Performance marketing: The key to #BlackFriday success
Black Friday isn’t a one-week sprint. It's the reward for building sustainable audience demand all year. As such, effective performance marketing can be a key contributing factor to Black Friday success.
Special Effects Media's Essi Koster examines how performance marketing can contribute to Black Friday success (Image supplied)
Mastering the balance
Performance marketing has matured in South Africa, and so have South African consumers.Gone are the days when a single conversion campaign was enough to drive meaningful business results. Today, success demands a holistic, full-funnel digital strategy that balances awareness, demand creation and conversion performance.
Marketers who master this balance see lower acquisition costs, stronger brand loyalty and, most importantly, sustained growth beyond one-off sale cycles.
Pillars for effective performance marketing
Let’s break down the pillars that separate effective performance marketing from wasted ad spend.
- The value of brand awareness
All too often, performance marketers focus purely on conversion campaigns, forgetting that brand awareness is the backbone of sustainable performance. No matter how strong your targeting is, you can’t convert audiences that don’t know you exist.
Brand campaigns build salience, trust and familiarity - all critical in a price-sensitive market like South Afric,a where consumers are cautious and comparison-driven.
When awareness and upper-funnel activity are prioritised, conversion media becomes significantly more efficient because audiences enter the funnel already primed and engaged.
Awareness isn’t just a vanity phase; treat it as the fuel that powers conversions. Use this stage to grow and nurture high-intent audiences that you can efficiently convert later.
- Know your audience - and tailor content to platform and placement
Every platform has its strengths and audience behaviours. TikTok drives discovery and engages younger audiences (but not as young as you might think).
Meta dominates scaled consumer behaviour, with demographics differing between Facebook and Instagram. YouTube reaches high-attention, lean-in viewers.
Different placements also serve different audiences. For example, Feeds and Reels engage different mindsets and moments. Feeds typically capture more considered browsing behaviour, while Reels taps into discovery-driven, high-energy consumption.
Running both ensures you're speaking to audiences across behaviours, not just one content habit.
But make sure the content is tailored to the placement. Understanding not only where your audience spends time, but also how they behave across these platforms, is the foundation of media efficiency.
Smart marketers tailor creative, messaging and placements to match user intent at every stage - not simply repurpose one ad everywhere.
- Use your data - the power of audience building
First-party data is now marketing’s most valuable asset, and performance platforms reward marketers who use it intelligently.
Lookalike audiences allow brands to scale beyond existing customers while maintaining high intent, low-wastage targeting.
In a fragmented, privacy-evolving landscape, strong seed audiences combined with quality signals (engagement metrics, site behaviour, purchase data, CRM lists) are critical in driving incremental conversions.
Remember to regularly refresh your seed lists - audience decay is real.
SalesSA’s retail marathon: Managing Black Friday returns with reverse logistics
Dr Ernst van Biljon 14 hours - Remarketing, remarketing, remarketing
Remarketing remains one of the most profitable channels in the performance toolkit… when used well. Not every warm user is ready to convert today, and smart remarketing recognises that.
It starts by segmenting audiences based on their stage in the funnel - whether they viewed content, added to cart, checked pricing or interacted with your video.
From there, messaging is tailored to meet their intent and move them one step closer, rather than pushing the same hard sell to everyone.
Frequency is carefully controlled to avoid fatigue and wasted impressions, because nothing kills performance like overexposure. And often, the best nudge isn't a “buy now” CTA - it's social proof, a value reminder, or a bit of education that builds confidence and trust before the final click.
- Don't forget your excludes
There is nothing worse than being stalked across the internet by a product you’ve already purchased. We’ve all been there, and trust me, your customers feel the same.
Exclude recently converted users from performance campaigns for a defined period. Let them enjoy their purchase. Then reintroduce them later, when they re-enter the purchase cycle.
This not only protects your budget from wasted impressions but also prevents you from frustrating customers along the way.
Excludes are not optional - they are essential.
Black Friday marketing
What does this mean for Black Friday marketing in South Africa?
Black Friday in SA is a high-pressure, high-competition window, and consumers have become increasingly intentional. They research early, compare relentlessly and reward brands they trust.
Here’s the playbook:
(Image supplied)
Brands that invest early reap the rewards. Brands that wait until November pay a premium for attention.
About the author
Essi Koster is a seasoned paid media specialist with over a decade of experience driving performance across global and South African brands. Passionate about innovation and obsessed with data, Essi leads high-impact digital campaigns that use data to drive measurable results. As part of the Special Effects Media team, she champions smart strategy, sharp execution, and the belief that great media is where insight meets intuition.