Are you in business attempting to market an upcoming “Hallmark” Day?  By “Hallmark” Day, we refer to occasions that have been turned into commercial events.

Wikipedia state:

“a Hallmark holiday is a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally or historically significant event.”

Marketing or promoting your product or services for occasions like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. needs a strategy.

So what are the 4 steps to marketing these days for your business?

Step 1 – Plan Ahead

For any successful event, you will need to market it at least 6 weeks in advance.  Ideally, you should have a marketing plan mapped out. Think about the 1st January. What do you see in the supermarket in the first week in January?  Cadbury’s crème eggs!  No matter what date Easter falls, the crème egg is available to buy in early January.  It’s a very different product to see and always stands out.

What is the end date or deadline that you are working towards?  What is the volume of product or service that needs to be sold by that date?  Have you broken down your sales into targets by day or by week?

Planning your sales activity is important, but also ensure you have a marketing plan in place.  What needs to happen 6 weeks in advance?

Step 2 – Follow your plan

Be sure to follow your plan or deviate from it in a strategic way, if necessary.

What needs to be done and when?  Each element of marketing will need its own attention.  For example, if you are using email marketing, then create content and effective subject line titles in advance, where possible?  When are you going to send the email?  How many emails in relation to that particular “Hallmark” day is enough?

Map out all of the marketing activity.  It might be emails, social media, website content, advertising, sponsorship, radio interviews, etc.  Track day by day where you are in relation to your plan.  Try to keep the plan on track.

Step 3 – Advertise

Unfortunately as business social media account holders, we really do need to “pay to play” – this means we need to pay for advertising.  Ensure your advertising is targeted at the right audience.  Know your target customer.

If you’re selling Mother’s Day items, then target the right demographic.  Also be mindful of the loss and sensitivity of loss around the day.  I’ve seen some great examples from retailers such as Brown Thomas and Marks & Spencer offering to remove you from Mother’s Day emails if you don’t want them.  This is a very good strategy on their part as it makes sure not to upset customers by reminding them of a day that might not be a happy one for all.

Advertising comes in many formats, both online and offline.  Choose the format that suits you best in terms of budget and reaching your end user or target customer.

Step 4 – Make the customer journey easy

The pandemic has driven so many of us to purchase online rather than in-store.  Have you improved your website purchase experience for your customer?  Do you know that customers are able to use your website ok to make purchases?  Where are they “falling off” on the buying journey.  Investment in user experience and user interface can be a cost to the business.  However, experts in these fields can bring your website to a whole new level.  They can point out where to improve the customer journey.

Or you can simply ask and listen to your customers!  Having 10 clicks to add a product to a shopping cart is not ideal.  Keep the purchasing stage as simple as possible.

If the purchase is being made in store, then try to keep this simple too.  Make the product easy to reach and easy to find. Visually appealing is important – both in the online an offline worlds.

In summary, if you’d like help with a marketing plan or a marketing strategy, that is what we do!  Get in touch to find out more.