Tactical Advice and Strategies to Consider For Black Friday/ Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2024 with Meta Ads
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Mastering BFCM: Start Early, Stay Simple, and Maximize Data
As Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) approach, one thing remains clear: timing is everything. From our deep dive with Foxwell Founders members this year, one theme kept surfacing—starting your campaigns early and running them for longer is the game-changer.
Start Early, Win Big
Brands that consistently see growth during BFCM are the ones that begin their promotions ahead of time. Whether it’s a site-wide sale, a holiday bundle, or an exclusive early-bird deal, getting in front of your audience early gives you the edge.
As Phil Kiel, one of our Founder members, said: “Every time we go earlier with brands, it’s just a lot easier to hit the target.” The takeaway? Don’t wait for the holiday rush—plant the seed now, and reap the benefits when the competition heats up. Also, the earlier your sale is, the less competition you’ll have, and the less that someone will have already bought for that person that your product would be PERFECT for.
Optimize Your Funnel Before the Rush
Early timing isn’t just about launching promotions—it’s about priming your funnel. If you aren’t growing your email list, nurturing retargeting audiences, and boosting engagement before November, hitting your targets will be tough.
Year after year, one mistake stands out: relying too much on new customer acquisition at the last minute. BFCM should be about converting warm audiences, not scrambling for all (and only) new leads of customers who have never heard of you before. As Shane Cicero from our team points out, “Frequency is massively increased, cost per reach has gone up, so we’re reaching fewer people.” In other words, if top-of-funnel traffic is getting expensive, now’s the time to focus on retargeting and refining your email and SMS strategies.
Use Gifting to Power Your Creative
When it comes to BFCM creative, simplicity and strategy matter. A rising trend is evergreen gifting creative—subtle, gift-focused messaging rather than overloading your audience with "SALE" offers. Highlight your products as thoughtful gifts with a purpose. Let your creators suggest ideas like, “I bought this for my partner, and they loved it.”
This soft-sell approach can drive conversions when the big sale finally drops. As Courtney Fritts from our team notes, the more you make the customer feel like it was their idea to buy, the higher the likelihood they’ll convert. Remove the pressure to “buy now” and inspire them through authentic recommendations from people and brands like them.
Retargeting: Your BFCM MVP
When BFCM hits, shift your focus to more retargeting than you would throughout the rest of the year. This means warm audiences you’ve nurtured all year and/or higher ASC Existing Customer Budget caps. Make sure those who want to see your offer… see your best offers. As Phil Kiel points out, “Why go out and find constantly new impressions during Black Friday when you’ve already spent all year building up your funnel?” We’ve seen some brands allocate up to 80% of their budget on retargeting during BFCM’s first few days, maximizing reach without wasting ad spend on cold audiences. (Pro tip: just check the frequency if you do this! For a retargeting campaign during BFCM, likely anything over 5x during that 4-day window is as much as you want before turning the budget down)
Keep Creative Simple (and Ugly)
When it comes to BFCM creative, less is often more. “The best-performing ad I’ve had for the last three Black Fridays is just a simple graphic that says ‘Black Friday,’” says Courtney Fritts. No fancy designs needed—just a clear, direct message. Also - the less branding, the better. People don’t care about your brand standards, pretty fonts and colors during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They care about how much they’re able to save. Capitalize on that!
In high-stakes sales periods like BFCM, the goal isn’t to impress with design; it’s to communicate value fast. Sometimes the simplest, even “ugly” graphics outperform sleek, complex ones with tiny text.
Use top-performers from throughout the year
Whether it’s your best campaign, your best account structure, audience targeting, offers, or creatives — this is the time to pull out the best of the best. Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend is not the time to test a new setup or bid type that you’ve heard is working for someone else’s account. Lean into what’s worked for you all year and reap the benefits of your own data.
For creative, consider using a best-performing evergreen ad as-is and have your sale offer on the Home page or landing page. Or, use that same winning creative with a Black Friday or sale banner or text overlay. Maybe use the same creative, but change the ad copy to mention the sale. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel come sale time. In fact, we HIGHLY recommend you don’t. Use what you know works and use your account’s data to your advantage. The AI and Meta’s data knows what type of customer is going to convert if you’ve been spending ad dollars all year. Use that to your advantage!
The Bottom Line
As you gear up for BFCM, focus on early timing, effective retargeting, and straightforward creative. By refining your strategy and maximizing your reach with warm audiences, you’ll set yourself up for a successful holiday season. Remember, BFCM is a marathon, not a sprint—start early, stay consistent, use what you know, and the rewards will follow.