Nov 2, 2021

Does Black Friday Work For B2B Businesses?

Happy November! In the business world, this month heralds the busiest and most lucrative period for retailers. Reason being, Black Friday!

*trumpets tooting*

Black Friday is a consumer's New Year's Day — it's viewed as a holiday for the retail and B2C industry. We've all witnessed it coming down on the high street and in online stores...

Ringing any bells?

While bargain-hungry shoppers storm brick-and-mortar shops in a buying frenzy, website crashes are also a staple in ecommerce on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (also referred to as “BFCM”).

What started in the mid-20th century as an American event following Thanksgiving has rapidly evolved into an international shopping and marketing phenomenon. Last year, retailers harvested a total of £7.1 billion in profit with the majority of consumer spending on clothing (51%), electronic devices (40%), and toys (30%).

Research findings by McKinsey show a pivot in buyer behaviour towards a more digitalised way of conducting and automating business. Mobile apps saw a jump in ordering by 250%, digital orders soared by 30%, and live chat became the prevalent channel for researching and tracking suppliers.

The psychology of Black Friday sales sprees

Human beings are wired to chase bargains — it’s tied in our genetic code. Offers trigger the brain until it releases dopamine upon the sight of Black Friday taglines: Sale, Discount, Low Prices, Deal, 50% off, 3 for 2, Buy 1-Get-1 Free. Such copy dispowers rationality and activates the reward circuits in our brain.

Social proof also impacts us. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) isn’t just about not attending a live show but also when we fail to win a good deal. The fear of loss effect, in which consumers are expected to grab bargains within set time restrictions, makes susceptible to rushed decision-making and impulse purchases. As a result, FOMO allows BFCM to capitalise on the all-too-human drives of buyers to make brands wealthier and stronger in their market.

Is Black Friday just for retailers?

In the face of the economic slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic, our traditional holiday shopping experience went through a digital revamp. As more large-scale companies and small business owners tap into online marketplaces and personalise the costumer lifecycle and buying journey, B2B behavioural patterns are resembling those found in their successful B2C counterparts.

When purchasing commodities, B2B prospects anchor their needs in operational matters such as streamlining workflow, a more seamless data handling, and, naturally, a high ROI. For this reason, it's imperative that B2B vendors are clear about their unique selling point (USP) — one that gives them a reasonable profit margin in return.

So, if you belong on the league of service-based B2B-ers, use your best judgement before jumping into the Black Friday/Cyber Monday bandwagon and investing your resources in a marketing campaign.

This begs the question — can B2B businesses run an effective promotion if they don’t sell physical products?

Why not?

Chief Strategy Officer at Vaimo, Henry Feld-Jakobsen, claims that:

The best bet for running a Black Friday marketing campaign is if B2B companies sell to companies in a handful of industries: the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), fashion, utilities, office equipment, and consumable goods.

Black Friday is underpinned by the lure of fleeting, time-sensitive deals that offer high value at low cost — hence the stampedes of people you see manning the counters and aisles of their target retailers.

The same principle of slashing prices and impulsive buying might be applied to certain B2B offerings, but not all. Consumer behaviour plays a catalytic role to this. Customers who have already reached the bottom of the sales funnel and are on the fence to buying a B2B product/service may be tempted by a limited-time offer. In that case, it would make sense if you lowered prices for customers who were anyway going to buy for a higher price.

However, if you rely on a business system that involves multiple and long consideration touchpoints — filling a form or signing a contract — launching a Black Friday promotion may not be the best solution. B2B brands can add their own twist and give a new lease of life to Black Friday that will trailblaze a new business model, override their competitors and generate more interest.

I've rounded up 5 alternative ways you can make it work!

Deal ideas for B2B businesses

1. Solidify existing business relationships

Are you a wholesaler, a manufacturer, or a retailer? However you decide to approach BFCM based on your area of expertise, it's crucial to nurture loyalty with stakeholders. What's left as the sun sets on Black Friday? That's right — empty shelves! Showing how you can help prepare for the big day and tackle inadequate stock levels with your value-bomb offers will only benefit your business.

Having true value and personal input as integral parts of the equation will highlight your professionalism and affect the future determination of your business partners to continue liaising with you.

2. Seek new partnerships

Just as your offers can replenish shelf supplies, so too they can crack open the possibility for new business agents. No, you don't need to replace your partners in favour of different ones. Instead, treat BFCM as a chance to diversify and/or broaden what you have onboard or come up with new outlets to communicate your brand messaging better, even by adding new business partners to your existing listing.

3. Branch out to new business dimensions

You may be reaching out to new delivery supplier and contractors, new importers and exporters, or new points of sale from a different area to the one you're accustomed. Perhaps, there’s a market that you've never broken into or a source to further explore. Black Friday is your go-to in all things testing and trialling.

Regardless if you're a wholesaler or a manufacturer, do your research to find viable ways to slay a new market and introduce an enticing offer to retailers, with higher-than-normal chances that your product will be sold to consumers on Black Friday and holiday season. That will ensure a win-win situation for your new business partners.

4. Additional assistance and training

The list of offers you can launch for BFCM is longer than Strøget, the world's longest pedestrian street in Copenhagen. The list may include anything from a FREE consultation with a member of your team to a FREE workshop or a FREE ungated eBook that relates to your niche. Who doesn't like value-packed freebies they can take away with them, rather than restricting them to stay on a company's site?

You also may be part of an industry where thought leaders are worshipped and valued. Therefore, imparting your knowledge can be a great way to help your customers and recruit new ones. Is there a training need or a specific area on which you can offer support to your existing customers?

To make your life easier, I recommend turning to your Twitter account for social listening. In fact, Twitter is a great enabler for lead generation, brand awareness and growth as well as customer service just to name a few.

To get a firmer grasp on market demand around Black Friday, try social listening to adjust or customise offers that coincide with your audience’s needs. A digital marketing tool like Hootsuite can break down and simplify this process for you. Then, once you’ve aggregated and collated your data, pick a strong message (e.g. a certain percentage off of a month of services).

5. Do collabs

Have you ever teamed up with other companies or content creators to produce a killer BFCM promotion? If not, it's your time to shine this year!

Collaborating with other businesses to craft offers from scratch carries a truckload of benefits – from splitting the costs of promotion to reaching an audience that you wouldn't otherwise approach. Say that you offer copywriting services. A graphic design agency can complement your offering by curating the visual aspect of your campaign.

Pairing up with others can lead to some attention-grabbing and boundary-pushing deals that could be advantageous and profitable for both parties.

How to promote your Black Friday deals

Now that you've got your brainstorming of brand deal ideas done and dusted, let's peek at the ways you can promote your Black Friday promotions.

LinkedIn has always been the chosen promotional hub for B2B advertising, and if your business has a robust presence on the platform, it can be the ideal channel to speak about your Black Friday deals. You can exceed the borders of your company page by encouraging your team to spread the word to their connections (that's assuming they're LinkedIn users).

If your LinkedIn profile has been sitting in the corner of your business collecting dust, there are also social ads alternatives that enables you to reach a targeted audience and inform them about your offers.

Email Marketing

Emails are the grandparents of all organic social media networks — they are the oldest yet one of the most effective and low-cost forms of communication.

By sending out an email with a hooky subject line to your contacts outlining what you’re offering, you increase the chances of getting them on board. If you’re sharing a Black Friday promotion to new customers only, aka VIP members, why not squeeze in a referral reward for any existing client who brings in a new customer?

Website

Let your website do the legwork for you while you see your conversion and revenue rates rising! Your website is one of the easiest and most accessible spaces to showcase what’s on offer. Consider setting up a dedicated webpage full of blog articles and video content that dives deep into your offer packages, what the benefits are, and the duration the deal will run for.

Make sure that you show the deal on the pages that your existing and potential customers are most frequently on — so consider inserting banners, CTAs or images which link to your offer.

Conclusion

If there's something you can extract from this blog article is that B2B businesses can actively partake in the Black Friday craze as long as they strategise and put the right marketing plan in effect. Unlike local retailers or wholesalers who draw customers in through an eye-catching shop window and cut-down prices, B2B-ers need to get tactical when advertising their Black Friday promotions.

Remember that your BFCM sale doesn't serve the same goal as one that B2C-ers put up. You offer a discount to your existing customer base in order to augment brand loyalty and increase income you wouldn't have normally received at any other season.

What I say is, just carry on practising what you do best: prospecting, optimising pipeline, looking after business relationships, forging new partnerships, initiating meaningful conversations and asking thoughtful questions.