Black Friday is just around the corner (3 weeks away)! It’s one of the busiest days of the year for dealerships because so many people are trying to take advantage of Black Friday car deals. If you can go into Black Friday with a well-thought-out strategy, you can make this year's Black Friday your best one yet. In this article, we’re going to talk about five things you should do to get your dealership ready for Black Friday. 

1. Market Your Promotions Early

In more recent years, we’re seeing businesses in all industries start marketing and offering their promotions way before Black Friday on November 25th. If you want to make some noise about your offering, you should start promoting at least 2-3 weeks in advance. This means covering all of your platforms: paid ads, social media, your website, email marketing and any other forms of marketing/advertising that you do. It’s especially important to mix up how you do your marketing so your customers aren’t seeing the same copy and designs over and over again. Don’t be afraid to have fun with it and get creative with your team to raise awareness about your Black Friday deals!

2. Use Video to Promote

Today, across many social media platforms, videos are being pushed more for viewing than photos/graphics in the algorithms. While we’re not saying this means you shouldn’t use photos on social media, we are saying you should harness the power of video. Everyone has a powerful video camera on their cellphone, so the only thing holding you back from doing this is yourself. Whether you’re showing off inventory, explaining a new promotion, introducing a team member or simply making a video to get a laugh out of your viewers, video is a critical component of dealership marketing. 

3. Show Off Your Inventory 

The third thing you need to do to prepare and promote your dealership is show off the inventory you have. We know the inventory shortage has been tough on dealers but it’s important to show off everything you have. Takes photos and do video walkthroughs of the vehicles and get them published both on your website and across social media. Once again, don’t be afraid to get creative with it. Simple car walkarounds are great, but if you can incorporate a humorous or creative angle to show off your inventory, you’ll draw more attention. 

4. Increase Your Paid Ad Spend

When Black Friday comes around, people are in the mood to buy things so you need to ensure you’re advertising is being viewed. The best way to be sure your promotions and advertisements are being viewed is by using paid ads, be it on Facebook, Google or Youtube. It’s a good idea to increase your ad spend during the Black Friday lead-up. You don’t need to spend a crazy amount but if you’re able to create effective ads, the increased ad spend should pay dividends. 

5. Ensure Your Website is Optimized

The last thing you need to do before considering yourself prepped for Black Friday is make sure your website works well and is organized. All of your marketing efforts should increase the traffic to your website so you need to be sure you’re website is working properly and is easy to navigate. You can do this by simply browsing through your site ensuring that there are no road blocks or dead ends. On top of this, ensure that every single vehicle you have on your lot is listed on your website. Don’t lose out on a sales opportunity because you take a week to upload a new trade-in to your website.