Valentine’s Day can provide big business as people will quite often spend a lot of money on treating the ones they love. Many businesses can utilise this time of year to drive revenue and increase spend on gifts. Traditionally, gifts such as jewellery, clothes, dinner or flowers are associated with Valentine’s Day, however, that shouldn’t stop any other brands from trying to promote their products too.
We also see a lot of love for our furry friends on Valentine’s Day as well as significant others, with many seeing their pets to be just as deserving of a Valentine’s gift. According to the National Retail Federation, 21.2% of people they surveyed plan to buy gifts for their pets and on average, more than double is spent on pets during the Valentines period compared to how much is spent during the Halloween period. This indicates how any business can potentially capitalise on the Valentines period.
We’re here to provide some useful tips and tricks which can help you to promote your business during the Valentines period and increase revenue and brand awareness.
Gift Guides
Gift Guides can be a really powerful way to attract buyers to your store. Shoppers are often unsure of what to buy or what gifts would go together, particularly if they’re trying to buy Valentine’s themed gifts. Gift Guides give buyers an idea of the kinds of products on offer while giving them some much-needed inspiration to help generate ideas. You can also reach out to bloggers that have the same target audience as your customer base to highlight your products and increase brand awareness. Being included in a trusted bloggers gift guide can provide a big boost for your brand, particularly when shopping for a holiday such as Valentine’s Day.
A lot of customers like to surprise that special someone in their life and anonymous gifting is a lovely way to do this. Many brick and mortar stores offer this service for Valentine’s gifts for free, so providing this service can give you an edge for your online business too. Shopify merchants can utilise an app called “One Click Upsell” which provides users with a gift wrapping option at checkout. You can also include a greeting card in the package for that special message for your significant other to give it that extra special touch.
Daily Deals and Time-Sensitive Offers
Many gift buyers will often buy things at the last minute, usually under the pretence that they have plenty of time to buy their gift until they don’t. A lot of buyers will also hesitate or think too hard about their decisions before making the jump. Creating daily deals and time-sensitive offers creates a sense of urgency and can give gift buyers that little push they need to make the purchase sooner rather than later.
Special Valentine’s promotions can drive revenue over the Valentine’s period. Using flash sales with a timer on the sale promotion can help create a greater sense of urgency and can help drive buyers to complete the purchase immediately, giving those who are unsure the gentle push they need to make a purchase.
Using Social Media to Market Your Brand
Social Media is an everyday part of people’s lives in today’s society, and utilising it for a Valentine’s marketing campaign can greatly increase awareness and ultimately drive revenue. Facebook Ads are one of the most effective ways of engaging due to Facebook’s high market share in the social media market. Facebook Ads manager has helpful tools for retargeting customers using email lists and phone numbers to help re-engage with previous customers who may have bought during a different holiday period such as Christmas. Effective targeted campaigns can be achieved through Facebook on just a low daily budget.
YouTube is another highly popular platform that can provide great benefit due to many regarding it as a highly influential channel for purchasing decisions as shoppers are able to see a product in action. Asking an influencer to provide product reviews for your Valentine’s gifts on YouTube can help increase awareness while giving your potential customers the sense they’re getting unbiased advice from a real person.
Other platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest can also give your Valentines campaigns a boost. Instagram offers a carefully selected and curated feed for your audience, while Snapchat can be used to show the realistic side of your brand. Pinterest users can also create themed boards using images to create a themed gift set or to save a selection of options to decide from later. Feeding back into the gift guide point earlier, an influencer could also use Pinterest to create a Pinterest board curated from the items they rate highly for Valentine’s day and share this with their followers.
Summary
Valentine’s Day isn’t just a revenue booster for chocolates, flowers, jewellery and expensive dinners, many businesses can profit from the marketing opportunities presented to them by this romantic time of year. Using gift guides can help offer ideas and showcase what products you have to offer, while anonymous gifting options can help you compete with the high street.
If you want to create a sense of urgency, we recommend daily deals and time-sensitive offers to help those hesitant buyers and last-minute purchasers take the jump and buy that gift. Finally, use the reach of social media platforms to your advantage – they’re a powerful and cost-effective way of generating hype and awareness for your products and your brand!
