Make the Most of This Year’s Black Friday with Drive-to-Store Advertising

With the holidays right around the corner, advertisers are considering the best channels to drive in-store while promoting their Black Friday deals. But with the serious impact that the pandemic has had on store openings, inventory, and hours, getting people to visit has become a challenge. 

But people are still planning to do their holiday shopping, both in-person and online. According to eMarketer, US brick-and-mortar retail for this holiday will still reach $822.79 billion. This year, we will also see US retail eCommerce sales will jump 35.8% to $190.47 billion. The highest traffic shopping days will be Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

While 60% of US internet shoppers stated they would be shopping online this season, 45% said they would be doing their shopping in department stores, 30% in clothing and accessories stores, 23% in small business shops, and 21% would shop primarily in electronic stores. 

We know that online shopping is going to see a massive increase this year, accelerated by the pandemic, but that doesn’t mean brands with physical locations should completely ignore the in-store shopping experience. This year, brands need to be smarter about the way they target their customers so they can effectively convert them to an in-store visit. Drive-to-store advertising can be extremely powerful when done strategically and properly. 

Here are three things brands should consider to increase consumer visits on Black Friday. 

1. SMART LOCATION TARGETING 

There are several ways that a brand can leverage smart location targeting to drive the right consumers into their stores, restaurants, or dealerships. The key is working with a vendor that is able to effectively do it. 

• Target consumers by their drive time or walk time to your store. 
• • By targeting based on the user’s travel time, you can maximize your media spend by setting an appropriate travel time to each of your stores. This is especially relevant when you are considering an urban versus suburban location when the difference between driving distance and walking distance is crucial. 
• Target higher affinity areas 
  • By targeting neighborhoods with higher affinity or likeness to your already consumers, you can reach zones with a large volume of potential shoppers. The trick is being able to find a partner that can discover and detect the affinity of the surrounding areas of your store locations. 
• Leverage geo-conquesting to target your competition’s shoppers
  • Use competitive conquesting capabilities to reach shoppers seen at stores with similar branding and products. Doing this allows you to capture your competitor’s customers because you can target the areas around their locations as well as their high-affinity zones in proximity to your stores. 

 

2. DYNAMIC & INNOVATIVE CREATIVES 

At Locala, we know that an advertising campaign can be much more than just an ad with the right creative format. That’s why this year it will be especially crucial to use the right format when delivering your messages to consumers. You want to make it as easy as possible for the user, whether that be providing them with real-time directions to your store, or reminding them of Black Friday deals. Here are a few Locala creatives that will allow for easy conversion from impression to visit. 

• Store Locator 
  • With the Store Locator creative, brands can Integrate the address of their nearest store, which will help maximize the chances of visits, guiding your potential customer with real-time directions to your closest location. 

• Multistore DCO
  • The Multistore DCO format allows your brand to promote a selection of stores, sorted by physical proximity to shoppers’ location. This format is great for busy consumers who want to choose the store best suiting their shopping journey.

• Countdown 
  • Using the Countdown means that you can create a sense of urgency among shoppers, highlighting the time away from Black Friday, making it ideal for the holiday season. 

• Real-Time Add-On
  • Leverage the Real-time format to remind your audience it’s time to shop on the day of the event. This format is ideal for moment marketing campaigns and timed promotions such as Black Friday deals. 

 

3. AN OMNICHANNEL APPROACH 

It’s true that cohesive omnichannel campaigns perform better than advertising on one channel alone. Studies have shown that executing an omnichannel strategy for an advertising campaign has almost 3x higher engagement rates than from one single channel. This Black Friday, make sure that you’re speaking to your consumers through different channels so you can extend your reach and reinforce your message. This year make sure you are working with a drive-to-store partner that can execute your campaign across several relevant channels. With the effectiveness of CTV and DOOH in captivating people with your brand’s message, desktop has one of the largest reaches for an ad campaign. And while these channels are great at capturing user attention, don’t forget that mobile is still the primary device for consumer time spent. By coupling these other channels with a mobile-focused approach, your brand can reinforce your Black Friday story in the most powerful way, converting users to store visitors. 

Learn more about key strategies and tactics for boosting consumer in-store visits with Locala’s The Drive-to-Store Handbook. Download here.