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Love is in the air! It’s funny how no one told me it would be there yesterday. As I woke up this morning and looked at the calendar I wasn’t happy or cheerful. I was desperate because I’ve completely forgotten about St. Valentine’s Day.
Lucky for me I usually wake up a few hours before my wife and I had the time to rush out and get a nice set of flowers and chocolates. Dear Lord, the prices today will bite your arm and leg off!
Of course, there are no reservations for the evening available, but I’ve got all of that covered anyway. We’ll have a nice romantic walk downtown, there will be live music performers and a fire show there today for everyone.
What can be more romantic than a walk with your loved one in the snow with a paper cup of hot wine and a smile? Then we will slip into the Caffey “we feel like going in for real” (the one that has tables) and the present… Let’s just say it got delayed at the mail office and keep it as our little secret.
Saved by the bell!
However, as I was fighting through the crowd at the flower shop I caught a funny thought, “hey, there are a lot of last minute-shoppers just like myself here. Maybe there are some last-minute marketers out there who are unprepared for the holiday?”
Thus I present to you my list of last-minute St. Valentine’s marketing ideas that will knock the socks off your clients.
The pop-up banner
How long does it take to set up a pop-up banner? With modern day automation software like HubSpot and SimplyBook.Me – mere moments.
Pick a cute image from a free stock website, slap some text onto it in a free photo editor and add some value through a date-specific discount or even better – a coupon people will trade for their email and you are done!
Everyone visiting your website today will be cheered by a cute cupid and they will get a better deal than expected, meaning people will come back for more. It’s a win-win!
Change your schedule
Try working when people usually don’t do business. The night will become a romantic journey for many couples and who knows how many may stumble upon your business evidently. Who knows how many people will need your service?
Just think about it – what choice would a lady have if the snow ruined her hair just before the very important date when your salon is the only one running in town after 6 P.M.? Same can be said about clothes and car repair shops, gift shops, grocery stores and more.
Making an exception in your schedule for one night when you know people will be out during the night can bring in a groundbreaking ROI on the investment of extra hours.
Go social
Social media is a glorious playground for unprepared marketers as you can post anything at any given moment of time while still being seen by people in real time. Don’t take just my word for it though. Here’s a nice list of social media activities you can launch within an hour or so:
- Send out personalized offers to your top paying customers. They will love the attention and share your love to them across their own network of connections.
- Ask others for help. Say you’ve created an event that promotes something kind and caring like a St. Valentine’s themed charity raise. Get your fans involved – ask them to share the news thus increasing the chances of the higher goal to succeed while generating positive PR.
- Just share a hell lot of cute, holiday-themed visuals or hilarious “love is…” memes. They are destined to go viral tonight.
This brings up to an important question: how well are you prepared for St. Valentine’s Day? Share your marketing strategies in the comments!