{"id":104,"date":"2023-02-24T16:31:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T16:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/?p=104"},"modified":"2023-02-24T16:31:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T16:31:46","slug":"the-post-black-friday-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/the-post-black-friday-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Post Black Friday World"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re a few days from the actual Black Friday, but by now you\u2019ve no doubt had roughly 500 emails announcing various Black Friday deals. Has this annual sale jumped the shark?<\/p>\n

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Black Friday Historically Speaking<\/h3>\n

There was a time that Black Friday was the most important shopping day of the year. Most professionals have the day after Thanksgiving off, and have spent the day with their families the day before. The 2 inch thick newspaper full of ads was the perfect escape from actually talking to our relatives. Throw in a few absurdly low priced items to get you to come in early, and you have a consumerist tradition in the making<\/p>\n

Things are different now. Sure, we still want to avoid our relatives, but now we\u2019re doing it on social media with the five inch computer in our pocket we call a smartphone. One reaction was to create Cyber Monday, but the vast majority of purchases still happen in person. Plus the black friday ads were often leaked well ahead of time, limiting the effect of the physical ad.<\/p>\n

Black Friday becomes Novemeber<\/h3>\n

Reporters are all too happy to report on the leaked ads. It\u2019s great for the attention that the deal gets, but it might actually hurt sales in the short term. After all, if you knew the TV you\u2019d been eyeballing was going to be much cheaper if you waited, there\u2019s no reason to buy it now.<\/p>\n

Retailers did the obvious thing. They started selling at Black Friday prices well ahead of the actual day. It leaves the actual day for some deals that encourage odd, but newsworthy, behavior like camping out in front of the store. It\u2019s still great for PR.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m left to wonder if the notion will lose its newsy appeal sooner than later. As news rooms suffer with dwindling resources, do they really want to send a crew on a holiday to interview a crazed consumer, just like they did last year, about the unbeatable laptop offer that\u2019s worth spending the night in the cold to acquire? It comes across as an unpaid ad in so many ways. Online only outlets seem to rarely cover these sorts of events, and we suspect their traditional counterparts will do the same eventually.<\/p>\n

It might go without saying that calling it a day doesn\u2019t make sense any more, but the word Black Friday has taken on a life well beyond it\u2019s literal 24 hour period. Any SEO worth their salt would tell you that people actually search that term way more than anything else you might try and call it. You can\u2019t make people search they way you want them to, you have to use the terms they use.<\/p>\n

Black Friday Backlash<\/h3>\n

At least one retailer has tried to set themselves apart from the rest. In a move reminiscent of Chick-Fil-A\u2019s closed on Sunday policy, REI has decided to close on Black Friday. They\u2019ve done it in a very on-brand way, encouraging people to use the day to actually get outside instead of shopping anywhere. It makes sense for them, and generated some positive coverage.<\/p>\n

The truth is many more retailers should do the same, even if they aren\u2019t associated with the outdoors. If your store isn\u2019t about discounts, the sale seekers are just going to pass by.<\/p>\n

Expanding the concept<\/h3>\n

Plenty of other days around Black Friday have been declared, some with very serious implications. Small Business Saturday is an encouragement (sponsored by American Express) to shop local. Decent idea, but honestly something that most do either do all the time or never. Sunday gets skipped, and then we get to Cyber Monday when the online outlets do their best version of DoorBusters.<\/p>\n

Then we come to Giving Tuesday. This single day has been responsible for\u00a0almost $250M in charitable donations in 2017 alone. With thousands of charities becoming part of this day, it\u2019s now difficult to get individual coverage, but obviously worth the effort. It\u2019s still a drop in the bucket compared to the billions spent on black friday and cyber Monday, but this day is showing explosive growth.<\/p>\n

PR for Black Friday<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re reading this in 2019 you\u2019re already far too late. Getting attention from news outlets on a day as well known as this takes a plan set in motion months ahead of the actual date. At this point a $99 laptop isn\u2019t enough anymore. Doing these consumer days well requires a combination of creativity and strategy. The best strategy should leave a lasting impression, not just a loss leader item that\u2019s soon forgotten.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a few ideas:<\/p>\n