Regardless of whom your customers are buying for, it’s important to develop effective marketing strategies for Valentine’s Day.
This is because the holiday is one big opportunity to drive your revenue up, with projected spending of £855 million this year (based on past years’ performance).
Furthermore, Valentine’s Day is about so much more than just couples. Some are celebrating with their friends and families, while others use this day to appreciate their own selves, which creates multiple opportunities to increase your brand’s appeal and drive the sales up.
How exactly do you do that?
In this post, we’ll share with you the 8 most effective marketing strategies that you can use to target customers in the season of love.
1. Create a Valentine’s Day Gift Guide
People may find it tough to come up with Valentine’s Day gift ideas, since Christmas was only a month ago. This is where you can make sure your brand will stand out by creating a Valentine’s Day gift guide which will help your customers decide what to buy their loved ones and make their life easier.
Offer your gift guides through your landing pages, popup ads, and even your email newsletters for your customers. Make their Valentine’s shopping easier by categorising these products into genders, personality traits, themes, as well as price points. This way, you are covering as much ground as possible and giving your customers countless gifts ideas.
Don’t forget to share your gift guide on all your social media channels and your website to maximise the reach.
2. Couple-Themed Promotions and Discounts
Even though Valentine’s Day is no longer just about couples, they still are an important part of the day. As a business owner, you can use this to your advantage by planning and executing marketing strategies encouraging your customers to buy more than one item from your shop. Some good examples of simple campaigns include:
- Buy One, Get One (BOGO) Deals
- Two for One discounts
- Couple Discounts
As they say, the world is your oyster. There are countless of possibilities how you can appeal to potential consumers during Valentine’s Day, from simple discounts for couples to free shipping, complimentary gift-wrapping service or customised notes added to the purchases.
Advertising these offers is key so make sure to use social media, email lists, as well as eye-catching banners and images on your website. Don’t worry if your business doesn’t sell traditional Valentine’s Day gifts, such as flowers, chocolates or jewellery. The beauty of this holiday is the fact that with the right message, pretty much everything can be sold as a Valentine’s Day gift.
3. Don’t Forget the Singles
Whilst Valentine’s Day can fill many of us with excitement and joy, some of your customers may approach this day with a slightly different attitude.
As a business, you can use this as an opportunity to remind them that there is nothing wrong with being single and they can make Valentine’s Day about themselves (and enjoy it!).
There is nothing wrong with promoting self-love and reminding your customers that the best and most important relationship they can have is the one with themselves. You can always throw in a special sale for singles to show that they are also appreciated on this day.
Anti-Valentine’s is also a niche you can cater to during this time of the year. You can sell products that discourage the commodification of Valentine’s Day, such as shirts with funny or sarcastic (but not mean) quotes and designs. No matter how ironic it may seem, trust us there will be people who will appreciate this! It’s always good to throw in some humour to these campaigns to make this particular season lighter for all the singles out there.
4. Give Your Social Media Accounts a Valentine’s Flair
Social media is a great channel to express your love for one another. For businesses, it has become one of the most important tools to connect with audiences.
Make sure that everyone feels the love in the air by changing your social media covers and account icons into something more romantic.Remember to keep it classy and simple, so that people can still recognise your brand and what you stand for.
You can also use this opportunity to fill your account with Valentine’s Day – themed images or videos expressing love and gratitude. Use social media’s features such as Facebook’s Camera Effects and Frame to make sure your audience feels the love.
Don’t forget to use related hashtags, such as #ValentinesDay or #MyValentine to drive traffic and engagement on social media and be a part of the conversation!
You can also optimise your website to drive up the search engine results pages by using the right terms and driving traffic through. Use terms like Valentine’s or Valentine’s Day gift, jewellery, gift guide, flower, and chocolates to help your business be recognised.
You can also optimise your email marketing campaign to fit the overflowing love. Make sure to include a catchy, Valentine’s Day – themed subject line to grasp the attention of potential customers.
5. Encourage Your Audience To Share Their Love Stories
Valentine’s Day is about spreading love and gratitude with others so why not encourage your customers to share their love stories through your social media channels?
Make love-themed polls for their best romantic experience or simply encourage them to share how they met their partners by offering prizes and discounts to people with the best stories to tell.
A word of caution, though. Facebook has been stricter with engagement algorithms and is penalising posts that explicitly ask for shares and reactions.
This strategy is effective if you want to maximise your reach while not spending much.
As Valentine’s Day isn’t just about fairytale romance, make sure you have a little bit of fun too. It’s not a bad idea to share a laugh with your customers. Encouraging them to tell their own terrible date experiences lightens the mood around the holiday and even lowers expectations for most people, which can be great.
You can also ask them to photograph the worst Valentine’s Day gifts they’ve sent or received. By sharing a laugh with your audience can drive up engagement which can potentially convert into sales.
6. Demonstrate Social Responsibility
Some customers would love to see that their purchases are going towards a charitable cause, and Valentine’s Day campaigns can be a great way to do that.
Partner up with a local charity and organise a Valentine’s Day fundraiser. You can also offer options for a Valentine’s Day donation in the checkout section of your website. Some organisations also sell their products to raise funds, which can create a great opportunity for your business to partner up and sell those as part of your product catalogue.
Demonstrating social responsibility is not only a great way to increase your brand’s awareness but will also make sure you play your part in spreading love and gratitude which is what Valentine’s is all about!
7. Win Back Your Previous Customers
We call them the ones that got away: people that left you because they did not think that your products were meant for them.
The season of love is the perfect occasion to show them that you still think about them. You can use email marketing or social media to re-engage them with your business. Customise your content to re-capture their attention and remind them why they loved your products in the first place.
Who knows, maybe you can convince them to come back to you.
8. Show Your Delivery Dates As Much As Possible
No one wants to leave their second half without a present on Valentine’s Day. It can get stressful when your customers are unsure if the gift they order is going to arrive on time for the special day. You can help them by including delivery dates as soon as possible to let people know by when they need to order to guarantee delivery for Valentine’s.
Customers love a business that can offers fast and reliable deliveries. You can easily earn their loyalty just by delivering on time and being there for them when they need it!
Supercharge Your Valentine’s Day Marketing
Marketing on Valentine’s Day can be cutthroat since most people will see an overwhelming amount of campaigns within their inboxes and social media.
These 8 marketing strategies are effective at targeting all audiences, regardless of their demographic, on all possible channels. Use them to drive your sales up in the season of love!
