The average American spends $146.84 on Valentine’s Day, making the holiday a $19.6 billion industry that’s rife with opportunity for savvy businesses to boost sales. Your customers will fall in love with you — and you’ll love February’s sales figures — when you incorporate the following five Valentine’s Day marketing tips into your strategy.
1. Target your marketing wisely
Think about who you're marketing to on Valentine’s Day. Are you promoting your products to people who will add them to their wish lists, or the people who are making the purchases?
A jeweler promoting a woman’s necklace might be better off targeting men than women, given that women might not ask for such an expensive gift while men are the ones doing the shopping. Men spend twice as much as women on Valentine’s Day – but 85 percent of greeting cards are purchased by women – and half the people who say they don’t want a Valentine’s gift are lying.
In addition, keep in mind that not all Valentine’s Day gifts are for romantic partners. Valentine’s Day gifts are also purchased for children and other family members, friends, coworkers, and even pets!
2. You don’t need to sell candy and flowers to cash in on Valentine’s Day
The most popular Valentine’s Day gifts are greeting cards, followed by candy and flowers — but that doesn’t mean you need to sell these products to profit from the holiday. Dining out, clothing and gift cards are also popular Valentine’s Day gifts; and interests are so varied that more than 11 percent of gifts don’t fall into a traditional category. Here’s a breakdown:
- Greeting cards: 52.1%
- Candy: 47.5%
- Flowers: 34.4%
- Jewelry: 17.3%
- Dining out: 34.6%
- Clothing: 14.4%
- Gift cards: 12.6%
- Other: 11.2%
The bottom line? You can promote anything on Valentine’s Day. All you need to do is convince people their loved ones will love what you sell.
3. Increase Valentine’s Day profits with impulse buys
Encouraging impulse purchases on Valentine’s Day can boost profits significantly, given that men spend an average of $41 on impulse buys and women spend an average of $31.
Checkout discounts and accessory displays can increase business at the register. Or, print stickers or hang tags to draw attention to products that have high profit margins. If your shop is located in a mall or other area with considerable foot traffic, window cling printing can turn window shoppers into paying customers.
4. Be useful with value-added marketing tools
Help your audience find the perfect gift by printing booklets as Valentine’s Day gift guides. Do your customers leave for romantic excursions? Print a romantic trip guide instead. Maybe your customers are event organizers or nonprofit organizations – you can print a guide to hosting the perfect Valentine’s Day fundraiser.
The goal is to be a useful resource your audience trusts for recommendations, whether they’re buying gifts, planning a trip or trying to turn a profit on their own. Create content that helps them achieve their goals, then pepper it with recommendations to purchase your own products and services. You might even add a coupon page or a unique discount offer to motivate sales.
5. Partner with others
Partnerships can help you expand your marketing reach significantly without increasing your investment. Seek partnerships with noncompeting businesses that share your audience.
For example, a restaurant might partner with a movie theater and a spa to create a special couple’s night out Valentine’s Day package. Couples can purchase a massage, dinner and a movie at a discount price, which is great for customers, and all three businesses make more money because they split the marketing investment and earn more sales (one idea: print postcards to send to a well-targeted list and flyers to place at each location prior to the holiday).
Use these Valentine’s Day marketing tips to attract more customers and increase holiday sales this year. When you’re ready to produce your marketing materials, be sure to maximize your ROI with discount printing services!
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