Black Friday PR Tips for Small Businesses Surviving 2020

Black Friday is going to be a totally different experience this year. To kick off the biggest shopping season of the year, small businesses (which have already had to navigate the twists and turns of the pandemic) will take another loop around ‘how do we adapt?!’

Let’s look at three trends affecting retail for Black Friday, how they will impact small businesses, and some PR strategies to take advantage of the spike of people ready to open their wallets for the holidays.

2020 Black Friday Shopping Trends

Trend 1: Shoppers want to feel safe

You probably could have guessed this one: shoppers want to feel like they aren’t putting themselves at risk of catching covid-19 while they’re shopping. There’s always been a lot of advice about curating an excellent customer experience, but this year’s trends have focused on the most basic element of keeping people from getting sick. 

This means that stores are cleaner, have more space for shoppers to spread out, have signs  to help everyone know the protocol, encourage masks, and make sure sanitizer is available. 

From one angle, we could talk about how precautions like these really are good for keeping shoppers and staff safe. And from another angle, we could talk about how precautions like these help customers feel safe enough to return to your store. 

Either way you look at it, stores are changing it up to make sure everyone can safely enjoy their time shopping for the holidays. 

Trend 2: Waaaaaay more online shopping

For a long time, online holiday shopping has been trending up. Now that more people are inclined to stay home in the first place, experts expect online holiday shopping to have it’s biggest jump yet. 

This means that small businesses that aren’t online should get online, and small businesses that are online, should put emphasis on creating an awesome online shopping experience and promoting it like crazy.

You have the opportunity to reach a bigger audience than ever since everyone is just a click away. 

Trend 3: The sales are going to last longer 

We know and love/hate Black Friday for its surge of sales and the crowds that fight to get the best deals all in one day. 

Well… most of that will be gone this year. 

Instead, many stores are going to lengthen the duration of their sales to prevent a huge influx of foot traffic all at once and many major national brands have already started their “Black Friday” sales. 

For small businesses, this means that shoppers will have plenty of time to actually shop instead of getting what they can at the few stores they manage to hit in one day. Plus this means you can spend more time promoting your Black Friday deals. 

2020 Black Friday PR Strategies for Small Businesses

As a publicist, I look at how Black Friday is changing and see a huge opportunity for small businesses. 

Small brick and mortar stores won’t have the overwhelming number of people in their stores, so in many cases shoppers will feel safer. With more online shopping, small businesses have a chance to reach bigger markets. And the lengthy sales cycle means that people won’t be rushing to one store to get doorbusters, they’ll take their time and shop around. 

With this big opportunity ready for the taking, the next question is:

How do you get the word out about your Black Friday deals?

I want to share a few quick PR strategies you can use to get some media attention on your sales. Of course, if you want more details about how to put these into action, you can check out my comprehensive, hour-long PR course that will show you everything you need to know. 

Strategy 1: Google “Black Friday Deals”

The goal here is to find existing articles on Black Friday deals so you can see who wrote them. You’re looking for articles like this and this. Once you have this information you can contact that reporter to tell them about your Black Friday deals. 

Don’t be afraid to add in more keywords. You can use your industry, target market, or new regions. For example, you can try to land your products in a health and beauty roundup or a guide for takeout deals. 

Whatever makes sense for your brand, see if there’s already a reporter out there writing about it.

Strategy 2: Tell Your Local Media 

Local media loves to promote local businesses. Even if you have a national brand or only sell online, your local media can still be your biggest cheerleader and best source of media. 

In some regions, there may only be a handful of reporters or even just one reporter covering everything. This should make it easier to find the right contact person, just be sure to mention that you are local in your email to grab their attention. 

Strategy 3: Don’t Forget Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday

Even though Black Friday is spreading out and taking over online, people will still look for deals on Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. 

I recommend crafting pitches for these days as well. 

The more pitches you have out there, the more opportunities you have to find the right fit for your brand. A reporter might look for major national brands for their Black Friday roundup, but love your unique offering for Small Business Saturday. 

Again, if you need any help with crafting a pitch, knowing when to send it out, how to find media contacts, and how to follow up, I cover all of that (It’s called the OPEN Method) in my foundations course. 

Good luck!