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Valentine’s Day Marketing Tips for your Small Business

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With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, love is in the air along with a lot of money. Many small businesses have seen consumers clamp down on spending during January, but can look forward to 81% of Canadians happy to open their wallets for Valentine’s Day in the name of love. Men will foot most of the bill spending an average of $219, but women do their part spending $109 on average.

 

Traditional Gifts

Gifts like flowers, chocolate and dining continue to be top of mind for Canadian consumers. If you own one of these types of businesses you know how profitable Valentine’s Day can be. For many small business owners, it is the single busiest day of the year and some need to hire temporary staff to meet demand – not a bad problem to have. However, businesses with traditional gifts face a lot of competition. You need to differentiate yourself to get found and make easy shopping experiences for people looking for gifts.

 

Unique Gifts

Small businesses that don’t offer conventional gifts can market their products or services as Valentine’s Day gifts to stand out and get noticed as unique ideas. Anything can be a Valentine’s Day gift with the right spin on it. A hair salon voucher, car detailing service, or home cleaning service can all make great gifts. 44% of Canadians say they will strive to find creative gifts that no one would think of. All you have to do is promote your gift idea with Valentine’s Day in mind and it will all come together.

 

Here are 5 easy to implement last minute Valentine’s Day marketing strategies for small businesses

 

1. Social Media Marketing

Make sure you’re incorporating Valentine’s Day themes into your social media. By getting people into the spirit of Valentine’s Day, you’re putting them in the buying mood. You can invite engagement by asking them to share love stories or post pictures. Even though you’re not marketing your products or services directly to them, by putting the idea in their head you will be top of mind when they do choose to buy something.

 

2. Create a Gift Guide

Like other time sensitive holidays many Valentine’s Day shoppers will be last minute shoppers. Creating a gift guide to help people in need of a good suggestion is a great way to promote your products or services as a solution to their problem. As a business owner, you know if you can solve problems you have earned business. You should segment your gifts by categories to make it easier for them to find the gift that suits them best.

Some categories you can use are:

Traditional gifts – for him and her;

Gifts by themes – for example, gifts for sport lovers;

Gifts by price points – for example, gifts under $100

 

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3. Partner with another small business

All small businesses with something to offer for Valentine’s Day are technically competing for the same customers. It may make sense to partner with another small business that offers something complementary to what you offer. For example, a hair salon could partner with a nail salon or a florist could partner with a local sweets shop. Here’s how it works – both businesses offer coupons for the other’s products or services to motivate customers to do buy from the partnering business to get a “package deal”. By sharing customers both businesses benefit rather than being in competition.

 

4. Include a free item with purchase

You can gain a competitive edge by offering something for free upon purchase. For example, a restaurant could offer free deserts or cocktails for couples with the purchase of a meal for 2. If someone is looking for a restaurant, but undecided on where to eat, the restaurant offering something for free not only stands out, but also has a competitive advantage by having a more attractive offer.

 

5. Allow customers to book appointments with you

Once you have your prospect’s attention, you should make it as easy as possible for them to arrange for service. Our Booking Solution can be added seamlessly to your website, emails, Facebook, Google My Business and more so customers can easily book appointments for your service.

 

Valentine’s Day can bring in a lot of business, but it’s confined to a short period of time. The more time you can free up to spend servicing customers the more money you will make. Valentine’s Day customers are often first time customers for a lot of small businesses. If you can offer them a limited time discount, they may be back before you know it.

 

Dwight has a double major in Marketing and Business. He is passionate about helping small businesses grow and enjoys writing to provoke thought and start conversations.