3 months before Black Friday: Initial planning & strategy
Starting early is key. Your strategy should already be taking shape as early as three to four months ahead of Black Friday. This planning period allows you to review past performance, analyze current trends, and develop a data-driven strategy that aligns with your business goals.
Key tasks
- Analyze past campaign performance: Look at what worked well (and what didn’t) in previous Black Friday campaigns. Focus on metrics like ROAS, CTR, and CPA to identify successful patterns.
- Research market trends: Check recent changes in customer behavior and industry trends. This can help determine product focus and ad messaging for the upcoming campaign.
- Define KPIs & budget allocation: Black Friday sees significantly higher advertising costs, so clearly outline your budget and set realistic KPIs. This step also involves creating a structured timeline for campaign activities.
source: mangrovea.com
Understanding your potential Black Friday customers and tailoring your advertising strategy to meet their needs and desires is essential.
2 months before Black Friday: Creative development & testing
Roughly two months before Black Friday, begin developing creative assets. Quality creatives drive performance, but Black Friday’s heightened competition means that standing out is even more challenging. Start testing early to ensure your ads are optimized well before launch.
Key tasks
- Develop ad creatives: Build ad variations that capture attention, clearly communicate value, and align with Black Friday themes. Make sure to include a mix of images, videos, and carousel ads, focusing on product highlights, discounts, and limited-time offers.
- Review Meta’s ad policies: Ads must adhere to Meta’s guidelines, so check compliance early to avoid approval issues later on.
Trust me, starting early with creative production is always a smart move. Deadlines like to slip, and Meta can sometimes block your ads unexpectedly, so it’s good to have time to submit them for re-verification and correct them if necessary.
1 month before Black Friday: Campaign setup & preliminary esting
One month before Black Friday, it’s time to set up campaigns within Meta’s platform. Early setup not only helps your ads get approved in time but also allows for preliminary testing to fine-tune targeting and optimize early performance.
Key tasks
- Campaign Structure & Setup: Create a structured campaign setup. Try to take advantage of multiple advertising objectives so that it works at more than one stage of the funnel.
- Define Audiences & Retargeting: Segment audiences based on interests, previous purchases, and retargeting pools. Including lookalike audiences can expand reach, but starting with a smaller segment is wise to ensure performance.
- Preliminary Testing: Launch low-budget test campaigns to assess targeting accuracy, ad relevance, and early engagement metrics. This provides actionable insights to adjust your approach ahead of the big day.
Don’t worry about it being too early to start testing. Many advertisers launch Black Friday campaigns already in October. During testing, try not to drastically change the budget, which will negatively affect the learning phase (max 20% once every 2-3 days).
3 weeks before Black Friday: Early-bird campaigns
About two to three weeks before Black Friday, early-bird campaigns help capture interest from eager shoppers and build momentum. Early-bird offers often attract consumers who want to beat the last-minute rush and secure the best deals.
Key tasks
- Launch early-bird deals: Roll out soft promotions to build your retargeting list. Consider “limited pre-sale” messaging that encourages users to act early.
- Observe engagement: Track metrics like engagement rates, video views, and CTRs to understand what’s resonating. Use these insights to adapt messaging and audience segmentation.
- Retarget engaged audiences: Capture those who interacted with early-bird ads for retargeting during Black Friday week. This group is likely primed to convert.
Optimize your ads and turn off those that don’t work well, but remember not to make changes too often, as this can negatively affect campaign results.
Black Friday week: Final optimizations & real-time adjustments
Black Friday week is the moment to capitalize on all the hard work, but monitoring and optimizing in real-time is crucial as competition and costs skyrocket. If you’re launching last-minute campaigns, make sure they’re ready well in advance.
Key tasks
- Implement final optimizations: Adjust bids, budgets, and targeting based on real-time performance data. Increasing budgets for high-performing ads while pausing lower-performing ones can improve overall ROAS.
- Monitor costs closely: CPMs and CPCs peak during Black Friday, so track your costs carefully and make quick adjustments to stay within your targets.
- Keep creative fresh: Add new creatives or variations if possible. High-frequency ads risk ad fatigue, so keeping content fresh can sustain user interest.
source: k6agency.com
CPMs can increase dramatically during Black Friday, so it’s crucial to monitor them closely. Keeping a watchful eye on costs can help you adjust your strategy and maintain profitability.
Contingency planning for Black Friday
While preparation is key, last-minute issues can arise. Here are some contingency planning tips to help navigate potential hurdles:
- Ad approval delays: Submit ads well in advance—ideally, 2-3 days before launch. Meta’s approval process can be delayed during peak times, and early submission ensures there’s no interruption.
- Budget flexibility: Allocate a portion of the budget to account for sudden cost increases. Having extra funds to boost high-performing ads on Black Friday can give you an edge.
- Rapid issue resolution: Designate team members or external partners to monitor campaigns in real time. This ensures issues are spotted and addressed promptly, minimizing potential losses.
Conclusion
Black Friday demands meticulous preparation and a proactive approach to Meta Ads campaigns. Following a well-structured timeline and planning for contingencies can maximize engagement and sales while keeping costs manageable. Remember, the closer you get to Black Friday, the more competitive and costly it becomes, so starting early is critical to ensure a successful campaign.
