Valentine’s day is a day devoted to lovers, but ecommerce retailers are also promised a great time because of the sales that happen on this day. Devising marketing campaigns for this day cannot be an afterthought. The marketing campaigns should start much earlier and have to be as impactful as possible because there is a lot of noise created by other brands. You need to stand out to drown all the other noise.

If you want to be a top seller on this day, here are 7 marketing ideas that will pay rich dividends:

1. Hold a social media contest:

   Without a doubt, most of your customers, especially the ones in love, are going to lurk on social media websites scouting for good gifts. Why not conjure up an interesting contest which everyone could participate in? It will drive a lot of engagement for your brand as well as for your Valentine’s day promotions.

   Here are some things that you need to make sure while holding a social media contest:

   • The contest should be easy.
   • Anyone should be able to participate in it.
   • Should take very little time for the participant to complete the task.
   • The contest should have exciting prizes.

2. Create heartwarming content:

   Here’s an idea that will surely bring big bucks to your brand in terms of engagement. Interview interesting couples who are also your customers. Even plain love stories are beautiful when the couple talk about their love for each other.

   Videos like these will grab a lot of eyeballs and can give you the necessary fillip that you were looking for for your brand’s reach. If not an interview of the couples, you can also use the occasion to ask a series of questions to different couples. Even a simple question like “How did both of you meet?” will have amazing answers. Ask this question to different couples and create a series of videos like this. It will surely draw a lot of people to your brand.

3. Create a content calendar:

   It is already time for you to start creating content for Valentine’s day, isn’t it?

   Use the idea for the video above in the last point and create such content every day. Create a lot of graphics and memes surrounding Valentine’s day. Get the most out of this holiday by keeping your customers hooked to your brand. Ensure that the content is passed in such a way that after consuming it, the visitor should land on your website or interact with your products.

4. Promote gift cards:

   Let’s say that your customers are confused with what to buy or they do not want to come to the store or want their partner to choose an item that they prefer the most, then gift cards are the best choice as a gift. So here’s what you can do- create Valentine’s day themed gift cards and market them for everyone who walks into your store, online or otherwise.

   Do inform your email newsletter subscribers about your Valentine’s day themed gift cards. They would love you for it and might even get it as an extra gift on top of whatever they were planning to buy initially for their partner. To maintain social distancing, gift cards help, because you do not want to walk into physical stores, at least not yet.

5. Create special Valentine’s day bundle gifts:

   Do you want to sell more products to your customers on Valentine’s day?

   Of course, who is going to say no to something like that. Here’s an idea that you can employ to get the most out of this day. You have a bunch of products that your customers would love to gift their partner? Great. Now create different bundles of these products.

   Create promotional bundle packages that include the items at your store. You can even cross-promote with the help of other brands who also have quirky products to sell. That way, you will get their help with promotions as well.

   Let’s say you are a brand that sells customized products, you can partner with a bunch of other partners. For example, you can get in touch with a spa, get a deal from them for your customers, talk to your local florist, get good deals for certain flowers, go to your local bakery that makes fresh pastries every day, and so on. By the end of this exercise, you will have a bouquet of products that you can promote and sell your customers.

6. Two for One deals:

   Valentine’s day is all about love and that means two people becoming one. A ‘Two for One’ deal is an eye-catching marketing deal. It will even send the ones that don’t have a partner for the day, packing to your place. You can even sell off products that aren’t doing so well by adding them to this sale.

   Put a little more effort into packaging this deal properly, and you will be able to make a profit off it, even if you were to sell the products at a much cheaper rate than you would have hoped to.

7. Create a Valentine’s day gifting guide:

   You want your customers to check out your products without coming across as completely sales-y?

   Here’s what you can do.

   Create a Valentine’s day gifting guide and insert most of your products in the guide, this way, it will look organic. You can even partner with other brands and you can get commissions on each product that is sold through your link.

   Arrange the gift ideas in different ways, instead of forcing people to go through a myriad of products before they sell properly.

   Create the gift guide in such a way that there are specific ideas for ‘him’, ‘her’, couples, teenagers, etc

   You can also divide the guide into different themes, like gifts that art lovers would love to have. Gifts for home decor enthusiasts, collectibles enthusiasts, and so on. You can also help them choose based on their budget by categorizing the products accordingly.

   It makes the entire process of browsing through the products that they are looking for, much more easier when they do this. When you arrange the products based on different themes, you will even be able to get the attention of customers who were looking for something specific.

   You can either create it as a downloadable (and linkable) PDF, send them directly to your email newsletter subscribers or use it as a lead magnet on your website. You can even do all of the three, and more, to make it easy for customers who are looking to buy.

Conclusion:

While not everyone celebrates Valentine’s day, it is a day which spreads a lot of love and cheer. Ecommerce businesses should leverage this day to make the most of what is possible by coming up with innovative products on top of clever marketing strategies.

We believe that some of the strategies that we have mentioned in this article will surely help catapult your sales. If you are looking to increase sales on Valentine’s day and are looking to promote gift cards for doing the same, allow 99minds to help you. Get in touch with us and talk to our customer success agents, they will be more than happy to offer you the right solution for your gift card needs.