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What to post on Black Friday

You can't out-cut the big shops, so don't try. Offer the one thing they can't: a gift card, at a small premium, from a real person.

Fri 27 Nov 2026the date 61 days to gofrom today 21 daysthe run-up
Pick your days and we write your own guide. Your first plan is free.
The run-up

Every day between now and then that is worth a post

Not one a day. These are the ones that do a job. What each is for is underneath it.

Fri 6 Nov 21 days before Say what you're doing Post what you've got planned, and say outright that it isn't money off. Setting that expectation now stops you being measured against prices you were never going to match. Write this one →
Wed 11 Nov 16 days before Make the gift card the hero A card worth a little more than it costs, pay for twenty, spend twenty-five, is a present someone can hand over, and cash in your till today. Photograph the real card. Write this one →
Mon 16 Nov 11 days before Put the number on the thing Whatever you're selling, show it with the price written on the picture, not buried in the caption. A screenshot travels; a caption stays put. Write this one →
Fri 20 Nov 7 days before Show it's real One photo of the actual thing on your own counter does more than any designed banner. This is the week people most want to buy from a person, not a warehouse. Write this one →
Tue 24 Nov 3 days before Name the cut-off Say when it ends, once and clearly. A true deadline, until Sunday, or while the cards last, gives people a reason to move now instead of later. Write this one →
Fri 27 Nov The day The day, morning and late Post in the morning with what's on, then again about four. The later one reaches everyone who meant to look and got busy, and hardly a soul thinks to send it. Write this one →
The idea most businesses miss

Discounts don't build anything

Byron Sharp's research found that a price cut buys a short spike and little that lasts, the people who come for a bargain don't come back for you. What actually grows a small shop is being easy to recognise and easy to buy from. So on the loudest shopping day of the year, put your effort into being memorable, not cheap.

Byron Sharp, marketing scientist, author of How Brands Grow · How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know, Oxford University Press, 2010

Questions

The questions people ask

I honestly can't compete on price. What do I do?
Don't. Compete on what the big shops can't copy: you know your customers by name and you're here all year round. Say exactly that.
Are gift cards actually worth it?
For a small business, often yes. They bring money in now, they get spent later, usually on more than the card holds, and they put your name in someone's pocket as a gift.
What if I hate the whole Black Friday circus?
Then say so. A plain 'we're not slashing anything, but here's something worth having' cuts through precisely because everyone around you is shouting.

The other dates worth the effort

Mon 30 Nov 2026 Cyber Monday 64 days to go Everyone is on their phone, ready to buy. Your only job today is to make buying from you the easiest thing on the screen. 5 posts to make → Sat 5 Dec 2026 Small Business Saturday 69 days to go This is the one day where the whole point is you. Don't waste it on a markdown, spend it turning today's goodwill into people who come back. 6 posts to make → Everything else The whole calendar The rest of this year and all of next, with the British ones in the right place. Open the calendar →