Claim your Piece of the Pie this Black Friday

The winter holiday season is upon us, which means shoppers are ready to spend — an exciting prospect for Retailers. One of the most popular and increasingly lucrative days for the retail industry is Black Friday. From 2010 to 2015, Black Friday spending increased by more than 38%, and projected spending for Black Friday 2017 is $3.25 billion in online sales alone, nearly an 11% increase from online spending on Black Friday 2015. With so much potential revenue up for grabs, Retailers have great opportunities for raking in record-breaking Black Friday sales!

Millennials — who currently possess $600 billion in annual spending power and are “retailers’ largest demographic” — are famous for seeking instant gratification and having a short attention span, which is why, now more than ever, consumer engagement is a priority. Offering a customized mix of content and product is vital for Retailers who want to engage consumers in the most effective way.

Making the Content Match

“Content is king.” It’s probably not the first time you’re hearing it, nor will it likely be the last. Social media and networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn wouldn’t exist without the circulation of content. For retailers, producing creative content is a strategic way of attracting audiences with the intention of engaging consumers. This Black Friday, retailers will be fighting for consumer attention, so here are some ideas on how you can win over audiences with your content:

• Establish your brand’s persona: Is your brand the cool kid with whom everyone wants to hang, the class clown, or the intellectual? Create a persona for your brand that aligns with what it represents, as a means to distinguish it from your competitors. For example, Wendy’s Twitteraccount, known for its sassy tweets, has garnered plenty of engagement through humorous and sarcastic tweets (sometimes aimed at its popular competitors in the fast food market) and viral hashtags.
• Discover how your customers consume content: Do they enjoy videos, polls, podcasts, blog posts? Are they on specific social media platforms? Find out where they are, deliver, and engage. Red Bull’s persona embodies a fascination with extreme sports and adventure, so it’s no surprise that Red Bull TV is dedicated to offering videos of exactly that in order to reel in adventure-seeking, sports-enthused consumers.
• Give them something to talk about: Produce content worth sharing, in an effort to encourage your consumers to help spread the word for you. This isn’t limited to social media; it could also be friends sharing articles or video clips via e-mail, text, or even in the conversation. Scientific, data-driven, heart-warming, health-related, or political pieces tend to be the more popular topics for sharing. Procter & Gamble’s Always brand accomplished this with their “Like a Girl” campaign, encouraging self-confidence in girls and young women. It was ultimately ranked “the top digital campaign of the Super Bowl” by Adobe, based on social mentions across online platforms.

Making the Product Match

Content alone is unlikely to close the sale or completely engage consumers. Offering suitable and exciting products, features, or services is, of course, imperative to any company’s value proposition. During its 29 years of existence, Capital One Financial Corporation acquired and now services over 65 million customer accounts across the globe. In a matter of just three years, Capital One increased its market share from 3.3% in 2000 to 7.2% in 2003. The Financial Services Company attributes its progress to using statistical models in order to identify the optimal blend of product, price, and credit limit.

For seventeen consecutive quarters, T-Mobile has experienced at least 1 million net additions per quarter, and since 2013, its revenue has increased by 118%. With access to big data, the wireless services company has been successful in making data-driven, tailored solutions for customers. While determining the ideal product or service that satisfies consumers is essential, a product (or service) match, exclusively, may not lead to meaningful consumer engagement. It is a mix of content and product that is the most effective way to engage with end users.

Bridging the Gap with Data Management

Having data is great, but in and of itself, data will not bridge the gap between retailers and prospective consumers. What matters most when it comes to engagement is personalization. In order to stimulate engagement, implementing a data management strategy is key to determining what end users primarily care about.

Black Friday and the competition for consumer attention are upon us. Retailers that implement data management strategies sooner rather than later will successfully discover what their consumers truly care about in time for the holiday shopping season. These retailers ultimately have a higher chance of not only reaching new sales heights this Black Friday but also reaching new sales heights every day.

Claim your piece of the pie this Black Friday through effective engagement, powered by an effective data management strategy.

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