The fierce competition for consumer attention during Black Friday can be intimidating for small entrepreneurs seeking to stand out amidst large retailers and massive advertising campaigns. However, with a well-crafted strategy, small businesses can also carve out their space in the digital world and stand out amidst the competition.

To help with this mission, Philippe Capouillez, CEO of Sioux Digital 1:1, shares five practical, effective and affordable digital marketing tips for small entrepreneurs who want to shine during this period of high demand:

Tip 1: Invest in low-cost retargeting

Use accessible tools, such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads, to create retargeting campaigns aimed at recent visitors to your website or those who abandoned their cart. These campaigns can be set up with a reduced budget and help to "re-engage" customers who have already shown interest, increasing the chances of conversion with controlled investment.

Retargeting is a digital marketing strategy aimed at reconnecting and engaging users who have already interacted with your website, app, or social media but have not completed a desired action, such as making a purchase. The idea is to remind these potential clients about your brand and encourage them to return and complete the action. Retargeting is especially useful for small entrepreneurs during Black Friday, as it helps convert visitors who have already shown interest but, for some reason, have not yet made a purchase decision.

Tip 2: Create simple and efficient landing pages

Even with limited resources, you can create landing pages specific to your Black Friday offers using affordable or even free platforms like Wix, WordPress, or even Linktree. Make sure the page is clear and straightforward, with a focus on discounts and prominently visible call-to-action buttons. This offers a quick and efficient shopping experience, which is essential to win customers during Black Friday.

Tip 3: Automate your Email Marketing with free or low-cost tools

Tools like Mailchimp and MailerLite offer free or low-cost plans for small businesses. Set up simple automations to send emails reminding customers of offers, abandoned carts, and exclusive opportunities. Customizing these emails, even with few details, shows attention and can increase engagement rates.

Tip 4: Invest in paid ads on social media with local targeting

If your target audience is more local or regional, focus on paid ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram with geographic targeting. With a limited budget, you can reach potential nearby customers by highlighting promotions and building a connection with the local community. Short and creative videos are great for generating engagement and capturing attention.

Tip 5: Use organic and interactive content to create anticipation

You can create countdown and "sneak peek" content organically, at no cost, on social media. Use resources like Stories and Reels on Instagram to share short videos of the products or answer questions about the offers. Encourage your followers to interact with polls and question stickers, creating a sense of exclusivity and urgency with your promotions.

Bonus tip: invest in Influencer Marketing with micro influencers

Small entrepreneurs can benefit from influencer marketing during Black Friday by investing in partnerships with micro-influencers, who have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers and are usually more financially accessible. Micro-influencers have a closer connection with their audience, resulting in higher engagement and credibility in their recommendations. Thus, even with a limited budget, you can reach an audience interested in your product or service. But be careful: choose your micro-influencers wisely and research each one's reputation before associating your brand with the digital content creator.

Black Friday is consolidating itself as one of the most important dates in global commerce. A Ponto Map survey in partnership with V-Tracker reveals that 61% of Brazilians are preparing to buy on the date, reinforcing its relevance in the market. These data not only indicate a strategic opportunity for companies to increase their sales and strengthen their relationship with consumers but also highlight the need to adapt to the current scenario. With digitalization on the rise and changing consumption habits, especially after the pandemic, the competitive edge goes beyond attractive offers.

According to Clicksign's CTO, Cristian Medeiros, companies now need to adopt innovative solutions that, in addition to maximizing revenue, enhance the shopping experience, promote customer loyalty, and stand out in a challenging market. "This context reinforces the importance of optimizing processes and investing in advanced technologies that address retail challenges and promote sustainable growth," he comments.

Below, we highlight seven essential tools that enhance these results, helping companies stand out during Black Friday:

Loyalty, cashback and customer retention programs

A IZIO&CoIt is the most comprehensive promotional efficiency solution for the retail chain in Brazil. With the purpose of making retail easier and more profitable, the startup offers products focused on profitability, such as Cashback+, a customized app for retailers, in addition to the Mangos cashback app, which puts the industry in direct contact with the end consumer. A survey by the company indicates that retail networks that already have cashback as part of their sales strategy experience an 85% increase in shopper spending, generating an additional revenue of R$ 883,400 for every 1,000 engaged customers. During Black Friday, initiatives like this prove crucial to boost sales and strengthen customer retention, maximizing results in one of the most competitive retail periods.

Electronic signature to optimize business relations

A Clicksign, a company that materializes relationships between people and businesses in the digital environment, stands out as a strategic solution for corporations seeking to optimize their processes during Black Friday. With tools like electronic signature and acceptance via WhatsApp, the startup enables companies to conduct transactions more simply, securely, and quickly, meeting the demand for agility and streamlining. These solutions not only facilitate the formalization of contracts and agreements but also offer a smooth and efficient shopping experience for consumers. By driving revenue generation through 100% digital processes, Clicksign helps companies stand out during one of the busiest retail periods, strengthening their business relationships and improving customer satisfaction.

Digital asset management for governance in the positivity and go-to-market process

Yapoli, a reference in digital asset management in Brazil, offers a platformDAM (Digital Asset Management)Essential for brands seeking to save and optimize their campaigns during Black Friday. Yapoli's technology centralizes, organizes, and categorizes videos, photos, and documents, allowing for the customization of access permissions according to the user's role, ensuring governance and cybersecurity. O DAM provides a four-hour weekly savings in manual processes, optimizing up to 80% of the advertising action development cycle. With a potential 200% increase in return on investment (ROI), the tool demonstrates how innovation in digital asset management can transform the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing strategies, boosting the success of campaigns during the sales season.

Automation of the corporate task cycle by 50%

A OpenPrincipal consultancy capable of solving automation and acceleration of digital strategies for companies in Brazil, assisting in the implementation of digitization of processes and projects in an intuitive and personalized way, with a focus on total experience and hyperautomation. With AI-based solutions, the consultancy is capable of automating up to 50% or more of the corporations' task cycle through the ServiceNow platform, optimizing workflows. Eliminating manual and repetitive tasks makes structures more agile and efficient, contributing to the reduction of operational costs and allowing employees to focus on more strategic activities that add value to the business, such as data analysis and decision-making, which is essential to maximize results and meet the high demand of Black Friday.

Management of corporate expenses and strategic campaigns

In expense management, theSimple Accountoffers the ability to organize and manage expenses more efficiently. With this approach, it is possible to allocate resources accurately by department or category, providing a clear view of the areas with the highest expenditure and identifying optimization opportunities. For Black Friday, the company launched a free campaign, the “Prepara Black Friday”, focusing on helping companies boost their revenue on one of the most anticipated dates for commerce. The action offers free classes, cashback, and free access to the platform.AdSimples- a solution that allows selecting validated audiences, pausing low-performance campaigns, and scaling the best ones with a single click. It is ideal for companies looking to sell more with a more robust and effective advertising strategy.

On-demand job app to help e-commerce sales

According to a study by the marketing platform Haus, Black Friday 2024 is expected to see a 14% increase in order volume. In other words, temporary professionals will be essential to handle the higher demand. In this scenario, the rewarded service platform,Mission Brazil, it presents itself as a solution for brands. With over 800,000 registered users, the tool allows companies to connect with people seeking on-demand work. One of these "missions" is the shoppers, people responsible for making in-store purchases for customers from digital channels, who in the past year helped generate an economy of approximately R$5 million for e-commerce platforms, according to the app's survey. This is because, with Mission, there is no need for companies to hire employees or specialized third-party companies in the shopper service, which would be more costly for the brands.

Support with affiliate and influencer marketing on Black Friday

Affiliate and influencer marketing are the major trends for Black Friday 2024, which this year is also expected to be supported by artificial intelligence. It is at this point that startups like Social Soul/Lomadee and Montify, belonging toA&EIGHT,They can collaborate, as they are focused on the relationship between brands, influencers, and affiliates, facilitating the connection between companies and content creators – topics that are so essential to the retail market. According to a report by Admitad, the number of affiliates in Brazil increased by 8% in 2023 alone and was responsible for 43% of retail sales that year. When it comes to influencers, Brazil dominates the topic, being the country with the highest number of "influencers" in the world, according to a Nielsen study.

With the increasing digitalization and interconnection of devices, cyber threats have become increasingly sophisticated and varied, posing a significant challenge to consumers and businesses around the world.

A survey commissioned by Mastercard from Datafolha reveals that seven out of ten Brazilians have already suffered some digital threat, and 13% have already had their data leaked.

Also according to the edition of the “Digital Security Barometer”, released in 2024, 64% of Brazilian companies are the target of fraud and digital attacks with medium or high frequency, which represents a growth of 7% compared to the first edition of the study, released in 2021.

“The second half of the year is a period in which online shopping is intensified, due to dates such as Children's Day, Black Friday and end-of-year festivities. Therefore, it is necessary to be extra careful”, says José Luiz Assoni Jr., Solutions Integrator Analyst Master at Softtek Brasil, a leading multinational in the IT sector in Latin America.

Some of the most common cyber threats when shopping online are:

• Phishing: uma isca digital onde criminosos encaminham e-mails ou mensagens como sendo de empresas confiáveis para enganar o consumidor e roubar suas informações pessoais;
• Payment information theft: Criminals use techniques such as fake websites or data interception to capture consumers' credit or debit card information during an online purchase;
• Fake websites: fake copies of legitimate online stores, created to collect consumers' personal and financial data and make fraudulent purchases in their name;
• Attacks ofMan-in-the-Middle: in this modality, criminals insert themselves into the communication between the consumer and the website to intercept and steal their confidential information, such as passwords and payment details;
• SQL Injection: A hacking technique that allows criminals to manipulate a website's databases to steal personal information or even take control of the website;
• Credit card fraud: a consumer's credit card data can be used to make unauthorized purchases, even if the consumer has not provided this information directly to a malicious website;
• Credential theft: Criminals collect stolen passwords from different websites and try to use them on other platforms to access users' accounts.

“These cyber threats exploit users’ trust to gain unauthorized access to personal and financial information. It is essential to be aware of these practices and adopt security measures to protect your data when shopping online,” explains Assoni.

How to protect yourself

Below, the executive lists some tips for consumers to protect themselves from these threats:

· Check the authenticity of the website: confirm the address and look for security seals;

· Use secure connections: avoid public Wi-Fi and prefer HTTPS;

· Create strong and unique passwords: use complex passwords and enable two-step authentication;

· Keep your software up to date: install security updates;

· Use an antivirus: keep your antivirus updated and perform regular scans;

· Be wary of very good offers: if it seems unrealistic, it probably is;

· Do not click on suspicious links: avoid links from unknown sources;

· Use a virtual credit card: protect yourself when shopping online;

· Monitor your accounts: review statements to detect fraud;

· Make regular backups: ensure that your data is backed up.

Assoni also warns about the role that social networks play in spreading fraud, especially during Black Friday, and how consumers can protect themselves.

“Social media plays a crucial role, both positive and negative, during Black Friday. Among the main scams that spread on social media during this period are misleading ads and promotions, malicious links, fake profiles and stores, phishing scams and fraudulent sweepstakes. In addition, there may be social engineering, which manipulates consumers into handing over confidential information,” warns the executive.

“To avoid these scams, consumers can perform some practices such as checking the store’s reputation and reading reviews from other consumers, as well as manually entering the store’s website in the browser and checking HTTPS, confirming whether the site has a security padlock. I also recommend using secure payment methods, which have some protection factor, such as multifactor authentication and tokenization”, recommends Assoni.

It is worth noting that online retailers must also take steps to protect consumer data and ensure secure transactions.

“Online security involves everything from technical data protection to staff awareness and transparency with customers. Some measures that online retailers can take to protect their consumers are encryption, protecting sensitive data during transmission using HTTPS, obtaining certifications and seals that prove the security of the website, keeping it always updated and monitored in order to correct possible flaws, in addition to detecting and blocking suspicious activities”, he concludes.