“Cyber Monday was the top U.S. online spending day of 2014, ringing in at $2.038 billion.
The following Tuesday brought in an additional $1.796 billion in e-commerce dollars.”               —Simply Measured

Free shipping? A sale? Buy 1, get 1 free? Black Friday is November 27 and Cyber Monday is November 30. Black Friday, the day after the American Thanksgiving Day, is the first Christmas shopping day. Cyber Monday is the first Monday after Thanksgiving when online stores offer special prices or reduced shipping costs.

Planning

If you haven’t already, now is the time to plan. There are four steps to a good marketing plan: research, plan, execute, and evaluate. With the research you did last year, you can now plan your social media posts, website landing pages, and email promotions.

Develop a campaign with key points, hashtag, branded terms, and a “look” to your artwork. Establish a timeline: when do you send out the email blast? How often do you post on Facebook or Twitter? Don’t be afraid to start promoting now to let people know you have something big planned. Can you hint?

Coupon Code or Discount Code

Add a coupon code to your promotions to help measure the response. If your Facebook posts use one coupon code, and your Twitter feeds mention a different code, you’ll know which medium got the best results.

Social Media

Which social media platforms work best for you? Which days of the week worked best for your posts—weekdays or weekends? What style of post got the notice—photograph, illustration, or text? Do you have a link to your website’s landing page? Are you ready to sell?

Email Promotions

Send a newsletter or promotion by email? Do you have a link to your website’s landing page? What style of email promotion got the most opens?

Website

Is your landing page ready to take orders? Is there a link from your social media posts to your website’s landing page? Do you have links from your email promotions to your website’s landing page?