Paid media strategy
holding you back?

Seasonal sales like Black Friday, Mid-Season and End of Season sales can make or break an ecommerce brand’s revenue targets. 

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While heavy discounts can generate spikes in traffic, without the right ecommerce marketing strategy, sales events risk becoming margin-eroding exercises that train customers to only ever buy on discount. 

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The key is not just to run a sale, but to structure it to balance long-term brand value with short-term performance. 

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Keep Your Sale Strategy Exclusive. 
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If your brand runs a permanent outlet, clearance section or ongoing sale page, it’s important to exclude sale/discount items from activity outside of peak sale campaigns. 

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This prevents customers from discovering a “back door” to discounts all year round, which can devalue your full-price proposition. 

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By controlling visibility, you ensure that when you do push a sale, it feels urgent, relevant, and worth paying attention to. 

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You can also allow users to hand over their email address in return for access to your outlet / sale. 

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Use Early Access to Drive Urgency
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Consumers love exclusivity.
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Offering early access to loyal customers or mailing list subscribers can spark immediate action, while also rewarding your most engaged audience. 

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This approach not only drives higher conversion rates but also helps build anticipation.

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 By the time your sale goes fully live, momentum is already in motion and customers are primed to purchase. 

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Stagger Discounts to Extend Momentum
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One of the biggest mistakes brands make during Black Friday is launching the full sale in one go.

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 Instead, consider staggering your discounts or product drops to give a reason for customers to keep coming back:

• Start with selected lines at moderate discounts. 
• Add new lines every few days
• Increase markdowns towards the end to catch late buyers.
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Prioritise High-Margin or Hero Products
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Not all products are created equal. While discounting clears old stock, it can also eat into profits. Instead, you can prioritise hero products or high-margin lines. 

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Push bestsellers and bundles that attract new customers at scale, while keeping clearance items in a separate campaign with tighter budgets. 

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This allows you to maximise the impact of your sale without undermining overall profitability. 

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That said, if your hero products are already performing strongly at full price, you may want to keep them out of the sale to protect margin and brand value. 

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The key is to strike the right balance between driving volume and maintaining long-term product positioning. 
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Separate Sale Ads from Full-Price Ads
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Platforms like Meta will naturally push your best-converting campaigns and ads. 

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If you mix full-price and sale ads together, the algorithm will prioritise sale items (because they convert more easily), potentially starving your full-price visibility. 

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To avoid this, run your sale ads separately from your always-on campaigns. 

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This allows:

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• Controlled spend and delivery between sale vs full-price ads.
• Full-price offering remains visible, protecting brand equity.
• You gain cleaner insights into how your sale performed independently. 

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Extend the Sale with Post-Sale Remarketing
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The end of sale doesn’t mean the end of opportunity. Use post-sale remarketing to keep new buyers engaged:

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• Retarget them with full-price product recommendations
• Follow up with seasonal launches or upcoming collections.
• Thank them for shopping the sale and invite them back for more.

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This approach helps turn discount-driven buyers into loyal, repeat customers.

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Balance Short-Term Gains with Long-Term Value

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Yes, sales are about driving revenue. But ecommerce marketing isn’t just a sprint - it’s a marathon. 

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When planning campaigns, always consider:

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• Customer acquisition vs margin protection - are you attracting new customers, or just discounting existing ones?
• Post-sale remarketing - use fresh customer data to retarget with full-price products
• Brand perception - over-reliance on discounts can erode premium positioning.

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At Adnomics, we specialise in helping ecommerce brands maximise performance across peak trading periods. If you’d like support in planning your next sale strategy, get in touch with us.

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