Black Friday without protection: the 5 invisible risks that threaten your digital identity

The biggest sales season of the year is also the period in which brands' digital identity is most vulnerable. During Black Friday, the internet becomes fertile ground for scams, commercial misdirection, and misuse of images.

Um reportage from Darktrace pointed out that Black Friday scams increase by 692% between early November and the last week before the event, highlighting the abrupt jump in the number of attempts involving the imitation of major brands.

Your business needs to be swallowed up by this! Our team has prepared a complete guide with 5 invisible risks that threaten your digital identity on Black Friday. Read on below and discover how to protect your brand!

1. Commercial diversion and loss of qualified traffic

On Black Friday, the volume of searches for brands grows explosively, and it is precisely at this peak of interest that many competitors start to use your company name to capture traffic that doesn't belong to them.

This movement occurs when advertisers take advantage of your brand keywords to intercept consumers who were already determined to buy with you.

They enter the media auction using your name, appear above your ads, and redirect ready users to similar domains. This inflates the CPC, dilutes the funnel, and creates an artificial dispute that consumes part of your investment.

The main risks that your brand may be experiencing a commercial deviation:

• Sudden increase in CPC even without changes to the campaign;
• Decrease in conversion in brand campaigns;
• Competitors or affiliates showing up for terms unique to your company;
• Users reporting being directed to sites that “appear to belong to your brand”;
• Unusual fluctuations in direct traffic or in the volume of searches for the brand.

2. Scams and fake ads that use the brand name

In periods of high demand, such as Black Friday, scammers intensify the creation of fake ads, cloned profiles and pages that simulate the original e-commerce.

The legitimate brand sees its reputation threatened, is pressured by complaints, and can still be held legally liable for indirect damages if there is no evidence of preventive monitoring.

Evaluate the signs that show if your brand is exposed to this type of scam:

• Customer complaints regarding unidentified purchases;
• Fake profiles replicating official visuals in sponsored advertisements;
  Pages with suspicious URLs simulating your e-commerce;
• Consumer reports saying that they “fell for an advertisement similar to yours”;
• Sudden drop in trust and increase in negative mentions.

3. Unfair competition and price war

When offers start to rise, some resellers, distributors, and even direct competitors turn to predatory price reduction.

The consumer, without understanding what is happening, believes that the brand has lost quality or is “burning price”, when in fact it is a commercial attack that can erode reputation and Generate a crisis.

Do you want to know if your brand is suffering devaluation due to the price war? Stay tuned:

• Products far below your table appearing on marketplaces;
• Resellers offering aggressive discounts without prior approval;
• Consumers questioning the extreme difference between values;
• Partners complaining about “inconsistency” in price positioning;
• Stocks spinning faster on suspicious channels than on official ones.

4. Misuse of branding and visual identity

It is common that, during peak sales, the brand's digital exposure becomes so large that different players try to capitalize on it, often without any authorization.

Because of misuse of logos, names, slogans, or products in campaigns, consumers now have difficulty identifying what is legitimate or not.

That's why commercial policies and contractual clauses for brand use are fundamental to protect the company's identity during periods of high demand.

Key signs that brand misuse is happening:

• Logos modified or improperly applied in advertisements;
• Sellers using official images without authorization;
• Products presented with changed names or unrecognized variations;
• False promotional campaigns using the brand's visual aesthetic;
• Consumers confusing official communications with unauthorized materials.

5. Digital sabotage and reputation manipulation

On the eve of Black Friday, the contest for space and attention becomes more aggressive, and some contestants resort to shady tactics to reduce the credibility of opposing brands.

Negative advertisements, false reviews, and unfounded complaints that influence algorithms of ranking in marketplaces are some of the tactics. Here are the signs that your brand may be experiencing digital sabotage:

• Negative reviews emerging en masse in a short time;
• Inconsistent or impossible to validate reports about service or product;
• Unfounded complaints appearing on marketplaces or social networks;
• Small incidents being amplified by newly created profiles;
• Fall on digital reputation even without changes to internal processes.

Even in the face of so many silent risks, the good news is that there are preventive solutions capable of neutralizing attacks before they affect your brand's performance.

Active digital identity management is what separates protected brands from vulnerable brands. So, see how to protect your brand before, during, and after Black Friday with some strategies for Brand safety:

• 24/7 monitoring of paid ads and marketplaces;
• Channel policy and minimum advertised price (PMA) to avoid distortions;
• Standardization of communications and official pages at all points of sale;
• Automatic alerts and preventive actions against commercial diversion and misuse.

Protecting the brand's digital identity is an ongoing process. Black Friday is just the stress test that reveals who is truly prepared.

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