We’ve had Friday, November 24th, circled on our calendars since January.

For us, Black Friday is the final big push of the year before we start to unwind and turn our heads towards secret Santa’s, last-minute shopping and BBQ’s.

It's an opportunity to bring in new customers, clear old stock, and plug any cash flow gaps that the inevitable January slump brings. It's also pretty damn nice knowing that for a few days at least - making payroll won’t be an issue.

So, over the next couple of weeks, as we gear up for Black Friday, we’re going to share what’s worked for us in the past, some new things we’re trying this year and a couple of other related thoughts.

This weeks we’re looking at:

• Our Rugby Bricks Black Friday Ad 🎥 

• The Dropshipper’s pricing rule💲

This Ad Made Us $60,000 Last Year

Our goal this year is to double our Black Friday record again and sell over $100,000 worth of Rugby Bricks product during the 7 days surrounding Black Friday.

Our #1 tool for making this happen (beyond our actual number 1 tool, which is our audience) will be our Black Friday Ads.

Here is a breakdown of the exact ad we will be running this year.

URGENCY

Good ad copy creates a sense of urgency, or as the youngsters call it, FOMO. It sounds cheesy, but wording like:

“Don’t miss out”

“Only 72 hours left”

“Once a year deal”

Really does work.

RELEVANCY

Don’t ask me why, but if you run, say a "25th birthday sale" in the middle of Black Friday week - even with the exact same offer, your ads will attract significantly less action.

They need to be relevant.

We use Headings, Colouring and Creative to make it obvious that our ads are about Black Friday.

TRUST

If your offer includes products or services with positive online reviews or endorsements - use them. Trust builders remove risk from your customers buying decision.

In our ad, we show the 100+ 5-star reviews our kicking tees have received online through-out the entire video.

THE OFFER

Lastly, Black Friday brings a level of expectation with it. “10% off” won’t cut it.

Go big or go home - with the exception of maybe boxing day - this has to be your best offer this year.

We’ll be doing a Buy One Get One (BOGO) offer which is the less tacky version of 50% off.

Notes:

Re-iterating on that point. Your offer matters more than anything else here. You can’t make honey out of dogshit… or something like that.

Also - Black Friday isn’t just for Ecom brands. A service provider will have to get a little more creative but the opportunity is definitely there.

The DropShipper’s Rule

Rugby Bricks Black Fridays have been uber-successful to date. But for another company we meander in - Compound (A Dunedin Gym), they've been a complete flop.

And it's not because one is an e-commerce brand and the other a service provider.

….

A few years back, I wasted weeks in the murky world of YouTube dropshipping content. And while looking back on it, I was mainly there for a bit of side-hustle-porn motivation during a time when my main thing was failing.

I did learn something about price points.

Virtually all of these dropshipper-cum-content-creators talked about how vital your price point is when running direct response ads (like what we're doing for Black Friday).

Back then (before regulators got hooked on ZIRP & inflation became real), they preached that selling anything above $120 was a no-go.

Even legit ones, like Biaheza, who made verified millions from dropshipping, hasn't been able to successfully sell products at prices beyond this invisible ceiling.

The reason is the dropshipper's direct response ad relies on impulse buying. After all, who scrolls their Facebook feed looking for dog ramps?... yet this fella has sold $35 million of them.

The same principle applies to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all the days between. No matter what you're selling, you'll struggle with direct response ads if you price yourself outside that sweet spot.

Last year at World - we created a ridiculous bundle offer - it was something like 75% off - and we sold none. Because $500 was way too much to expect people to part with on a whim.

This year, we'll stick to this rule and see what happens.