Black Friday is something that has become synonymous with businesses and customers around the world. Lots of countries celebrate it, and they all do so in their own specific ways. Sometimes, they restrict it to Friday only. At others, they make it a week-long thing, hold it on different dates and more. No matter what your business plans to do this year, it’s beneficial to use this as a marketing opportunity. It can also present plenty of stumbling blocks, and that’s where we come in.

Mistake #1: Not Using Hashtags On Social Media

There are a lot of marketing blunders we could mention, but we’re going for this one. I’m going to assume that you’ve already got an elaborate social media plan in place. But, if you fail to include the Black Friday hashtag in your posts, it won’t reach as many people as it should. You might not realize it, but there are lots of people who check that hashtag all day for the latest deals. If you’re not showing up, your deals will go unnoticed by the social media masses.

Mistake #2: Underestimating Demand In-Store

Alright, you’ve got a bit of time until Black Friday this year (it’s late November!). So, use this chance to get a proper inventory system going. Maybe, you want to buy barcodes from www.barcodesolutions.co.za? This could assist your audit and stock ordering process. Maybe, start predicting customer trends based on other companies’ Black Friday experiences? On the big day, you don’t want to run out of stock.

Mistake #3: Underestimating Demand Online

Oh, we’ve all seen this before. A company advertises a too-good-to-be-true sale, and everyone clicks onto the website immediately. Before anyone can make a purchase, the site crashes. A failure like this could mean the company misses out on huge profits. Think about a good web hosting company from somewhere like www.webafrica.co.za/hosting/. Make sure it can cope with the demand.

Mistake #4: Letting Things Get Out Of Control

We’ve all seen those scary pictures of stores being looted by over-eager customers, right? We don’t want our store to get like that. If you think there’s a chance of it happening, consider hiring security for this purpose. It won’t be something everyone needs to do, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Mistake #5: Failing To Capitalize On Brand Interest

This is the one chance where you’ve got much more interest than you’d usually get. Why aren’t you taking advantage of it?! Use this opportunity to get customer information and add them to mailing lists. Find ways to keep them in the loop in the future, rather than capitalizing off one sale.

Mistake #6: Forgetting About Upselling

You’ve got a chance here to satisfy customers’ needs and make a little extra money in the process. They want that ultra-cheap TV deal? Great! Why not add a games console and a few DVDs into the mix? Think about bundling and finding ways to maximize profit even further. Train your staff ahead of the day, so they don’t forget about this amidst the chaos.