Love is in the air as Valentine’s Day is approaching. We’re here to share some marketing tips that your brand can implement for this romantic day.
Love is in the Air (but not just romantically anymore!)
Valentine’s Day has become more than just a romantic day for couples to celebrate with roses and chocolates.
That means there’s even more flexibility when it comes to audience targeting!
People want to celebrate V-day with their friends, pets, family, or even co-workers. Also, don’t forget: self-love is important too.
So it doesn’t matter what your brand offering is; you could structure anything to fit the mood for love. It’s no longer a day just geared towards couples.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered – Email Marketing
50% of people between the age of 13 to 36 keep an eye out for Valentine’s Day-themed sales and promotions. If you have a promotion going on for Valentine’s Day, you should be leveraging your email newsletter to spread the word. A few weeks before February 14, start by reminding your audience that the special day is coming up and for them to get the promo in time to purchase ahead of time. On the days leading up to it, increase your frequency in email promotions!
Emails are where you can use great graphics to capture attention and increase Click-Through Rate, ultimately leading to more website traffic and sales.
Target Last-Minute Shoppers with Gift Cards
Some people are attentive preppers who like to shop for gifts way ahead of time. Some are not. For last-minute shoppers, you can consider promoting your electronic gift cards. These can be delivered directly to one’s inbox at a selected time and date or instantaneously. So it is the ultimate last-minute gift.
You can promote this across your website, social media, and email newsletter.
Spread the Love Across Channels with Your Paid Ad Strategy
A multi-pronged approach to digital advertising is typical for any business, whether B2B or B2C. Here are a few channels that are popular, effective, or worth considering in 2022:
Almost 80% of brand marketers consider Instagram an integral part of their marketing strategy. Since Instagram is owned by Facebook (or, overarchingly, Meta), it has a broad global reach. 8 out of 10 people use the social app to find something new, whether it be a hip restaurant to check out, a new clothing brand to shop from, or as simple as what their favorite celebrity has been up to. Facebook IQ reveals that 87% of users have taken action after seeing a post featuring a product and its information. The actions might be:
- Following your brand
- Visiting your retail store
- Purchasing from your eCommerce store
Because Instagram’s visual-oriented, it’s especially effective for brand awareness and retargeting.
Eye-grabbing taglines and complementary imagery go hand-in-hand for Valentine’s Day.
- Audio
Audio streaming platforms like Spotify are skyrocketing in popularity.
People stream audio on the go: on their commute to work when they’re jogging, pumping iron at the gym, or doing chores at home. Anywhere, anytime.
Aside from music, there are also podcasts for every niche you can think of. The most popular audio ad platforms are:
- Spotify
- Pandora
- SiriusXM
- Sonos Advertising
- Stitcher
- Apple Music
- Amazon Music
Take a look at Spotify Advertising:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YCXJrqUdrk
Here are three quick reasons it’s superior to advertising on traditional radio.
Firstly, you’ll be able to gather detailed consumer data with audio ads. You can know their behavior, demographic, etc. Whereas with traditional radio, you don’t get as in-depth insights into who people listened to your ad or took action.
Secondly, audio streaming can be done through desktop and mobile apps, which means they can serve ads anytime. Spotify, for example, offers companion ads, which is a display ad shown on the app while your audio ad is playing. In addition, it allows users to click through to your landing page.
Lastly, unlike traditional radio advertising, you’ve not limited to a specific channel or timeslot that many other brands fight over. Instead, you can choose to serve ads on specific podcasts or artist music based on your target demographic’s interests. Because your ads would be highly relevant to listeners, they would fit seamlessly blend into the audio content they’re consuming. This creates a smoother listening experience, resulting in better ad recall and conversions.
We recommend giving this versatile channel a try! Running a campaign a few weeks before Valentine’s Day would be helpful to garner awareness and give consumers an ample amount of time to learn about your brand and convert.
- Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH)
Billboards have always been great at capturing people’s attention. However, with technology advancing rapidly, this traditional ad format has also upgraded. Typically placed in high foot-traffic areas such as bus stations and airports and in business elevators or doctor offices, digital billboards – also known as Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) takes billboard ads to a whole new level. You can serve different ads at different times of the day, or even depending on the weather!
You are exhausted after a long day at work, and it’s just pouring rain outside. What if you saw a DOOH ad at the bus station with vibrant imagery of Hawaii promoting tourism? It must be nice, right? Whereas when the weather is more excellent, you might see an ad for general travel.
Brands have the flexibility to get creative!
The most significant benefit of DOOH is you’re bound to get eyes on your ad. Running a two-week campaign leading up to February 14 would boost brand awareness.
Giftboxes for Influencers
Influencer marketing has been a lucrative channel of success. It’s great for driving brand awareness and sales. In 2022, it’s projected that the influencer market will become a $15 billion industry.
If you have a campaign planned for February 14, reach out to influencers earlier on (we’d say around the holidays in December), so they can plan and create quality content to promote your brand!
Even if you’re not sponsoring a post, it’s still a great occasion to show your appreciation for your partnership. Consider putting together a Valentine’s Day care package and mail it to them! You never know; you still may receive shoutouts in their day-to-day Insta-stories, which is also suitable for brand exposure. It’s the little things that help foster the relationships you work with.
Upsell with Bundle Deals & Freebies
Carefully curate a selection of products you think would fit well together for the occasion. They need to complement each other, or it wouldn’t appeal to the customer. Especially if bundles are charged are a slightly higher price. They can be packaged in limited edition gift boxes for even better presentation.
For example, you might be a wellness company that sells health and wellness products. You could put together a “Self-Care” package that features a variety of your products. For example, essential oil bath bombs, organic facial masks, vegan chocolate, etc., are all neatly wrapped together in red ribbons (or V-Day motif you’d like). You can then market it as “Valentine’s Date for 1”, promoting it both online and in-store.
If you have any excess inventory from Black Friday and Boxing Day sales, you can even try bundling them with your current offerings (only if it’s relevant, of course!). It could be a freebie for when someone makes a minimum amount purchase.
Create an Online Gift Guide
You can create a gift guide on different mediums, such as a blog format, a dedicated web page, email, or even a PDF resource that can only be accessed by filling out a form.
Carefully curate a selection of your product offerings to showcase the mood for love.
If you’re promoting it through email or a webpage, you’re able to prompt clicks to the dedicated page for each product in your guide.
If you’re creating a gift guide PDF for people to download, provide them with an exclusive promo code. People will be giving you their contact information, which you can utilize in future advertising campaigns (such as email promotions or uploading it as a list of audiences to Facebook), and that’s invaluable!
We hope some of these tips inspired you to think about your Valentine’s Day strategy. A lot of these can be implemented into your year-round marketing tactics too. Happy Valentine’s Day!
