šŸ’ø Your Guide to BFCM

Hi! It's your BFF in biz exploring womenā€™s experiences in entrepreneurship, venture capital, personal finance, wealth & motherhood.

Hey! Itā€™s Doone, your hype girl in bizā€¦ Itā€™s basically October, and you know what that means ā€” BFCM is right around the corner. 60 days! So today Iā€™ve got your gem-packed survival guide handy. Keep readinā€™ to get:

  • āœØ A BFCM strategy that sold 250K units in 24 hrs

  • āœØ 7 simple ideas you can implement yourself with ease

  • āœØ Your budget-friendly guide to paid ads content

  • āœØ Another guide, but for emails this time

  • āœØ A practical checklist to get you started (I got you!)

  • āœØ But first: I need your help! šŸ‘‡

ICYMI: I need your help!

Last week I asked our community a simple question: Do you feel financially secure and independent? And what does being financially secure / independent actually mean to you?

For me personally, itā€™s a lot of things. Itā€™s a checklist of things like savings, super & other assets in my own name that Iā€™m building on. Itā€™s knowing the basics of how Iā€™m able to accrue wealth over the long term. Itā€™s understanding my super betterā€”jfyi mine is f*cked mine is after 8 years of no contributions working that compound magic šŸ’”. Itā€™s knowing my rights + what would happen if I got divorced (re our pre-nup). But itā€™s also a feeling. Like if my relationship ended tomorrow; am I good? If my biz failed all of a suddenā€¦. Can I pay my bills and buy food?

As someone who grew up dirt poor being raised by a single mum in the bush (yes, thatā€™s me in the pic!) Iā€™ve struggled with my financial āœØwellnessāœØ for sooo much of my life. And I know Iā€™m not alone in this. The response last week was an overwhelming no to feeling secure and independent.

Iā€™m exploring how we change the no to a yes. And with your help, I think we can do it togetherā€¦

So! If you missed the poll last week, Iā€™d love to know your answer to this simple question:

Do you feel financially secure & independent?

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What does Financial Security and Independence mean to you?

(When you click the poll it'll open a new window to share in your own words)

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I invite you to go deep in the extra comments field. The more the merrier when it comes to your juicy, rambling thoughts on this topic bcā€¦.

Thereā€™s a lot more to come on this, and I hope you stick around for the journey āœØ

The BFCM Strategy that Sold 250k Units in 24hā€¦

Alo Yoga sold 250,000(ish) units on Singles Day 2023, as part of their wider BFCM campaign. So ofc we jumped into Particl and took a closer look at their strategy and pulled out the key gems to consider as youā€™re mapping out your sales and promotions plan.

TLDR; They rolled out a tiered approach that kicked off a few weeks before BFCM, leveraging different discounts and offers across different products and categories.

Start Early with VIP Sales:

  • They launched with an exclusive VIP sale a few weeks out before Black Friday; rewarding loyal customers and start building excitement. The early hard launch created momentum and gave them an edge before the main event. (This is also a great way to encourage and incentivise folks to join your email list ahead of time!) 

Create More Moments:

  • They leveraged a popular date in the diaryā€”Singlesā€™ Day (Nov 11)ā€” to engage international customers with 30-70% discounts, and this created an insane (!!) mid-November sales boost of 250,000 units sold, ahead of BFCM.

Reserve Your Best Deals for BFCM:

  • The biggest discount offered was saved for the main event; BFCM, and this was applied to their top sellers and popular products over that main weekend. Reserve the best deals for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend to maintain a strong competitive edge over any earlier deals and bring your obsessed customers back in the loop.

Bundles, Baby! 

  • Alo Yoga doubled down on bundled complementary products to boost their AVO and it worked a treat!  

This is just the tip of the iceberg lettuce. If you want the full report that digs into different brands and categories relevant to you, grab your free copy below ā¬‡ļø

FREE TRIAL & 20% OFF:

šŸ‘‰ Get your free trial + 20% off your first month using ā€˜femalestartupclubā€™ at checkout here 

ACCESS THE FULL REPORT:

šŸ‘‰ Access the strategy in full and compare against other brands in your category here

Gold Tweets This Week šŸ’—

1/ There are 60 days until BFCM; hereā€™s what you can action right now:

1. Lead with your product (not just the sale) šŸŽÆ the sale is important, but whatā€™s most important is showcasing why your product is a must-have

2. Rebrand your fastest shipping option as ā€œBlack Friday RUSHā€ šŸ’Ø no need to adjust pricing but give it a new name that adds urgency - people love fast shipping, and they love it even more when it sounds exclusive

3. Add a link to your announcement bar with your #1 converting product āœØ if thereā€™s one thing you highlight in that announcement bar, make it your top-converting product - clear, concise, and primed to drive conversions

4. Add a subtle BFCM touch to your pop-ups šŸŽ keep your pop-ups clean and focused with just a hint of Black Friday, think of it as a festive little nudge

5. Edit product names to highlight the BFCM offer šŸ‘€ let your customers see the sale right in the product names (a quick way to grab attention and show the value upfront)

6. Use ā€œWelcome backā€ personalisations for returning customers šŸ‘‹ make your customers feel special with a personalised touch, little ā€œwelcome backā€ goes a long way!

7. Brand your best-performing post-purchase upsells for BFCM šŸ¤¶ take your top-performing upsells and give them a BFCM twist

2/ 2024 is the year of evergreen ads:

Evergreen ads + your BFCM offer? Chefā€™s kiss. I love a lazy(ish) girl tip that both works and makes our lives a whole lot easier. (Especially if youā€™re already at capacity and frizzled.)

Heading into BFCM, instead of over investing into new BFCM specific content; consider whether your evergreen ads can do the heavy lifting. These are your ads that have been running year-round, arenā€™t tied to any season, and perform best because theyā€™re optimized to speak directly to your audience any time.

For BFCM, just layer on your discount or offer inside the copyā€”there ā€˜s no need to reinvent the wheel!

3/ Your email strategy right this way šŸ‘‡

Thereā€™s a big difference between maximising sales opportunities and spam, and I love it when we have a tried and tested approach you can literally copy paste on. Youā€™re welcome!

Your Highly Practical BFCM Checklist āœ…

This is for anyone already feeling overwhelmed on the practical steps to start. Donā€™t worry, I got youā€¦.. Copy and paste this into a spreadsheet, add in check boxes and start working your way through.

āœ… Identify Key Products & Discounts

  • Top Sellers & High-Margin Items: Choose products to focus on.

  • Set Discount Tiers: VIP: 20-30%, Singles' Day: 30-70%, BFCM: 40-50%. Balance offers with profitability.

āœ… Build Your Promo Calendar

  • Start Early: VIP sales 2-3 weeks before Black Friday.

  • Leverage Singles' Day (Nov 11): To engage international buyers.

  • Main Event (BFCM): Reserve best deals for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

āœ… Prepare Marketing Assets

  • Email: Draft and schedule email sequences for VIP, Singles' Day, and BFCM.

  • Social Media: Plan and schedule posts to build hype.

  • Paid Ads: Tweak (or create) ads in advance for Meta, TikTok, Google, etc.

āœ… Finalize Budget & Allocate Resources

  • EG Potential Budget Breakdown:

    • 30-40% on paid ads (Meta, Google, TikTok).

    • 20% on email.

    • 20% on influencer campaigns.

    • 10-20% for testing and adjustments.

āœ… Launch & Monitor

  • Daily Tracking: Keep an eye on sales, traffic, and ad spend.

  • Adjust if Needed: If a campaign underperforms, shift focus or offers.

āœ… Post-BFCM Actions

  • Last-Chance Deals: Offer follow-up sales for cart abandoners or late shoppers.

  • Analyze Results: Gather insights to refine strategies for next year (this is key!)

If youā€™ve got a question or thought youā€™re noodling over; simply hit reply and drop directly into my inbox šŸ™‚ 

Extra Stuff to Check Out šŸ‘€

šŸ’ø Spark Business is opening their $5,000 grant contest back up in November for women in business in Aus, NZ or Singapore | stay in the know!

šŸ©· I got so much from this roadmap digging through all the winning gems & trends to maximise success over the BFCM weekend 

  • Ami ColĆ© secures Lā€™OrĆ©al investment & expands at Sephora

  • VC has a sexual harassment problem, is this the solution?

  • Amazonā€™s ā€˜Shark Tankā€™ show gives winners top billing in store

  • Creator Denise Vasi introduces lip-care brand Maed

  • Gen-Z skin-care favourite Bubble expands to Australia

  • Reddit launches smart tool to showcase top-performing ads

  • What are your bets on Moo Deng Makeup happening?

  • TikTok launches expanded subs feature for creators

  • The full low-down of what happened with 23AndMe

  • These are 19 of the best female early-stage investors

  • Stitch Fix's stock is on pace for its worst drop ever

Female-founded āœØremote jobsāœØ 

Secure a paying gig that supports your financial needs and allows you to invest in your biz from a place of āœØabundanceāœØ rather than scarcity ā€”right hereā€”šŸ‘‡

REMOTE šŸļø

  • Oula Health, redesigning maternity care from the ground up, is hiring a Vice President of Central Operations to join the team | APPLY HERE.

  • Childrenā€™s activities startup Wagmo is hiring a Product Manager to join their fully remote team in the US | APPLY HERE.

PART-TIME ā³

  • 35MM Co. is on the hunt for a TikTok Content Creator to come and join the team over in NYC or Melbourne | APPLY HERE.

  • & so is Meke Baby! Theyā€™d love someone Melbourne-based to join their mission on TikTok for 10hrs / week | APPLY HERE.

āœØ Hold up! Whatā€™d you think of this email? (tap an image & let me know)

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