Hey! It’s Doone, your hype girl in biz… It’s basically October, and you know what that means — BFCM is right around the corner. 60 days! So today I’ve got your gem-packed survival guide handy. Keep readin’ to get:

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

• ✨ 7 simple ideas you can implement yourself with ease

• ✨ Your budget-friendly guide to paid ads content

• ✨ Another guide, but for emails this time

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

• ✨ But first: I need your help! 👇

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, it’s a lot of things. It’s a checklist of things like savings, super & other assets in my own name that I’m building on. It’s knowing the basics of how I’m able to accrue wealth over the long term. It’s understanding my super better—jfyi mine is f*cked mine is after 8 years of no contributions working that compound magic 💔. It’s knowing my rights + what would happen if I got divorced (re our pre-nup). But it’s also a feeling. Like if my relationship ended tomorrow; am I good? If my biz failed all of a sudden…. 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, that’s me in the pic!) I’ve struggled with my financial ✨wellness✨ for sooo much of my life. And I know I’m not alone in this. The response last week was an overwhelming no to feeling secure and independent.

I’m exploring how we change the no to a yes. And with your help, I think we can do it together…

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

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 bc….

There’s a lot more to come on this, and I hope you stick around for the journey ✨

The BFCM Strategy that Sold 250k Units in 24h…

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 you’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 diary—Singles’ Day (Nov 11)— 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 ⬇️

Gold Tweets This Week 💗

1/ There are 60 days until BFCM; here’s what you can action right now:

1. Lead with your product (not just the sale) 🎯 the sale is important, but what’s most important is showcasing why your product is a must-have

2. Rebrand your fastest shipping option as “Black Friday RUSH” 💨 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 ✨ if there’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 🎁 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 👀 let your customers see the sale right in the product names (a quick way to grab attention and show the value upfront)

6. Use “Welcome back” personalisations for returning customers 👋 make your customers feel special with a personalised touch, little “welcome back” goes a long way!

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

2/ 2024 is the year of evergreen ads:

Evergreen ads + your BFCM offer? Chef’s kiss. I love a lazy(ish) girl tip that both works and makes our lives a whole lot easier. (Especially if you’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, aren’t tied to any season, and perform best because they’re optimized to speak directly to your audience any time.

For BFCM, just layer on your discount or offer inside the copy—there ‘s no need to reinvent the wheel!

3/ Your email strategy right this way 👇

There’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. You’re welcome!

Your Highly Practical BFCM Checklist ✅

This is for anyone already feeling overwhelmed on the practical steps to start. Don’t worry, I got you….. Copy and paste this into a spreadsheet, add in check boxes and start working your way through.

✅ 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.

✅ 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.

✅ 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.

✅ 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.

✅ Launch & Monitor

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

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

✅ 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 you’ve got a question or thought you’re noodling over; simply hit reply and drop directly into my inbox 🙂 

Extra Stuff to Check Out 👀

• Ami Colé secures L’Oréal investment & expands at Sephora

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

• Amazon’s ‘Shark Tank’ 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 ✨remote jobs✨ 

Secure a paying gig that supports your financial needs and allows you to invest in your biz from a place of ✨abundance✨ rather than scarcity —right here—👇

REMOTE 🏝️

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

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

PART-TIME ⏳

• 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! They’d love someone Melbourne-based to join their mission on TikTok for 10hrs / week | APPLY HERE.

✨ Hold up! What’d you think of this email? (tap an image & let me know)