This weekend is always special for me but not for the reasons you may think....
Yes, it's Thanksgiving weekend in America. But I'm Canadian...So why would this weekend matter?
Over a decade ago, I had quite a thriving little business. And with a partners that were American, they introduced me to the wild weekend that was 'Black Friday'. I honestly had no idea this was even a thing, but we decided to incorporate our own 'black friday' specials while live streaming for the entire weekend.
What resulted was the most income we had ever generated in a 24 hours period, on this day. Safe to say, I was hooked. So each year that proceeded, we set up special deals unique to this weekend only. To go along with the 'black friday' brand.
It's the weekend when retail operations and other businesses literally turn their entire year around from the sales that take place. And living through it myself, I know how impactful these weekends can be on your bottom line.
The issue is, most things started being sold online. And the line ups at midnight to get that big screen TV are things of the past. But what really struck me this week, is what I wanted to chat with you about today...
As black friday is a huge deal online now, a lot of these companies are now finding their way into your inbox. And for good reason, no matter what social media platform is in vogue this year, the ROI for strategic email marketing is still extremely profitable. And as someone who has their background in online marketing, I'm completely fine with getting emails from companies when they are promoting deals this weekend.
My issue is....
When you never hear from these companies all year and then magically...They show up with offers for you....Their 'valued' customer.
Come on.
This drives me nuts as an old school online marketer because if you know anything about this stuff, marketing is best served through relationships that deliver value to each other. And if you are only showing up once a year to give people a 'deal' aka make sales...That just doesn't cut it.
Online marketing, specifically with email is relationship building 101. It takes time to develop those relationships and if you are only showing up once a year in people's inboxes, that's spam.
I truly believe my company did so well on that epic black friday weekend years ago because we spent years developing the relationships with our members. They trusted us and we tried every day to deliver value. So when the time came and we had a 'special' people snatched it up!
I know it may be too late to plan any marketing this year for black friday but maybe something to consider this year and next. Spend the time developing the relationship with your customers every single day and week....And then when it's time to do a sale or two, people will truly feel valued and with show it back to you.
Until then....I'm making sure I notice all the emails I'm getting this weekend....And removing myself from their lists if this is the only time they ever tried to reach out.
