Do you find it difficult to offer discounts during major shopping events like Black Friday and Thanksgiving, due to financial limitations?
According to a survey by Xero, about one-third of small business owners do not run any holiday promotions. The biggest reason? Limited affordability and cash flow challenges.
Beyond finances, small business owners face broader operational pressures — managing customer traffic, executing marketing and advertising, and maintaining inventory control all at once.
In this article, I’ll show you a clever way to join the Black Friday action — without relying on discounts. You can participate in this massive shopping event using AI-generated marketing ads, spending as little as a few dollars instead of hundreds.
The Importance of Content Marketing
According to Xero’s recent study, 53% of small businesses say social media is their top channel for attracting customers year-round. Social platforms allow small brands to target niche audiences and make sure their messages reach the right people at the right time.
Small businesses face two key challenges:
- Getting ads in front of the right audience.
- Inspiring customers to take action after seeing them.
Traditional ad formats like TV or newspaper ads fail on both counts — they’re expensive, hard to target, and quickly outdated.
Imagine this: your salon runs a glossy newspaper ad for summer hair treatments. Two weeks later, the season shifts, trends change, and that ad loses all its relevance.
Online short-form content and algorithms have largely solved the targeting problem, but now the focus shifts to content creation. Traditional ad production is expensive and slow. With AI, you can create diverse image or video ads in minutes — even the most advanced video generation now costs about $1 for a 15-second clip.
More importantly, AI makes ad iteration effortless. You can instantly adjust your ads for weather, holidays, or local policies — all within minutes.
This flexibility gives small businesses a fighting chance to stay competitive against big brands.
How AI Ads Are Shaping Black Friday
Black Friday — the Friday after Thanksgiving — traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping season. This year, it falls on November 28. Retailers around the world will offer steep discounts and extended hours.
The event has become a global phenomenon, drawing millions of deal-hungry shoppers. In 2024, global online sales reached a record $74.4 billion.
So, what role did AI play in all this?
According to Salesforce, AI had a direct impact on $60 billion in sales, showing how this technology is reshaping retail and deepening customer engagement.
AI was used in product recommendations, targeted promotions, and customer service automation. Retailers that leveraged generative AI and AI agents achieved 2% higher conversion rates than those that didn’t.
Social commerce was another major factor — retailers using platforms like TikTok Shop and Instagram saw 19% of Cyber Week sales come directly from these channels.
AI Ad Tools for Small Businesses
AI advertising today mostly revolves around image and video generation. However, most platforms overlook the financial reality of small business owners.
According to the Flowtra AI Ad Market Research Report, nearly every major AI ad platform uses a subscription model, with entry-level plans starting around $20/month — far from ideal for small sellers.
To lower the barrier for small businesses and improve CTR and ROI, Flowtra AI has introduced several innovative and cost-effective features based on user feedback.
1. Brand and Product Management
Every shop — no matter how small — has a brand identity. Whether you’re selling handmade candles or stickers on Etsy, or dropshipping products globally, brand consistency matters.
Flowtra AI requires users to set up their brand info (name, slogan, logo, etc.) before generating ads. This not only streamlines ad creation but also saves time by eliminating repetitive uploads.
2. Multi-Language Support
Flowtra AI now supports major global languages, meaning your AI-generated ads can instantly adapt to your target market’s local language.
For example, in early October, based on feedback from Pakistani hair oil sellers, Flowtra AI added Urdu and Punjabi support within just one day.
3. Standard Ad Generation
This feature lets you quickly create image or video ads for your products through an intuitive interface.
Let’s take the True Fresh washing machine cleaner as an example:
- Select Video as the output mode and choose Auto for automatic generation (or “Custom” to control every detail manually).
- Pick your brand (True Fresh) and the product you want to promote.
- Choose your target language. Video length options include 8, 10, or 15 seconds. You can keep standard quality or select HD (1080p).
- For social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram, choose the 9:16 ratio.
- Click Generate — you’ll see a notification pop up confirming that the ad is being processed.
In just a few minutes, you’ll get outputs like these:
4. Multi-Variant Ads
Perfect for A/B testing, this feature lets you generate multiple variations of ads for the same product in one go.
For instance, if you sell dog food, you can generate ads featuring different dogs or owners.
If you’re selling gaming consoles, you can generate scenes of various animated characters interacting with your console — all with the same workflow as before.
5. Character Ad Feature
This feature is designed for short-form “influencer-style” videos, allowing characters to present or promote your product.
You can use pre-made avatars or upload your own character — even yourself.
Choose your brand, product, video length, and optionally write custom scripts for the character (e.g., highlighting your discounts or key features).
For example, if you sell rings on Etsy, you can select a male avatar and a 16:9 ratio to produce results like this:
Conclusion
Which feature are you most excited to try?
Where do you think AI ad tools can be improved?
AI in eCommerce is expanding rapidly, and advertising is one of the most affordable, high-impact entry points.
For Black Friday 2025, Flowtra AI will also launch special offers to help more small businesses create professional AI-generated ads at ultra-low cost, boosting both sales and brand visibility.
Would you like me to make this English version more blog-ready (with SEO keywords, subhead formatting, and a tone fit for Medium or your Flowtra site)?
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