The TLC Business Annual Marketing Lunch 2020

Essential Marketing Insights for SMEs ‘How to get the most out of your marketing buck’.

It’s that time of year again for the TLC Business Annual Marketing Lunch, where we will be providing SMEs in Hampshire with useful insights, tips, guidance and advice around how to get the most from their marketing budget in the year ahead.

This year’s free annual marketing seminar will be held at the Holiday Inn Winchester on Thursday 13th February 2020 from 12pm-2pm. Full details of the event can be found below but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Spaces for this event are limited, therefore you must book your place in advance to confirm your attendance.

You can book your place here.

Please note: this event is not eligible for other marketing or creative agencies.

Event details:

Date: Thursday 13th February 2020
Time: 12pm – 2pm
Location: The Monarch Suite, Holiday Inn Winchester, Telegraph Way, Morn Hill, Winchester, Hampshire, SO21 1HZ
Refreshments: Buffet lunch & refreshments provided
Price: Free

Topics we’ll cover:

– Social media – how to make it work for your business
– PPC (Pay per click advertising) – why it is an important part of your marketing mix
– SEO (Search engine optimisation) – the fundamentals
– Email marketing – is it still relevant?
– Content – what should we be creating?
– How to stand out from the crowd
– How can I find out what is working?

We hope to see you there!

 

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A lovely early Christmas gift for TLC from our client

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Christmas came early for TLC today! One of our clients very kindly surprised us with this lovely hamper of chocolates and champagne.

Thank you to all our clients for a brilliant 2019 and we look forward to working with you in 2020!

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Listen to Josh’s interview on BBC Radio Solent ‘Ask the Expert’

Josh Spencer, Managing Director of TLC Business and Chartered Marketer, is interviewed for Ask the Expert on BBC Radio Solent, discussing all things Marketing!

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What does it mean to be a Google Partner?

The Google Partners program was established to certify businesses who have demonstrated advanced skills and expertise in Google Ads, such as marketing and advertising agencies or other third-party businesses who manage Google Ads accounts on behalf of other brands and businesses. The Partner badge is awarded to companies who Google have recognised as a legitimate partner.

How do you achieve Google Partner status?

Businesses can achieve Google Partner status by passing assessments and certifications in Google Ad,s available through the Skillshop and by meeting the Google Ads spending requirements:

 

  • Certifications

 

The Google Skillshop has six certifications available for the following components: Fundamentals of Google AdWords, Advanced AdWords, Display Advertising, Video, Mobile and Shopping Ads. Once you have passed the Fundamentals and Advanced exams you will earn your Google AdWords certification; passing the other four exams will entitle you to Google’s AdWords Specialists certifications. All of the certifications are valid for 12 months and must be re-assessed in order to retain your certification.

 

  • Spend

 

Businesses must meet the Google AdWords spending requirements across the managed accounts to show that the company has a healthy amount of ongoing activity.

 

  • Company performance

 

The business must showcase solid ad revenue growth for the company and clients and demonstrate that they have retained and grown their customer base.

When Google recognises that a business has demonstrated and met the standards of the above, they will be rewarded with the Google Partner badge. The badge can be revoked at any time though, as the business must continue to meet all of Google’s standards for partner status and certifications must be re-taken every 12 months.

What are the benefits of working with a Google Partner?

Achieving Google Partner status provides businesses with access to plenty of benefits from additional product and sales trainings, advanced account support, assistance with growth, promotional offers and other rewards.

TLC Business have achieved their Google Partner status with a specialisation in Search advertising. This means our team members have been recognised as certified Google Search experts and we have demonstrated our skills in managing and developing successful Google Search campaigns for our clients.

By working with a Google Partner, you can be confident that your business will be working with recognised Google specialists who are up-to-date with the latest Google Ads products. We also have access to a dedicated Google support team, special offers and additional training resources so that we can continue to develop our skills in creating, managing, analysing and optimising specific Google Ads tools.

How to certify if someone is a genuine Google Partner

A company who has been certified as a Google Partner will be rewarded with an official Partner bade that they can showcase on their website, in their email signatures or on business cards. But how do you know if a business is a genuine Google Partner? Well, quite simply a genuine Google Partner badge hosted on a website or email signature will link through to the official Partner profile which will list all of their company and individual specialisations and certifications.

Take a look at our fancy Google Partner badge here.

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What is content marketing and how does it benefit lead generation?

A formal definition of content marketing might go something like this – a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing catchy, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a defined target audience and help generate profitable leads. Put simply, it is creating and distributing fun, engaging, powerful and moving content that captures your audience’s attention and compels them to do something. Content marketing should be an ongoing process within your overall marketing strategy; however in the B2B market, very few businesses are executing it to its full potential and are missing a cost-effective marketing trick!

 

What is the ‘content’ in content marketing?

Content marketing revolves around the production of original or curated mixed-media, then distributing it through your different marketing channels, such as website, email or social media. Some typical examples of the type of content you could produce are:

• Blogs
• Case studies
• Video
• Social media posts
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• Infographics
• GIFs
• Quizzes/Surveys
• Competitions
• White Papers
• Resources, for example glossary of terms, calculators, price lists, generators etc
• Apps

 

Content marketing benefits for lead generation
Other than SEO, PPC and other online advertising methods, blogging is considered the most effective tool for B2C and B2B marketers for generating leads through online channels. Did you know that according to statistics by WebDAM, B2B marketers who blog consistently generate 67% more leads than marketers who don’t? So if you don’t have a blog or news page, you might want to consider getting one! However, the content you are putting out needs to be relevant and engaging for your specific audience in order to see results. Different types of content will generate different outcomes based on their purpose. You might create content to increase brand exposure or your social media following. Perhaps you are looking to inform your audience or existing customers about new projects or industry insights. Your choice of content should be specific to your goals and distributed through carefully selected channels tailored towards your audience.

 

Create a content plan
In order to produce consistent and good quality content, we suggest creating a content plan as part of your marketing strategy. A content plan will highlight any activities in relation to your content and give you a schedule to work towards to help keep on top of things! We’ve got some helpful tips to create your plan.

1. Whether you’re new to content marketing, or are looking to improve your existing content, firstly we’d recommend looking at your competitors to see what types of content they are producing, if any, and if it is effective or not, to get some ideas for your own. Useful things to look out for are use of links to their website or to external articles, use of hash-tags, and the engagement they receive including likes, comments and shares. Just remember that whilst It is helpful to get inspiration from your competitors, it can be difficult to come up with original ideas that have never been done before, so make sure you avoid copying content and that yours is unique, your own and reflective of your business.

2. Firstly, you need to choose the types of content you wish to create and your goals, for example, social media posts can be great for brand exposure and increasing your audience reach, whereas case studies and white papers can be used to target industry or solution-specific prospects through a lead-gen email campaign.

3. Establish how much content you can create and how often, given your resources and time. A social media post can be created in several minutes, whereas a white paper can take hours to produce.

4. Lastly, you will need to decide how you will be distributing the content. The majority of content will be hosted on your website, but you can then decide if you will share it on social media, include a feature and a link in your e-newsletter or create a targeted email campaign to prospects or for existing clients.

5. Implement all of the above into a content calendar and schedule posts where applicable using social media managing software such as Hootsuite or Sprout, so that you remain consistent, avoid duplication and can plan weekly or monthly themes and topics that fall in-line with your business model.

 

Content marketing benefits for SEO
The more up-to-date your website is, the more beneficial it is for your user and SEO; therefore, adding new content to your website, such as regular blogs, video, resources, graphics, case studies or white papers can help improve your search engine rankings. Video is increasingly relevant and in demand by users; therefore, having embedded video on your site is a big plus. Content is also a good medium through which to target new keywords, expanding your presence in the search engines, so your audience can find you more readily.

 

How can we help?
At TLC Business, we can take care of all of your content marketing requirements. Need help with social media management, creating engaging blogs and white papers or producing infographics or resources for your audience? Get in touch today by emailing us on info@tlc-business.co.uk or calling 01962 600 147.

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Ways to improve your Search Engine ranking (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of making changes to your website in order to improve your online visibility in a search engine’s organic results, otherwise known as unpaid or natural results. The factors which affect your website’s search engine rank have changed over the years, due to Google’s (and other Search Engines) continual updates to their algorithms; therefore, continually reviewing your SEO activities is crucial to ensure you appear prominently on the search engine results page (SERP).

Did you know that 75% of people don’t scroll past the first page of search results and 70%-80% of people skip straight past paid ads completely and to the organic results? Therefore, even if you are using pay-per-click (PPC) ads; which generally appear at the top and bottom of the results page and marked ‘Ad’ next to the URL, the majority of online users will ignore your ad and skip straight to the organic results, where you may not appear if your website is not optimised effectively.

 

How can I find out where my website is ranking?

If you want to see where your website is ranking on a search engine, we don’t recommend you perform a search of your business yourself as it is likely that you will not get an accurate representation of where your website ranks for a number of reasons:

  1. You are likely to regularly visit your website from the device you are using and therefore the search engine will recognise this and display your website as one of the top results based on your cookies and browser history.
  2. You may be carrying out the search from your office location and the search engine will show businesses closest to you based on relevance.
  3. If using Google search for example, you may be logged into Google using an account associated with your website or your Google My Business listing and therefore your website might show artificially high in the results.

To check your website’s SERP ranking correctly, there are a number of free or paid tools you can use. Our recommendation is Serpfox, they offer a free account for up to 10 keywords or paid plans from $10 a month. Other quick online tools which don’t require an account or subscription include Moz Rank and SERPChecker, but there are a variety of others available which also provide keyword idea tools and the ability to check your site’s ranking against your competitors.

 

What factors affect my search ranking?

There are a number of factors which will affect your website’s organic search ranking, some of which aren’t new and have been best practice for years, but others are becoming increasingly more important as Google continues to update their algorithms almost every day.

 

Keywords

A search engine recognises search terms as ‘keywords’ and will look for these keywords on your website to see if it is relevant for that search. The use of keywords for SEO has changed slightly over the years as it’s no longer feasible to throw a bunch of keywords onto your website in the copy or H1 tags. The basic rule is to choose one unique keyword per page to tell the search engine what that page is about. You can use free online keyword tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner, WordStream or Wordtracker to find keyword ideas and their search volumes. Most tools will also show the PPC competition and cost-per-click (CPC), if you decide to use the keywords for paid search ads too. To benefit from full SEO, the keyword you have chosen for that page should be included in the meta data and on the website page itself (in the first H1 tag and at least once (possibly more) on the page text, ideally in the first paragraph). You can also include it in the page URL and alt tags. All of these placements will help tell search engines what your pages content is really about.

 

Meta Data

Meta tags are bits of text that describe a web page’s content; however, they don’t appear on the web pages themselves, only in the page’s HTML code. A search engine reads the meta data to find the topic of the web page and check for the relevance of your web page against a particular search term. Each page of your website should have a unique meta title and meta description. This will tell the search engines the name of your page and what it is about. To effectively write meta data for your website, your meta title and descriptions for each page will have one main keyword in it that is relevant to that page. The meta data is also the title and description which will display on a search engine’s results. For example, I have searched “SEO tools” in Google and one of the top organic results was this page link for Moz (see image below). You can see that the keyword “SEO tools” is in the meta title; therefore, Google has recognised that this is a relevant web page for my search term.

In order for your meta tags to display correctly, your title should be no longer than 50-60 characters and your description no more than 150-160 characters in order for Google to display your page listing without getting truncated.

Page URL

Search engines will also check your web page URL for relevance to the search term, therefore in addition to your meta tags you can include your chosen keyword for that page in the website’s or page’s URL to help improve your ranking.

Content

Updating your website regularly with new content will help to improve search engine results too. Content can be anything in the form of copy, blogs, video, resources, graphics, infographics and more. Video is also increasingly relevant and in demand by users; therefore, having embedded video on your website is a bonus for your SERP rank. Using keywords in your website’s copy such as blogs and case studies will also help to improve search results and you can also label your images and other media using alt tags, which work similarly to meta tags and give the search engine further information about your website’s content.

 

Mobile-Friendliness

Over 50% of web traffic in the world is now on mobile and mobile users are increasing dramatically year-on-year; therefore, it is vitally important for websites to be mobile-friendly. Google can recognise how well your website performs on a smaller device and will rank your website accordingly. It will check your website for its responsiveness, accessibility, loading speeds and user-experience on mobile. You can check if your website is mobile-friendly by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

 

Image source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/241462/global-mobile-phone-website-traffic-share/

 

User-experience

In addition to mobile-friendliness, you should still ensure that your website performs well on desktops and tablets too. If your website has a lot of java-script, high-resolution images, video and links, these factors can affect a website’s page load speed; which will have a negative impact on your search rank. You can check how your website performs in this area using free online tool, GTmetrix; which gives you a score for your website’s page speed and will also provide you with smaller scaled images or ‘smushed’ images to replace those on your website, without compromising quality.

You should also check your website for broken-links in case you have changed any of your website’s page names or URLs historically. Old links from your website may still show up on search results or may be linked from other website and need re-directing, otherwise your website will show a 404 error page, which also negatively impacts user-experience. To check your website for any broken links, you can use the ‘Crawl Errors’ report under Google Search Console’s webmaster tools.

Another thing to consider which can impact your ranking is your website security. In 2014, Google confirmed that websites with an SSL certificate would get an added advantage in the search engine results and last year sites with a non-HTTPS status would be flagged with the warning message “Not secure” in the URL bar of the browser to show that it was unsafe. If your website is http:// instead of https://, you should consider purchasing an SSL certificate from your web hosting company. An SSL certificate will help to minimise the chances of cybercrime and hacking that is often targeted through security loopholes in web browsers. You should also check that you are using the most up-to-date version of your CMS or PHP. If you are using WordPress for example, in 2018 official guidance was released that you should run PHP 7 or higher, which not only provides improvements in handling errors and script problems but improves your website’s security and makes your website harder to hack.

 

Google My Business

Finally, if you haven’t set up your own Google My Business account, it is possible that Google has created one for you. This is the business and address listing that shows for your business. For example, when searching “Winchester restaurant” in Google search, I am given several listings of restaurants and a map. If you utilise this tool to its potential, it can have positive effects on your SERP ranking. You can edit your listing to include images, a description, opening hours, contact information, a link to your website, directions and reviews. A listing with positive Google reviews (all things being equal) is more likely to rank higher in Google’s search engine results than a listing with poor reviews or no reviews at all. You can set up a Google My Business listing or request ownership of one that exists for you by creating an account here.

 

 

How TLC Business can help

TLC Business can undertake a variety of SEO-related activities for SMEs including a review of your website, creating an SEO strategy, setting up Google Analytics and Search Console, keyword research and analytics, meta-data creation, on-page and off-page optimisation and more. You can find out more about our SEO services (make this the link) on our website, or get in touch by emailing info@tlc-business.co.uk or calling 01962 600 147.

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Another successful TLC Business Marketing Lunch

Hampshire Marketing Company Event

TLC Business would like to thank all of the attendees who came to our annual marketing lunch last Thursday 7th February at the East Horton Golf Club in Fair Oak. We hope you enjoyed the session and were able to take away useful information and tips to help with your marketing in 2019.

During the seminar we discussed hot marketing topics, trends and tips for 2019; including which marketing channels are most effective for SMEs, updates on GDPR and the ePrivacy regulations, how to get the most from social media, PPC advertising, SEO best practice and more.

The event attracted a wide-array of SME businesses from in and around Hampshire, including IT consultants, architects, HR trainers, engineers, legal services and more.

If you’d like to be informed about future marketing events or availability of our free marketing ideas sessions for SMEs, let us know by emailing Sophie at sophiewells@tlc-business.co.uk or give us a call on 01962 600 147.

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Which social media platform is right for your business?

Social media marketing was at the forefront of many businesses’ marketing strategy in 2018, with over 3 billion people worldwide using social media each month. That’s a whopping 42% of the total global population! It’s no wonder businesses are incorporating it into their marketing mix.

Social networks are still attracting more and more users each day; in fact every second, 11 people use social media for the first time. So with uptake figures like these, alongside the global growth of smart phones users and wider internet access, social media as a global phenomenon is not going away. With 9 out of 10 social media users preferring to access their chosen social media platform on mobile devices and the number of mobile phone users in the world expected to pass the 5 billion mark this year, it is clear businesses, if they haven’t already, are going to have to re-align their marketing towards a mobile-driven society, of which social media usage is at its heart.

As consumers, we should all be familiar with YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. We may not use all of them, but the majority of us have at least heard of them or have a good enough idea of what they do. These are the big names in social media, but of course there are others that exist.

Each social media network has its own strengths and weaknesses and different ways in which they are used by their audiences. That’s why businesses need to make informed decisions on what social media channels they use in their marketing mix, and how to use them most effectively, to ensure they leverage each platforms’ unique strengths. To help, we at TLC Business have put together some stats to help you determine which platforms are right for your business and how you can use them to their full potential.

 

Facebook

On average, there are 44 million active users on Facebook in the UK, 52% of which are female and 48% male. The largest age bracket is 25-34 year olds, followed by 18-24 year olds; however, more mature audiences are embracing Facebook. 83% of parents on Facebook are ‘friending’ their children and the number of users aged 65 and above, increased by almost 20% in the last 1-2 years. 13-17 year olds make up the lowest percentage of users on Facebook; determining it is not the recommended platform if you are targeting millennials.

Facebook is designed for sharing videos, blog posts and curated content. According to Hootsuite, the social media management platform, the best time to post on Facebook is 12pm-3pm on Monday-Friday or 12pm-1pm on the weekends. The recommended number of daily posts depends on your following; but according to HubSpot, if you have less than 10,000 followers you should only post once a day or less, anything more than once a day will result in 60% fewer clicks per post. However, if you have more than 10,000 followers, posting 1-2 times per day results in the most clicks and engagement per post.

 

Twitter

With over 500 million tweets sent every day, Twitter has 326 million users, 500 million monthly visitors and a total of 1.3 billion accounts. Twitter’s users are predominantly males between the ages of 18-24. The platform is one of the best B2B social networks to start conversations with your potential customers or industry experts, but it requires you to be active daily. Engaging content is particularly important on this platform and you should be posting frequently. The recommended amount is between 3-5 tweets a day. Wednesday is considered the best day of the week to post on Twitter and it gets the most usage at 12pm and 5-6pm. The best hours of the day to post are midday, 3pm, 5pm and 6pm and if you’re a B2B company, you’re tweets are more likely to perform better during business hours, whereas B2C companies will experience better engagement on weekends. The majority of people use Twitter to keep up to date with news headlines; therefore, Twitter is the ideal platform for sharing news relevant to your followers; such as company and product announcements. Other types of posts that perform well on Twitter include sharing relevant links, photos, GIFs, infographics and videos. However, posts on Twitter need to be kept short but remain attention-grabbing. There is a limit of 280 characters per post, including the use of hashtags and links, and also a maximum video length of 140 seconds if uploaded directly to Twitter.

 

Instagram

In the UK, there are 21 million active users every month on Instagram. That’s 32% of the UK population! The majority of users are female, 57% compared to 43% male, and the age bracket most prominent is 18-24 year olds, followed by 25-34 year olds. Instagram is said to be the fastest growing social media platform and it is predicted that user growth going forward will consist predominantly of those 35 and older.

Instagram is a platform for sharing photographs or videos to your profile or story; however, last year the Facebook-owned platform also introduced Instagram TV, designed for sharing more lengthy vlog-style videos or movies. Instagram audiences appreciate high-quality, aesthetically-pleasing imagery and videos; which are thoughtfully composed and presented. For businesses, the posts which receive the best engagement are product photos, behind-the-scenes shots and motivational or inspiring quotes. The platform is typically used by more B2C companies who want to reach their consumers and build their following; however, for B2B markets it is a great tool for sharing industry relevant content and showcasing company culture. According to HubSpot, the best times of day to post on Instagram are Monday and Thursday at 2am, 8-9am or at 5pm. Posts get more reach and engagement outside of work hours and you should avoid posting between 3pm-4pm. However, when it comes to video, posts at 9pm receive 34% more interactions. The recommended daily amount of posts is between 1-2 per day, providing it is high-quality content.

 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is targeted at professionals and is designed for business-related content. With over 500 million members, LinkedIn is an ideal platform for establishing connections with fellow professionals, as well as promoting product launches and company announcements. Over 24 million companies have created LinkedIn pages, making it the ideal network for B2B businesses looking to reach stakeholders and decision makers. LinkedIn is used mainly by people with higher paying jobs, with 45% of people earning over $75K per annum, compared to just 13% of those earning under $30K. The average CEO has 930 LinkedIn connections. Posting once a day during the working week is recommended to reach at least 60% of your audience, and according to HubSpot, the best days to post are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7-8am, 12pm or 5-6pm. Professionals are more likely to read LinkedIn content in the morning during a work commute. The best content for a LinkedIn company page is career and recruitment information, company culture, quotes, thought pieces from employees, including their experience working for the company, company achievements and organisation announcements. LinkedIn content, on both company and personal pages, should remain work-related and professional, and personal profiles can be used to re-share company posts, connect directly with colleagues and other industry professionals.

 

Snapchat

Snapchat is a picture, video sharing and messaging app and has 187 million active daily users. In the UK, 77% of those are under 25; therefore, it is particularly targeted at millennials. Snapchat is used by businesses in a variety of ways. More specifically, B2C organisations use it predominantly to promote or sell a product. There is the snapchat ‘story’ feature; which is used for sharing images or short videos with your followers and is a great way to demonstrate to your audience the day-to-day goings on in your organisation. Stories delete themselves after 24hrs, but portions of the story can be deleted at any time. There are also multiple advertising tools available within the platform, including ‘snap ads’ which are 10-second vertical videos, to geo-filters and lenses; which allow users to access a snapchat filter and take a selfie with it. The recommended time to post on Snapchat is between 10pm-1am, as this is when traffic is the highest and 4-7 uploads a week is the optimum amount.

 

YouTube

YouTube is the most popular social platform of them all. 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are watched every day and 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. More than half of YouTube video views come from mobile devices and the average viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes. Businesses can use YouTube to upload “how to” and explainer videos, product walkthroughs, interviews with a thought leader, or a direct piece to camera (vlog) discussing what’s happening in the company. If you have content to upload regularly, such as a video series, you should set up a schedule to post at the same day and time every week. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the recommended times to post are Thursdays and Fridays between 12pm-3pm or weekends between 9-11am, as these are the times when there are the most viewers available to watch your videos.

 

Choosing the right social media platform

Developing a social media strategy that targets the right audience, on the right platforms doesn’t have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. A variety of content and scheduling is crucial to getting the most effective results out of social networking and for building your business’ profile. Some social networks may be more fit for your business needs than others. It is certainly not necessary to have a profile on every single one and perhaps more importantly, it can have a negative impact on your brand if you have a social network profile with no posts or that has been dormant for more than a year.

If you’re looking to implement or improve your social media marketing in 2019, TLC Business can help. We have a fully managed social media service that can take care of all of your business’ social media requirements, including developing a strategy, planning and creating content, setting up profiles, growing your followers and engaging with your audience.

To find out more about our social media marketing services, give us a call on 01962 600 147 or email us on info@tlc-business.co.uk.

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Looking to Get More From Your Marketing in 2019? Join Us For Our Free Annual TLC Business Marketing Lunch in the New Year

With 2018 drawing to a close, it’s that time of year again when we review the marketing trends of 2018, what has been working, what hasn’t and what we’ll be doing in 2019.

Designed for SMEs, our free marketing lunch will provide SMEs with useful insights, tips, guidance and advice on how to get the most from your marketing in 2019.

What we will cover:
• Choosing the right marketing channels for SMEs
• ePrivacy regulation changes – GDPR take two? What to expect
• Digital Marketing and GDPR best practice
• Getting the biggest bang for your buck
• Social Media, PPC, SEO and more

Date: Thursday 7th February 2019
Time: 12pm – 2pm
Location: East Horton Golf Club, Mortimers Lane, Fair Oak, Eastleigh, SO50 7EA
Refreshments: Buffet lunch provided
Price: Free

If you’re an SME and would like more information about our event or to secure your place, get in touch today by emailing sophiewells@tlc-business.co.uk or by calling Sophie on 01962 600 147 to receive your free invite!
This event is invite only, you must book and secure your place if you wish to attend.

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Black Friday: The biggest consumer event of the year?

The term Black Friday conjures up those scenes we’ve all seen on the news of frenzied chaotic shoppers grabbing anything they can get their hands on, seemingly regardless of whether they actually want the item. Undoubtedly, Black Friday is one of the biggest consumer shopping days of the year and generates billions of pounds in sales as retailers offer some of their most competitive deals of the year to customers. The annual event has become ever-bigger, year-on-year and is now perceived to mark the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. This year it will take place on Friday 23rd November. However, retailers typically release their deals much earlier, often lasting one or two weeks, and incorporating Cyber Monday (Monday 26th November 2018), another day dedicated to discounts by online retailers. As Black Friday falls before Christmas, the previously largest sales day, Boxing Day, is experiencing a decline in sales, as customers get ‘shopped out’ by the time it comes round, resulting in Boxing Day sales losing their appeal.

So where did Black Friday come from?

Black Friday originated in the US and always falls on the day after Thanksgiving. In the US, Americans are generally given several days off work for this holiday, therefore, US retailers saw it as a prime opportunity to make extra money by offering great savings on products. The day was given its name because it is considered the period before Christmas that retailers ‘move into the black’, meaning they are in a strong financial position and have enough money to cover their costs while reducing prices.

In the past, many shops have been known to release details of their discounts and offers at the very last moment, before their deals go live. Some also increase their offers, where stock persists, as the days go on, often resulting in sell-outs. Retailers can also be expected to stay open for longer and many offer online discounts and promotions now too.

The supermarket Asda takes credit for bringing Black Friday to the UK over a decade ago; however, they no longer participate, due to incidents of fights and brawls in stores across the UK, which one year saw customers wrestling over a television at an Asda store in Wembley. Instead, they offer alternative discounts on selected products that run on for longer instead of flash sales.

 

What to expect in 2018?

In 2018, we can expect Black Friday to see many retailers offering their deals and discounts for longer in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In recent years, when Black Friday deals were more akin to flash deals that lasted 24-hours or until stocks lasted, shopping centres were flooded with out-of-control consumers running in to stores as the doors open and fighting with other customers to grab the last products on the shelf. But with many retailers now dragging out their deals over many days, and in some cases weeks, to avoid the peak in footfall, and with many consumers opting to shop online, retailers are having to become more competitive with their offerings, as consumers have more time to research and consider the best deals. Footfall this year is expected to drop by 3.7% compared with Black Friday last year, and by 2.7% over the weekend as a whole, according to reports by The Springboard Group. Meanwhile, online transactions are expected to increase by 4% this year, although year-on-year growth of online sales has been at a slower pace compared to last year.

How does Black Friday affect marketing strategy?

In November 2017, Google search encountered approximately 2,240,000 hits of the search term “Black Friday 2017”, meanwhile in this same period UK shoppers spent £1.4bn online, 11.7% more than the previous year. Without a doubt, it would be a missed opportunity if a business taking part didn’t optimise their website for SEO purposes to target searches around Black Friday Deals and drive their audience to a Black Friday-specific landing page, particularly for an e-commerce site. However, with many other retailers and businesses doing the same, the competition is soaring. Black Friday planning should therefore start well in advance. In-fact, the bigger retailers will have a consistent year-round Black Friday webpage on their website to secure themselves a space in the search engine’s index, which may also start to develop some traffic from as early as August, when consumers start thinking ahead of the deals. Once the page is established, you can work to improve the user and page experience; which will help improve your search engine ranks. A month or so in advance of the big day the marketers are busy. We are seeing Black Friday paid ad campaigns pop up, re-marketing kicking in and social media ads start appearing in our feeds, not to mention the flurry of promotional emails filling up our inboxes.

With retailers fighting one another to offer the best deals and competitive prices, strategies such as offering exclusive access to the first 100 customers, incentives for free products or entries into competition draws can help to make brands stand out. Some businesses may also take a more ethical approach to the event and donate a percentage of profits made to their favourite charity.

Many brands/businesses will also join forces with other retailers or make partnerships with publishers to further increase their audience reach. In 2017, one of the most shared content pieces from a UK-relevant website was a news article detailing Virgin Train’s Black Friday Offer in the Liverpool Echo. Whilst it was not a very long piece, it still managed to capture 7,700 engagements on Facebook alone.

In this cyber age, people who fall into the categories of ‘influencer’ or celebrity can also be found promoting products to consumers through social media and PR. Around the Black Friday event, we can expect ‘famous’ faces at the forefront of brand campaigns, promoting a variety of “unmissable” Black Friday offers.

Are retailers really offering the best deals of the year?

The whole frenzy around Black Friday attracts massive hype and makes customers feel pressured to spend their money or miss out on the “biggest deals of the year”. But according to research by idealo.co.uk, 9 out of 10 products included in Black Friday deals are actually cheaper at other times in the year. The report analysed 21,047 products over a 12-month period and found that only electricals such as laptops were offered at a bargain price, whilst most other products could be found cheaper during different sales and times of the year. The report also revealed that the most popular products to purchase over the Black Friday event were smartphones, but on average they were £72 cheaper in early August.

Some retailers may also feel that Black Friday discounts are counter-productive and are therefore reluctant to offer a significant discount. As Black Friday typically brings Christmas spending forward to mid-November, naturally they see a decline in footfall and sales in the final weeks before Christmas; which should be the peak trading period leading into Boxing Day and January sales.

So, what are your thoughts on Black Friday? Does it deserve the hype it receives? Let us know your experience by emailing us on info@tlc-business.co.uk!

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