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5 min readMaking an Entire Year's Revenue on Black Friday WEEK
The Scale Nobody Talks About
A company making $200,000–$500,000 per month can pull in $1–2 million during Black Friday week alone. A company doing $10–20 million monthly can make its entire annual revenue in those seven days. Jonathan Courtney, who runs Black Friday campaigns for multiple companies, says this bluntly: "If you can do a great Black Friday sale, you can literally fuck up everything for the rest of the year and still have a great year." He points to his own 2023 at AJ and Smart — a year he describes as full of unwise strategic decisions — and says Black Friday plus the summer sale made up for all of it.
The episode is a walkthrough of real campaigns running during Black Friday week, organized by the type of offer each company uses. The core argument is that most sellers either skip Black Friday entirely or run a simple percentage-off discount, which is the lowest-effort, lowest-impact approach. The hosts show a range of alternatives, each with a different psychological mechanism.
The Free Gift Strategy
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:03) **Why Black Friday Matters More Than You Think** - The host explains that many companies make the majority of their annual revenue in a single week, and that even prestigious brands run sales.
- 2 (05:05) **The Four Types of Black Friday Sales** - A framework for the different campaign structures: discounts, free bonuses with no discount, bundles with discounts and bonuses, and subscription renewal pushes.
- 3 (05:44) **Example 1: Endel's Renewal Push** - How a soundscape app uses Black Friday to re-engage lapsed annual subscribers with a 50% off offer and evolving bonuses.
- 4 (10:57) **Example 2: Magic Mind's Master Class** - A detailed breakdown of a campaign that combines a discount with "welcome gifts" to create a compelling offer.
- 5 (13:58) **Example 3: Apple's Prestige Approach** - How Apple runs a Black Friday sale without discounting its products, using a gift card instead.
- 6 (15:46) **Example 4: Gains in Bulk's Store Credit Tactic** - A creative use of expiring store credit to drive purchases instead of a standard discount.
- 7 (18:08) **Example 5: Growth Day's Bundle Strategy** - How bundling existing products into a new, branded package creates a compelling offer without a simple discount.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Join me as I chat with Jonathan Courtney, as we dive deep into Black Friday Campaign strategy. Jonathan shares his strategies and frameworks for leveraging Black Friday regardless of what type of business you run.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - Intro 01:01 - The Importance of Black Friday for Businesses
02:51 - Types of Black Friday Sales
09:40 - Comparing Strategies: MagicMind and AG1
13:40 - Premium brand approaches to Black Friday sales
18:25 - Bundling Products for Black Friday
24:40 - Startup Idea 1: Black Friday Agency
27:56 - Gamifying Promo Codes
30:00 - Our Black Friday Buys
31:41 - Live Streaming as a Sales Strategy
Key Points:
• Black Friday week can generate a company's entire yearly revenue in just one week
• Different types of sales strategies include discounts, free bonuses, bundles, and subscription renewal offers
• Premium brands like Apple participate in Black Friday without cheapening their brand by offering gift cards instead of discounts
• Creating unique, branded experiences around sales can be more effective than simple discounts
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