Why You Shouldn't Ignore "Mini" Holidays
Just because it’s not Christmas or 4th of July doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be building great, seasonal marketing campaigns. "Mini" holidays, like Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, or even the Academy Awards offer ideal opportunities to boost revenue and brand engagement through quick, targeted campaigns. Because trends vary year to year and the ramp up to these holidays is shorter, marketers can use these holidays to test out new strategies (symbols in subject lines, perhaps?) and be a little more daring.
One big reason to jump on the mini holiday bandwagon: money. Valentine’s Day is now the 2nd biggest holiday for gift-giving, only sitting behind Christmas. If the dollars alone don't convince you these holidays are worth the marketing effort and resources, here’s a few more reasons to help bring you around:
A captive audience. Holidays come around every year. People look forward to them, and associate the day with its predecessors. If mom hosted a successful Valentine's Day party last year that everyone loved, she’s on the hunt for ways to make this year’s party even better. You’re guaranteed a captive, engaged audience when you revolve a message around these holidays.
A chance to get creative. You don’t have to hawk your product to bring attention to your brand. Holidays like Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day are a chance for people, especially moms, to get creative with their cards, parties, crafts, and more. At Punchbowl, our business is digital cards and party invitations, but on our site, we offer a wealth of party ideas from recipes to decorations to party favors, and more. For Valentine’s Day, you’ll find ideas such as holiday-specific cocktails and cake pop recipes. These are very visual bits of information that show very well on sites like Facebook and Pinterest, where moms are hungry to find fresh, creative ideas that make their Valentine’s Day that much more unique.
A TON of buying power. The average for Valentine’s Day spending is $13.2 billion. That includes chocolate, candy, flowers, cards, and other gifts. For brands, there is huge – and growing – opportunity to reach all age ranges – not just those in a relationship. Consider moms buying gifts for their young children, or girlfriends sending each other cards and trinkets. Hey, even 3% of people bought a Valentine’s Day gift for their pet.
Valentine’s Day is coming up fast, but think ahead to St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo. How does your brand fit into those holidays? If you’re a paper towel brand, you might target moms cleaning up green frosting after baking leprechaun cookies with the kids. Maybe you’re a juice company that has some fresh, new margarita recipes to show off. You know your brand best. Pull together a brainstorming team to select some mini holidays for your brand to focus on and some imaginative campaigns to try out. Your finance team will thank you.
Gifts are the biggest cost for holidays, followed by food and cards.
Not sure how to get started? Check out our white paper, “How Holidays Stack Up: 15 Cool Charts & Graphs” to see which holidays are most lucrative.