The Complete Black Friday Marketing & Advertising Toolkit (+Free Template!)

Black Friday is one of the biggest spending holidays of the year, and businesses of all shapes and sizes can take advantage of it. What’s even better about Black Friday is that it’s no longer just one day: it’s Black Fiveday spanning from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.

Black Friday is a fantastic opportunity for you to skyrocket product sales and attract hordes of new customers. I’m here to help you do just that with these Black Friday marketing strategies complete with a free planning template to set your business up for success this holiday season.

Contents

• Why Black Friday matters: Stats and facts
• When should you start Black Friday marketing?
• Black Friday marketing and advertising tips
• Black Friday marketing ideas
• Black Friday advertising strategies
• Black Friday marketing planning template

Why your business needs a Black Friday marketing and advertising strategy

Black Friday marketing and advertising should be a no-brainer for every business out there, even if your industry doesn’t directly connect back to holiday shopping. Here are some key Black Friday marketing statistics and facts that explain why.

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Black Friday drives revenue for businesses (regardless of industry)

Black Friday online sales grew by 5% year over year with global sales reaching $74.4 billion in 2024. Sales across all of Cyber Week increased by 7% totaling $314.9 billion. Plus, nearly 60% of businesses see a significant lift in sales during the holidays.

In fact, 73% of businesses report that 20% of their annual revenue comes from Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year campaigns. 28% of businesses say the holidays account for 30 to 50% of their revenue, and 8% attribute the peak holiday season to over 50% of revenue.

Black Friday deals can attract new customers to your business

Your Black Friday marketing and advertising can help you tap into audiences you might not always reach year-round. For example, if you’re primarily an in-store or in-office operation looking to grow online, you can use Black Friday to gain traction for your mobile site as 70% of Black Friday purchases are made on a mobile device.

Consumers (and competitors) have Black Friday top-of-mind early on

Having a Black Friday marketing strategy ready to go sets you up for success and gets you ahead of the holiday game. Over 60% of holiday shoppers start their buyer’s journey in October or early November. Plus, 57% of consumers say they prefer to get details about holiday discounts in advance. In other words, knowing what Black Friday deals to expect beforehand is a priority for most shoppers.

Your customers aren’t the only ones with Black Friday top-of-mind early on, either. 36% of businesses plan to start their holiday marketing about a month ahead of time, and 31% plan to do it up to three months ahead of time. If you want to stay ahead of your competition, then the earlier you start your Black Friday marketing the better.

A smart Black Friday strategy connects you with customers when it matters most

You can use Black Friday as an opportunity to place your business in front of customers when they’re ready to buy. For instance, purchases made directly in an app, rather than on a website or in-store, increased by 14% during Black Friday last year. In this case, you might want to consider launching an Instagram Shop for the holiday season.

Being present on the right channels is crucial to your holiday success. 63% of shoppers say posts and ads across Meta-owned apps are likely to influence their holiday purchases. Over half of consumers look across Meta’s platforms for holiday research and evaluation. Nearly 60% of weekly Facebook and Instagram users prefer to get holiday shopping recommendations from Reels.

Black Friday is the perfect time to test new marketing and advertising tactics

You can use this time of year to try marketing and advertising strategies you may not have tried otherwise. If you do, you’re not alone. 42% of businesses plan to try a new or different strategy for their Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing and advertising campaigns this year.

For example, you could use Black Friday as an opportunity to refresh your website. 34% of businesses say that website performance optimization is their top priority when preparing for the holiday season.

Other channels increase in efficacy during Black Friday, too. 23% of businesses say email marketing is the most effective channel for Black Friday promotions, followed by organic social media marketing with 21% finding this channel the most effective during the holidays.

When should you start Black Friday marketing?

Whether this time of year is your business’s busy or slow season, there are ways to make Black Friday work for your business. But it can be hard to know for sure exactly when to start capitalizing on Black Friday and the holiday season.

Remember, Black Friday isn’t just one day. It encompasses a series of days you can make moves on, known as “Black Fiveday.” Let’s quickly review each key date within this timeframe:

• Thanksgiving: The fourth Thursday in November, this holiday signifies the start of the holiday season for many. Most consumers will be eyeing holiday deals by this time.
• Black Friday: Immediately after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, the official holiday for seasonal shopping.
• Small Business Saturday: Next, after Black Friday, all small businesses should be taking advantage of this day that’s dedicated to encouraging consumers to shop small and work with local businesses.
• Sofa Sunday/Cyber Sunday: While the Sunday within this big week of deals doesn’t have a widely popular name or theme, many know it as “Sofa Sunday” or “Cyber Sunday” as shoppers make purchases virtually from the comfort of their homes.
• Cyber Monday: This is the final day of Black Fiveday, where customers will be searching for your business’s online offers.

An honorable mention goes to Giving Tuesday, the day after Cyber Monday, which is all about giving back to your community, volunteering time with organizations that matter, and other philanthropic activities. You can still use Giving Tuesday to market your business or continue your holiday deals by showing customers how you care about causes that matter to your brand.

Basically, you’ve got a whole week’s worth of marketing and advertising you’ll have to prepare in order to squeeze all that you can out of Black Friday. You’ll likely need some time in advance to be sure you’re set up for success.

While there’s no right or wrong way to start your Black Friday marketing and advertising, here are a few things to keep in mind when you begin planning:

• Experts predict shoppers will shop earlier this year to grab gifts before prices increase too much or inventory decreases. This year, 28% of consumers starting holiday shopping before Labor Day.
• 57% of people plan to complete their holiday shopping before December.

So, short answer for when to start your Black Friday marketing: As early as possible. However, don’t feel like you’re too late in the game if you haven’t started yet. When it comes to Black Friday marketing and advertising, something is always better than nothing. Don’t hesitate to get started as soon as you can, even if Black Friday is creeping up quick.

Lastly, it’s important to remember there are other key dates throughout November that can pair nicely with your Black Friday promotions.

Black Friday marketing and advertising tips

Check out these five Black Friday marketing tips to help you get on the right track for the season.

Use a marketing calendar to get organized

A marketing calendar, like the example below, can help you manage your marketing before, during, and after Black Fiveday. That way, you can decide which days you’ll run certain campaigns, promotional teasers, and so on.

📆 Download our free 2026 marketing calendar template here!

Set short and long-term goals

As you begin your Black Friday marketing preparations, set some goals to help your business stay on track. You’ll likely want to set short-term goals to know what you want to achieve during the Black Fiveday period, as well as longer-term goals that connect the holiday season back to your year-round always-on marketing strategy.

The SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goal structure can be useful during this step in your process.

Pre-plan your Black Friday promotions

Know what you’re going to offer during Black Friday ahead of time so you can easily brainstorm promotional messaging and copy. Be sure to get all the details of any discounts, contests, or events ironed out so that your Black Friday marketing runs as smoothly as possible. Read on to get some ideas of what your business could offer during Black Friday.

Be creative and have fun

Black Friday is meant to be a fun, festive time of year. Don’t be afraid to lean into the spirit of the holidays when creating your marketing materials. For example, you might swap out your usual brand colors for a holiday-themed palette, or use holiday puns in your messaging.

Use AI to ideate and create holiday magic

Generative AI tools can come in clutch for your Black Friday marketing and advertising. Just be sure you’re only using it to draft ideas or content, and that you give anything AI-generated a final, manual edit, so you’re putting out Black Friday marketing that’s aligned with your brand guidelines.

There are a ton of holiday AI prompts you can take advantage of, so don’t be afraid to ask AI tools for Black Friday promotion ideas, copywriting help, and more.

💡Learn how AI can boost your Black Friday campaigns with free guide to 9 powerful ways to use AI in Google and Facebook Ads!

Black Friday marketing ideas

There is a ton to play with when it comes to your Black Friday promotions. For example, many businesses offer product bundles, BOGO, and freebie deals in their Black Friday marketing. Take a look at this full breakdown below of some of the most popular Black Friday marketing tactics.

With that in mind, here are some Black Friday marketing and promotion ideas that will likely be popular with your customers:

• Bundle products or services into a holiday package customers can buy for a limited time.
• Offer discount tiers based on cart size, customer loyalty programs, and more.
• Set up dynamic discounts that are personalized to your typical buyer’s journey. For example, you could apply a discount to the carts of repeat customers, or customers that spend a certain amount.
• Host a giveaway or contest that offers up your products or services as prizes.
• Offer a free gift or freebie with certain purchases.
• Allow customers payment options, like “buy now, pay later,” to increase sales in advance.
• Partner with a complementary local business to cross-promote your holiday deals.
• Run a referral program to drive new leads during the week of Black Fiveday.
• Go live on social media giving a complete breakdown of all the holiday deals your brand has to offer.
• Publish a series of posts or stories across your social media accounts that tease a Black Friday sale.
• Highlight customer testimonials or case studies from the past year to show potential buyers how your business can help them during the holiday season.
• Send out a Black Friday-themed email campaign to update your audience on the latest holiday happenings from your business.
• Create a behind-the-scenes video you can post on YouTube, or use in OTT (over-the-top) streaming ads, to show your audience how your business is hard at work for the holidays.
• Update your local listings with holiday-themed photos and promotions.

Of course, there are tons more Black Friday marketing ideas beyond this list that could work for your business. Your Black Friday marketing options are endless, so don’t be afraid to test a few different ideas to see what works.

Black Friday advertising strategies

If you’re running ads this Black Friday, here are four holiday strategies to keep in mind.

Use Google Ads Performance Max campaigns to secure more placements

Performance Max (PMax) is an automated campaign type that’s a staple in most small business Google Ads accounts year-round. PMax can allow your business to show ads across multiple placements from a single campaign, which can be ideal when you’re trying to maximize your Black Friday ad reach.

When you use PMax, your Black Friday ads can be shown on any of the placements shown above.

Enable Smart Bidding strategies to stretch your budget across Black Fiveday

Smart Bidding is a form of automated bidding with Google Ads that dynamically shifts your bids based on factors like conversion value. During Black Friday, you’ll likely need your Google Ads budget to juggle multiple goals, so having each campaign on a Smart Bidding strategy will help you stretch your dollars further.

Any of the Smart Bidding strategies within the orange box can be helpful to use during Black Friday.

⚡ Get started with Smart Bidding in a flash using our free, fool-proof guide to Smart Bidding!

Use Meta Advantage+ to reach holiday shoppers

Advantage+ within Meta Ads is a suite of automated solutions meant to help streamline your campaign buildout and management. For Black Friday, you could use Advantage+ audiences or placements to help build out your campaign targeting to reach users outside of your usual lists.

Import campaigns into Microsoft Ads to maximize your reach

Microsoft Ads should be a no-brainer when running Black Friday advertising campaigns, as it’s easy to get up and running on there in a flash. You could import your Black Friday campaigns from other ad platforms, like Google Ads or Meta Ads, to quickly place your seasonal ads across the Microsoft Ads network, which includes high-value placements like the Bing Search Results Page, and more.