BFCM Q&A: Real Answers From People Who’ve Actually Been In the Trenches
Every fall, the same questions start buzzing around performance marketing Slack channels like fruit flies around a ripe banana:
How early should I launch?
How do I protect margin while still winning volume?
Do I need holiday creative or can evergreen carry me?
How should I structure campaigns when auctions heat up?
This week’s Scalability School episode was a “get your coffee and notebook” kind of session. No fluffy “go viral” advice, just pragmatic Black Friday/Cyber Monday guidance from Andrew, Zach, and Brad. If you want to pace your budget without blowing your brains (or your MER) out, build offers that don’t tank lifetime value, and avoid the “we ran out of inventory and now Q1 is ruined” problem. If this has been you then you’ll love this one. Here’s the breakdown.
Budgeting & Pacing: Don’t Light Your Spend on Fire
A winning BFCM budget is NOT:
❌ Dump everything into Black Friday morning
❌ Panic and scale last minute
❌ Copying what you did last year without checking data
Winning brands are doing this instead:
✅ Run early, controlled warm-up spend in early November
✅ Use historical promo data to decide pacing
✅ Align paid + email/SMS + Amazon in one plan
✅ Spend into the lift (15–20% higher demand) and don’t pre-overpay
Pro tip: Start BFCM ads early so you know what’s working before Thanksgiving week and not during it.
Black Friday doesn’t reward bravery, it rewards preparation.
Creative: Ugly Still Wins (But Not Lazy Ugly)
Low-fi and “hot ugly ads” still slap. The playbook:
Lo-fi > Polished
Organic > Studio
Real people in real environments (warehouses, living rooms, packing tables)
Direct language about gifting, urgency, and value
BUT don’t be lazy. Holiday overlays slapped on old ads? Meh.
If you're going seasonal, actually go seasonal:
🎄 Shoot in the warehouse
🎁 Show real packing + gifting
🏠 Lean into home / lifestyle / family moments
And bring receipts just like Brad pulled data across brands:
Expect ~60–70% of spend to still land on evergreen.
Holiday creative wins but only when it's actually created, not just overlay decorated.
Offer Strategy: Stop Nuking Your Margin
The default “let’s do 30% off” move? Fine, but it’s kinda outdated and it can crush contribution margin.
Instead, winners are playing:
✅ Buy X, get one (or more) free
✅ “Stock-up” bundles
✅ AOV tier bonuses
✅ Value adds (gifts, upgrades, priority shipping)
Example:
Buy 2, Get 1 Free → $20–$30 AOV lift + better profit % than % off
More revenue. Better MER. Less crying in January.
Inventory Aware Campaigning
Your BFCM offer should change based on inventory reality:
If you’re heavy on stock: Flood the zone. Push volume. Test aggressively.
If you’re light on stock:
Don’t oversell early
Lean into urgency
Don’t discount SKUs that will sell anyway
Be ready to switch to waitlist or pre order if you sell out
And for the love of Q1, do not burn all inventory by Cyber Monday.
Channel Sequencing
Meta = scale engine
Google Shopping/Brand Search = capture intent & protect brand
Amazon = where late shoppers go to panic buy gifts
Tactical notes:
Update Google titles w/ offer language
Swap Shopping creative to gift-friendly imagery
Run holiday + gifting angles by November 1
Launch BFCM offer early to warm the pixel + build confidence assets
If you’re big on Amazon? Ship inventory to FBA early.
Be the annoying brand Amazon complains about and don’t be the one running out of stock.
Gifting: Talk to the Buyer, Not the User
Winning gifting language:
Call out who the gift is for
Speak to the person buying and not the end user
Lean into humor, tension, and real world scenarios
Examples:
“The gift your kid will actually want in their dorm.”
“Your brother in law will think you spent way more.”
And yes December 1 to 15 is still a monster window for gifting brands.
Black Friday ≠ peak for everyone.
Measurement & Guardrails
Key sanity checks:
MER, not ROAS
CPA tolerance > platform attribution
Expect lower efficiency but don’t freak out
Blend DTC + Amazon if it impacts your cash register
Set guardrails and stick to them. Holiday volatility is real so errors compound faster.
What if your offer flops?
Yes, it happens and even to smart brands.
Your backup play:
Switch angle, not product
Try value stack instead of discount
Introduce urgency or gifting messaging
Move to tiered offer (buy more → get more)
Simplify, this clarity beats creativity in chaos
And do NOT wait until Friday at 10am to realize you're in trouble.
Quick-Hit Checklist
✅ BFCM creative ready by early November
✅ Test ads running before Thanksgiving week
✅ Holiday site assets & landing pages locked
✅ Email/SMS calendar built + automation updated
✅ Gift messaging live early
✅ Google titles + Shopping assets updated
✅ Inventory mapped + Amazon stocked
✅ Margin model ready for scale
✅ Backup offer ready in your pocket
✅ Credit limits + payment thresholds pre-approved
No hero mode.
No “we’ll figure it out day of.”
Just clear systems → profitable chaos.
Final Word
Black Friday isn’t a single weekend. It’s a sequence:
Warm up
Peak volume
Gifting surge
Post ship Amazon wave
The brands that win aren’t the loudest and they're the calmest. Tight systems. Clean offers. Creative that feels human. Plan the work → Work the plan → Don’t panic.