication, I’m giving you a few extra tips to help your business and your copywriting as we head into this weekend.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
Start a swipe file
Don’t be afraid to unsubscribe
Participate in Giving Tuesday
I hope you found these tips helpful. Remember, if you choose to participate in Giving Tuesday, you are not only contributing to an important cause, but people are more likely to buy from you if they know that you’re doing good. Check out Yellowstone to Yukon and Kurandza for some inspiration on charities you can contribute to.
So there you have it! A few strategies to help you make the most out of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Giving Tuesday, even if you aren’t selling anything.
Like these outside-the-box tips and strategies? You'll love the Joy of Copy Club. Check it out at www.kimkiel.com/copyclub.
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Welcome to Ill Communication. Copywriting Tips and Sales Strategies for Small Business. I'm your host, Kim Keel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and changemakers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I'm dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat. Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soul mate clients. Let's get started. As I record this 17th episode of EL Communication in the middle of November in Alberta, winter has come fast and furious. We've already had several inches of snow and -25 degree temperatures, which means the snow isn't going anywhere. And with the wind blowing the snow around, it feels like we've been hit by an avalanche, which is kind of like what your inbox is going to feel like this week. You're going to be hit by an avalanche of emails. You see, this Friday is Black Friday, followed by Cyber Monday. The two busiest in-person and online shopping days in the US that have spilled over to the rest of the world. I've already received multiple emails offering me trainings and templates to maximize Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales.
If you're planning a Black Friday promotion, you've probably already written your emails, ads and sales pages, and you may be just in the final stages of testing your tech to make sure everything's connected and ready to go. You definitely want to bring your A-game to your emails and ads because you're going to be fighting for so much attention in that inbox. So if you want a few last minute tips, make sure you followed the ones that I give you inside the Magnetic Covey checklist. It'll help you review and optimize your sales copy. You can grab the copy checklist at Kim Qualcomm's Magnetic. You'll also want to relisten to episodes ten and 11 to make sure your emails, subject lines and preview text are optimized to get opens and clicks. And Episode eight about the five C's of copywriting will make sure you've tightened up your copy for conversions. I'll drop the links to all of those in the show notes. But maybe like me, you're not participating in a Black Friday Cyber Monday promo. You can still leverage this weekend to your advantage. And I don't just mean by taking advantage of Cyber Monday sales today, my friend, I'm going to give you a few extra ideas to help your business and your copywriting as we head into the weekend.
The first tip is to start a swipe file. Your inbox and your social feeds are about to be filled with some of the best and worst marketing tactics. So it's a perfect time to view your inbox with a strategic eye. Which subject lines catch your attention? Which emails or ads make you want to click the buy button? What is so ho hum and horrible? It receives an automatic delete save copies of killer subject lines, amazing sales pages, emails and ads into a digital swipe file. So when you're ready to promote something, you have a library of ideas to swipe and take inspiration from. I have a Google folder filled with screenshots of great marketing, and my inbox has a swipe folder where I drag noteworthy emails. I routinely review my swipe files for new inspiration, ideas and strategy. Tip number two Don't be afraid to unsubscribe. Like right now. If there are brands or subscriptions in your inbox, you have no interest in it anymore. You might want to start unsubscribing today. Your inbox will be flooded with emails over the next week, so don't be afraid to shrink your subscriptions now to save your sanity later. And Tip three is kind of a different one. Instead of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, you could participate in giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 to harness social media and encourage donations or gifts of service as an antidote to the crazy consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
It's become a global generosity movement and a significant source of revenue for many charities. Instead of offering a Black Friday promotion, I'm passing the mic and featuring some of my favorite charities for Giving Tuesday. It will raise awareness for these charities and maybe it'll inspire a little philanthropy before the holidays. In fact, right now I'm going to share with you two charities I love. The first charity is Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. Or why do I? This conservation charity spans North America and is protecting the last remaining wild mountain landscape. They have a very modern approach of combining science and working with local landowners and agencies to conserve the critical mountain landscapes in North America. If you've ever driven through a mountain park and you've seen the wildlife crossing bridges or tunnels, why do I is behind many of them? They are world class and they're very effective at increasing protected lands. They're doing things a little different this year, which at the time of recording is 2022. They're hosting a film festival for anyone who wants to ditch the consumerism and carbon footprint of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and enjoy nature instead. So they're showing three inspiring and independent films about people who are breaking barriers to protect nature, and they've invited the filmmakers to talk about their films as well.
So if staying cozy at home sounds better than fighting the hordes at a big box store, you can register for the film fest. I'll drop the link to Ottawa in their events page in the show notes. Another charity that's really special is Kuranda. It's a small, nimble charity that sends 250 girls to school in Mozambique. Without education, many girls would become child brides or continue to live a life of poverty. Carranza provides transportation so girls can actually get to school. They cover the costs of school uniforms and school supplies, and they provide after school enrichment. All of this helps provide these girls with opportunity, financial resources and agency in their own lives. I sponsor a girls education every year and I'll leave the link to Koren's website so you can check them out and consider making a donation yourself. If you're not planning to promote anything for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, you totally have my blessing to swipe this idea and send an email on giving Tuesday to your list about your favorite charities. It's a great way to demonstrate your brand values and build connection and likability with your followers. And if you are offering a Black Friday sale, you could donate a portion of your profits to a beloved charity on giving Tuesday.
People may actually be more inclined to buy your offer if they know it's doing good. Well, there you have it, my friend. A few strategies to help you get the most out of Black Friday, even if you're not selling anything. And now I'm going to go and bundle up and start shoveling my driveway again. Please send me your warm thoughts. Hey, would you like to hang out with me and other women business owners doing rad things in the world just like you? Then you should join the Joy of Copy Club. It's a group copy coaching experience where you receive access to all my sales templates, writing prompts and copy recipes. So you're never wondering what or how to write. Once a week you can pop into my open office hours where will live, review and edit any kind of copy you've written. Seriously, you can bring a social post and email or even some edits to your home page and I'll help you optimize it before you send it out into the world. The Joy of Copy Club gives you the tools and the confidence to get your message out there so you can grow your impact and your revenue. Find out more at Kim Qualcomm's Copy Club. I'll see you next week.
Resources Mentioned
Optimize your email Episodes 10
Optimize your email Episodes 11
Additional Resources
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