WOW INSIGHTS: Last-minute Strategies for Black Friday & Cyber Monday Success
For many businesses, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are invaluable opportunities to boost sales, increase brand visibility, and set the tone for a successful holiday shopping season. With these dates fast approaching, now is the time to act and maximize your impact. Here are some high-impact, easy-to-implement strategies to help you make the most of this season.
Accelerate Your Promotions
Every day counts when time is short, so jumpstart your efforts on social channels with engaging visuals and real-time updates. Post frequent “coming soon” teasers and updates about deals. Stories and Reels on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are great for building anticipation without requiring extensive design or planning.
Tips for Quick, Effective Promotions
Use Trending Hashtags to Maximize Visibility Add popular hashtags like #BlackFriday and #CyberMonday to your posts to connect with people actively searching for deals. For additional impact, create a branded hashtag like #Shop[YourBrand], so customers can share their purchases and spread the word.
Promote Flash Sales for Instant Engagement A flash sale or limited-time offer can encourage impulse buying. Consider exclusive deals for your social media followers, like discount codes, bundle offers, or free shipping on orders placed within a certain timeframe.
Create Urgency with Real-Time Updates Keep potential buyers informed of stock levels, limited-time offers, and popular items through real-time posts on Stories or Reels. These quick updates generate a “fear of missing out,” pushing followers to make purchases on the spot.
Respond to Customer Inquiries Promptly Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers are browsing and want fast responses to inquiries, so monitor your social channels closely. Quick replies can be the difference between making or losing a sale.
Focus on Retention Post-Sale
While sales are the immediate goal, don’t lose sight of the long-term benefits of these shopping days. Use follow-up emails or social retargeting to nurture relationships with new customers and convert them into repeat buyers. Thank-you messages, personalized recommendations, and future incentives can help turn one-time shoppers into loyal customers.
Jose has decades of experience in advertising and experiential marketing, as well as media planning and buying in both English-language and Spanish-language. He invested most of his career development at Fox Television, USA Networks, Tribune Corporation, and Univision Radio, where he built loyal relationships throughout his tenures. Jose began WOW as a premiere events marketing firm and evolved it into the fastest-growing full-service marketing agency in the state. He has meticulously hand-selected his team of experienced industry professionals to help him lead a cross-disciplinary vision of an innovative, more streamlined agency service approach. As a man of faith, Jose does not take his success lightly, propelling his family and company to give back to the community. Together they donated more than $3 million to major nonprofit organizations in the markets that WOW MKTG serves. This New Jersey native who makes Miami home with his wife and three children also sits on the boards of the Dolphins Cancer Challenge, Chapman Partnership for the Homeless, and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Betsy Henao
// Chief Operating Officer
Betsy oversees all operational activities for the agency, identifying and leveraging all available resources to achieve maximum efficiency and further increase productivity. She previously served as the agency’s Client Service Director, guiding client strategies, and leading an experienced account service team to navigate client relationships, requests, and agency deliverables. Betsy has more than three decades of marketing, media, and management experience in industries such as Healthcare, Publishing, Consumer packaged goods, Automotive, Travel, Government, and Quick-Service Restaurants.
Felix Castro
// Vice President of Creative Services
With over 20 years of experience managing campaigns for national and international clients, including Burger King, American Airlines, and Honda, Felix leads the multidisciplinary creative team to deliver award-winning, strategically developed product concepts for integrated campaigns. Joining WOW in 2013 as Creative Director, he has been building and developing creative talent ever since, working with clients in the automotive, healthcare, food and beverage, and entertainment industries.
Yoly Solano
// Vice President of Experiential Marketing
One of our agency’s original team members, Yoly has been with the agency since 2006, designing and producing engaging real-life experiences for thousands of people each year. Under Yoly’s direction, WOW’s dynamic experiential marketing team has skillfully created memorable events featuring entertainment, promotions, and demonstrations for companies such as Disney, Univision, and UHealth, as well as the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the American Cancer Society, and Chapman Partnership.
Virginia Zeron
// Vice President of Finance
Virginia oversees all accounting matters and Human Resources as an integral part of the agency’s leadership team. She manages WOW’s annual budget, directing the planning and forecasting of finances while coordinating with a growing list of agency vendors and media outlets. Virginia, who has more than 25 years of experience in management and business government compliance, began her career as a paralegal in the environmental law sector and later transitioned into management and recruiting. She has been with WOW since 2012.
Diego Naranjo
// Vice President of Digital Media
Diego,who started at WOW in 2015, is an expert in developing and executing data-based strategies to drive clients’ ROI via paid digital and social media channels. He works tirelessly to develop digital solutions and build, monitor, and optimize digital media plans for our client partners. Before joining our agency, he dedicated his professional career to working for blue-chip companies and global brands such as The Walt Disney Company, Celebrity Cruises, SC Johnson, SeaWorld, and Target.
Xavier Castañeda
// Interactive Director
Xavier is plugged in and harnessing a world of code and tech to engineer sites, apps, and interactive units for WOW MKTG’s clients, making the impossible look easy. He began his career 20 years ago as a graphic designer and animator, transitioning into interactive design and development early in his career. He perfected his diverse talents at local startups and boutique digital shops, before leading the Interactive Development team at República. Xavier has seen it all from landing pages for Google, to complex sites for banks and pharmaceutical brands. He’s also worked for brands like Burger King, Four Seasons, Nielsen, Toyota, NBCUniversal, and even The White House.
Eileen D’Costa
// Project Management Director
Eileen leads the project management team at WOW MKTG, bringing more than 18 years of advertising experience to a department that is critical in ensuring quality and objectives are met on time and within budget. Whether its coordinating agency workflow or managing end-to-end project completion, Eileen’s organizational abilities and attention to detail help guarantee that our clients’ goals are always a priority. Before joining WOW MKTG, Eileen worked in account services and project management at BlackDog Advertising and Creative Marketing Partners where she worked on campaigns across an array of industries including tourism, hospitality, healthcare, and automotive.
Meet the family
Meet the partners
Episode 1 - The Welcome
Episode 1: Agency life starts to get real for our eager interns on their first week on The SHIP. Watch as they get their first taste of what it takes to be a successful marketer in a competitive, fast-paced industry.
Episode 2 - The Immersion
Episode 2: The interns roll up their sleeves for a good cause and learn some interesting news about their summer assignment. Find out more on Episode 2 of The SHIP.
Episode 3 - The Assignment
Episode 3: The interns start working on their big summer assignment and, just like it happens when working on real campaigns, the team encounters a few curveballs along the way. Watch more on episode 3 of The SHIP.
Episode 4 - The Process
Episode 4: The interns gain valuable insight from WOW MKTG's founder and president Jose Dans and The SHIP Season 1 winner Jake Nardo as their campaign begins to come together.
Episode 5 - The Prep
Episode 5: With the help of the agency's leadership team, the interns fine-tune their final campaign in preparation for the highly-anticipated presentation to a panel of expert judges.
Episode 6 - The Presentation
Episode 6: In their final bid for the coveted $5,000 scholarship, the interns showcase the knowledge and experience they've gained over the course of the past 6 weeks to a panel of judges.
Episode 7 - The Winner
Episode 7: Six hopeful interns. Six challenging weeks. It all comes down to this moment. Only one of our interns will be named the winner of The SHIP Season 2 and take home a $5,000 scholarship.
Episode 1 - The Welcome
This week on The Ship, the interns get a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of WOW MKTG and prepare for the road ahead.
Episode 2 - The Assignment
As they approach their first project touchpoint with our leadership team, our up-and-coming marketers learn the importance of being prepared. The Ship continues to go above and beyond a typical internship program to give students a real-world experience.
Episode 3 - The Process
With guidance from our leadership team, our interns start to come together to shape their campaign pitch.
Episode 4 - The Prep
With one week until the final presentation, our interns deliver their last practice pitch and receive feedback from our leadership team.
Episode 5 - The Presentation
It's the last week of The Ship and it's time for our interns to present their campaign to our panel of experts. Six will graduate from the five-week program but only one participant will take home a $5,000 scholarship. Tune in below to see the finale and congratulate them all.
Bloopers
Take a look at some of the best behind-the-scenes moments of our dynamic internship experience, The Ship. Applications for next year will open on Monday, January 14th.