Black Friday Is Coming: What does your advertising plan need to consider and include?
In part one of this series, we looked at how shopper behaviour is changing ahead of Black Friday. Longer sale windows, more deliberate spending, rising discount scepticism, and the growing influence of creator led and social commerce. This second part is about what to actually do with that insight from an advertising perspective.
Here's what we tell our clients to focus on right now.
Start With Your Offer
Be super clear on what you're actually offering. Vague, unfocused ideas like "up to 50% off" perform worse than a small number of genuinely compelling deals. Shoppers are savvier than ever, they compare prices across the year, check price history tools, and can smell a fake discount a mile off.
What to do:
Pick your hero products or bundles early and protect margin on the rest
Decide if you're running a single Black Friday moment, a week-long event, or a full "Black November" this shapes your whole content and media plan
Make sure your offer is genuinely competitive against direct competitors, not just against your own RRP
Build Your Creative Assets Before the Rush
The single biggest bottleneck we see every November is creative fatigue, brands running the same two to three ad variants for six weeks because nothing else was delivered in time. Platforms like Meta and TikTok reward volume and freshness, and shoppers scroll past anything that feels stale within days.
What to do:
Brief and shoot creative in September/October, not the week of the sale — this is exactly where a UGC-style approach pays off, since native, authentic content can be turned around faster than polished studio production and tends to convert better in a crowded feed
Plan a content calendar with distinct creative "waves": teaser, countdown, live sale, last chance, and post sale
Build creative specifically for each platform and placement rather than repurposing one asset everywhere
3. Warm Up Your Audiences Early
Paid media performs best on Black Friday when it isn't meeting your audience for the first time. Auction prices climb steeply in the run up to the day itself, so brands that wait to switch on prospecting in mid November are paying a premium to reach cold audiences.
What to do:
Run always on brand and retargeting activity through October to build warm pools ahead of the peak
Segment your email/SMS list and start teasing the event 2–3 weeks out
Layer in early-access or "VIP" offers for existing customers to reward loyalty and reduce reliance on expensive cold acquisition during the peak window
Get Your website Ready
No amount of great media spend will save a slow, broken, or under stocked website. Black Friday traffic spikes can be brutal, and cart abandonment rises fast when load times slip or checkout gets clunky.
What to do:
Stress test site speed and checkout flow well ahead of time
Confirm stock levels and delivery promises can genuinely be met — nothing damages trust faster than a cancelled order
Make sure tracking (pixels, conversion APIs, UTMs) is fully audited before spend ramps up — broken tracking during peak season is one of the most common and costly mistakes we catch
Plan Your Budget pacing, Not Just Your Total Budget
A flat daily budget across November is rarely optimal. Costs per click and CPMs typically rise sharply in the days immediately before and during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, then ease off. Smart brands shift budget dynamically rather than spreading it evenly.
What to do:
Map out a day by day budget based on historical trends and your own past performance
Set aside contingency budget to double down on what's working in real time
Agree in advance what "success" looks like — ROAS, CPA, revenue targets
6. Don't Forget the Days After
The days immediately following Black Friday and Cyber Monday are prime territory for retargeting cart-abandoners, browsers, and anyone who didn't convert the first time. A well-timed "last chance" or "we noticed you looked at this" campaign can recover meaningful revenue that would otherwise be lost.
What to do:
Consider a short extension or "final hours" push rather than a hard cutoff
Use this period to capture new customer data (email/SMS) for nurturing into the Christmas peak
The Bottom Line
Black Friday success isn't decided on the day, it's decided in the six to eight weeks before it. The offer strategy, creative volume, audience warming, site readiness, and budget pacing all need to be locked down early, with room to react fast.
If you want a second pair of eyes on your Black Friday plan, whether that's performance media, creative production, or both, get in touch with the SHC team.
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