Most of us treat Black Friday like a last-minute thought. We wait until the week before and throw an offer together.

The last-minute Black Friday offer

As small business owners, you’re probably already undercharging. Then Black Friday comes along, and you offer a huge discount on top of that.

If you do, and think it will work out later, stop!

Discounts only work on people who already want it

Discounts only matter to people who already want the thing. When somebody on your list isn’t sure what your offer does, or why it would help them, a lower price doesn’t change that. It just makes something they don’t quite understand a bit cheaper.

A few weeks ago I wrote about putting an offer out there, hearing nothing back and wondering if it was a bad idea. It’s the same thing happening here. In both cases, people never heard enough about the offer to want it.

People buy on Black Friday when they already know what they’d be buying.

Think about the last thing you bought on sale. You didn’t buy it because it was cheaper. You bought it because you’d already been eyeing it, and the sale gave you a reason to stop waiting. That’s the job the discount does. It can’t do the wanting for them.

Black Friday for small business starts with your emails

So use your emails this month, even if you only send a couple before the 27th. Pick the one thing you plan to put on sale, and talk about the problem it helps with. What does that problem look like in your customers’ week, and what changes once it’s sorted?

Put a link in each email so people can find it, and keep the focus on the problem. By the time the sale email shows up, more of your list will know what it is and why they might want it, and the discount has a much better chance of doing its job.

A few emails is enough

You don’t need extra emails or a big launch plan for this. A few emails between now and the 27th is enough.