There are several Valentine’s Day campaign ideas that might work for your business. Effective Valentine’s Day campaigns involve creating themed promotions, romantic gift guides, or special discounts. Leveraging social media for love-themed contests and user-generated content can boost engagement. Email marketing with personalized offers and targeted ads to those searching for gifts enhances reach. Collaborations with influencers for Valentine’s content can also increase campaign visibility and impact.
Updated 2023
The holiday season goes like this: December Holidays, New Year, football playoffs through to the SuperBowl, and then Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is a bit weird in that even though it is already on store shelves, it isn’t as prevalent in advertisements until February 1st. That means you have about a week or so to make sure your Valentine’s Day campaigns, if not already started, are ready to be heavy hitters for this super-short and fast-paced greeting card holiday. Here’s a few useful suggestions to help you get ready faster.
BOGO Deals for Couples
Tis the season for couples, right? Offering some sort of BOGO (buy one, get one free) deal appeals to couples of all ages, no matter how long they’ve been together. You don’t necessarily have to make your BOGO a “buy one, get one free” deal if you don’t have the budget. You can do a “buy one, get one 50 percent off” or some other special; the key is to ensure it’s financially appealing to your potential clients.
Polish Your Email Campaigns
Make sure your email campaigns are on-point. The subject lines need to be especially clear, and they need to tease at the inside content, too. Do your best to make it clear that you have amazing Valentine’s Day specials inside.
The inside content needs to be visually appealing, too; this is especially important for Valentine’s Day. Tweak your backgrounds and imagery to match the holiday – you don’t have to be all about the red and pink, but you should try and get creative. Hearts, different colored roses, great photos of couples together with your products, and other visual mixes will appeal to the eyes and earn you clicks through to your website.
Related: 10 Simple Email Marketing Tips to Attract Local Customers
Greeting Cards
You have an existing client database, we’re sure. Put your graphic designers to work designing a special Valentine’s Day ecard you can send to your existing list. It can be a simple greeting, or you can include a special, limited-time coupon code just for them.
People who have purchased from a company in the past love feeling like they’re getting something special or exclusive in return.
Promote Matching Products
Sometimes, one gift doesn’t seem like quite enough, but choosing a second gift seems daunting. Run some sort of “matching” campaign that suggests complimentary items to go with base purchases. For example, if someone purchases a necklace, you should be featuring matching earrings or bracelets as separate items and/or as bundles. If someone is buying a pair of running shoes, you should show running socks or cute themed running tanks. The idea is to increase the value of each order while offering great suggestions or add-on deals.
FREE Shipping
Valentine’s Day is a great time to show your customers how much you love them with free shipping deals. Offer free shipping on any purchase or on purchases over a certain dollar amount. This works out well for two reasons. Some people will buy because not having to pay for shipping is a major motivator. Others will be happy that they don’t have to pay for shipping and will use it as an excuse to buy more product!
Engage Your Fans
Valentine’s Day is a great time for simple brand awareness campaigns. The makers of Sour Patch Kids ran a really cute campaign a few years ago. They used Wattpad to connect with their younger teen fans by having writers come up with some cool “sweet than sour” romance stories and celebrated not Valentine’s Day, but “Singles Awareness Day.” They then opened it up as a contest so their fans could submit their own themed stories, complete with a branded hashtag, of course.
User-Generated Content
Create a special hashtag and ask your audience to share something special about their relationships. Don’t specify that they have to be romantic relationships, though; they can be, but it’s okay if they’re about friendships or families, too. Ask your fans to submit their stories and a photo (with a photo release) via a specific email address or via a contest platform where they can also earn entries for a special prize.
You’ll end up with tons of great stories to share and you’ll be able to collect additional email leads for the future. You may even want to consider offering a small discount code to all participants who provide an email address.
Brand Your Social Accounts
No matter what type of campaign you are running, you should make some updates to your social media platforms. Make sure all of your artwork, including thumbnails and cover images, matches the rest of the strategy. Your overall brand should still be easy to recognize, but with an in-your-face reminder that you have something special going on.
Social media development can require a lot of time and energy. If you need help for your business, consider working with a team of professional digital marketers.
Don’t Forget the Single Ladies (and Gentlemen)
Remember that “Singles Awareness Day” campaign we mentioned? You don’t necessarily have to go that route (and probably shouldn’t), but you should definitely make sure the single people in your demographic don’t feel left out. Either tailor your campaigns so that a single person can still make a purchase or offer something special, just for them. Everyone deserves to feel loved on Valentine’s Day!
Utilize Polls
Just about every social media channel allows you to run a poll on a business page, and some even allow you to add images. Use this space to run a series of polls running up until Valentine’s Day. Bars should show competing themed cocktails or holiday-inspired dishes. Clothing retailers should ask audiences to choose date-night outfits for the big night out. All of these are great way to drive engagement around the holiday theme.
Last Minute Gift Ideas
This one won’t work as well if it will take a ton of time to ship, but local businesses with an online presence should definitely take advantage of last-minute gift ideas. Include products, services, pre-made gift baskets, and whatever else might appeal to those who usually put off shopping until the last possible second. Take some super-appealing photos and consider running some geo-targeted campaigns in the days leading up to the 14th.
Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to have a little fun with both awareness and sales campaigns. Just remember to be sensitive of those who may not be in romantic relationships. We can’t wait to hear what tricks you have up your sleeve for February!
