Black Friday and Cyber Monday Digital Marketing Tips (2025)

From leveraging AI tools to launching campaigns sooner than you think, here’s how to make this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales your best yet.

Believe it or not, the holiday shopping season is (once again) just around the corner.

And, just like last year, Thanksgiving falls at the very end of November, meaning even less time for holiday season shoppers to cross off their lists.

For marketers, that means you should be planning your Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing campaigns not long after the Halloween decorations start to pop up.

To stay in the game and top of mind for your audience, now is the time to start promoting your products or services, whether you’re an ecommerce brand targeting online shoppers or a brick-and-mortar retailer looking to boost in-store traffic through digital advertising.

To make this year’s BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) your best sales days yet through strategic holiday marketing, we chatted with Bridget O’Toole, a team lead focused on small and medium businesses at HawkSEM.

She shares which tactics belong in your digital marketing strategy this holiday season, what missteps to avoid, and more.

Now is a great time to explore limited-time offers, if you haven’t already. (Image: AlexPhotoStock/Adobe)

7 digital marketing tactics for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Feeling overwhelmed? We get it! But time is of the essence when it comes to your PFCM strategy. Here are the top campaign elements that can set you up for success.

1. Social proof

This social psychology concept doubles as a popular digital marketing tool. Marketers can leverage it by using customers’ experiences to illustrate how your offering alleviates a pain point or solves a problem.

2. Limited-time offers

Now is a great time to explore LTOs, if you haven’t already. For example, adding a countdown timer to your site can show how much longer the deal will last in real-time, creating a sense of urgency and potentially boosting conversion rates.

3. Email marketing

Take advantage of your email list and share coupons and discounts via email campaigns. Just don’t forget that snappy, eye-catching subject line.

4. Gift guides

Online shopping can be overwhelming — that’s where curated gift guides come in. Your company can make its own guide, or you can try to get your product placed in a third party’s iteration; this off-page SEO method can introduce your brand to new customers and get more traffic to your online store in the process.

Further reading: 12 Holiday Ecommerce Tips for Your Best End-of-Year Sales Yet

5. Retargeting to foster loyal customers

It’s not just about expanding your customer base, of course. Don’t forget to retarget and remarket to your existing and past customers as well, through texts to their mobile devices, an email campaign, or display ads with product recommendations to go along with past purchases.

6. Landing page CTAs

Launching a sales event as part of your Black Friday marketing strategy? Make sure your landing pages highlight the next action you want visitors to take, whether it’s signing up for early access or a coupon code, completing a purchase by a certain time, or something more.

7. Social media promos

Since social media is one of the most cost-efficient avenues around when it comes to paid ads, don’t neglect to showcase those Cyber Monday deals through platforms like TikTok Shop, Instagram, and even through influencer partnerships or user-generated content if it makes sense for your brand.

Further reading: 5 Expert Strategies to Increase Average Order Value (AOV) + Industry Averages

While Black Friday is happening, it’s wise to conduct some competitor research to understand how others in your industry are positioning themselves and their products or services during this important time. (Image: Ashkan Forouzani/Unsplash.com)

6 expert tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in 2025

Now that we’ve explained the digital marketing tactics to employ during this busy sales season, we wanted to take things one step further.

These are the strategies our in-house expert recommends to end this year strong and exceed your EOY sales goals.

1. Start warming up your target audience in October

O’Toole recommends getting ahead of the game by warming up your audiences earlier (starting around October). “But push your largest offer week [to] Black Friday,” she adds,
since this is when most consumers are ready to commit to a sale.”

2. Engage both new and existing customers

To be sure you’re engaging with your existing customer base, “you can alert current customers through email marketing or texts of upcoming deals early,” suggests O’Toole.

“Warm up new audiences by pushing new creatives early for testing, and be sure that sales and timelines are clearly laid out,” she adds.

3. Make the checkout experience seamless

For ecommerce brands in particular, “make sure your checkout experience is easy,” says O’Toole. And “optimize for speed and mobile use,” she adds.

The last thing you want is to attract potential buyers to your product landing pages, only to end up with abandoned carts. Make the “buy now” process as quick and painless as possible through payment integrations with platforms like Apple Pay, Shop Pay, and Google Pay.

Pro tip: Looking for more inspo when it comes to companies properly leveraging their marketing strategies during these crucial shopping periods? “Amazon is always a brand that consistently stands out during holidays,” says O’Toole. “They offer clear deals and alert users of upcoming deals so people know they are getting the best prices.”

4. Don’t let the data slip away

We don’t need to tell you that customer data is highly valuable. When it comes to lead generation, “focus on the urgency of the sale, but be sure to capture the data that comes through in initial form fills to remarket to for the upcoming holiday season and into Q1,” O’Toole advises.

5. Leverage AI in beneficial ways

Since we’ll likely be seeing the use of AI everywhere this holiday season, O’Toole says you can use these artificial intelligence tools to your advantage, “from testing more personalized ad creatives that can be done at a larger scale to utilizing AI-powered chatbots for fast customer support directly on sites.”

She adds that platforms are leaning more into AI with more data behind customer intent and predicting shopping behavior.

6. Think beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Of course, the work isn’t over once these big online sales days end. From there, O’Toole says you should “take the data that you learn during that week and use it to continue testing for the upcoming holidays and insight for next year.”

While Black Friday is happening, it’s wise to conduct some competitor research to understand how others in your industry are positioning themselves and their products or services during this important time.

That way, you can bookmark ideas that could inspire campaigns next year so that, in O’Toole’s words, “you’re always learning and growing,” and positioning your brand for long-term success.

Further reading: Holiday Marketing: Trends, Predictions + Expert Insights

The takeaway

The holiday sales season can be stressful for any business. By planning ahead and leveraging cutting-edge strategies and tools, you can take some of the chaos out of your Q4, which frees you up to think ahead to what you want to accomplish next year, and how.

By employing the advice of our marketing expert and the research above, you can be set up to crush sales goals ahead of the holidays, giving you more time to focus on what matters to you —what could be a better gift than that?

Want to know more about how we can help you end the year strong (and start next year off on the right foot)? We’d love to chat.