No matter what kind of business you’re running, having targeted marketing campaigns couldn’t be more important when it comes to boosting awareness of your brand and promoting the products and services that you offer. While there are numerous triggers for these campaigns, from the release of new products to the promotion of a special offer, there’s another kind of marketing campaign that a lot of businesses run – campaigns that are based on special events, occasions, and notable calendar dates.
Relevant events and occasions throughout the calendar represent a fantastic opportunity for marketing campaigns. These occasions allow you to engage effectively with your customers at the very times that they’re most eager to spend. Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, the summer vacation period and, of course, the festive season, are all popular times to launch specific marketing campaigns as they give you the chance to maximize your profit by tapping into seasonal promotions. But how can you really make the most of these exciting opportunities? Let’s take a closer look at how to market your business around special occasions throughout the year.
The Benefits of Occasion and Date-Based Marketing Campaigns
If you run marketing campaigns around significant events or dates, you can reap numerous benefits. Notable calendar dates act as an excellent hook for your promotion or sale. They also attract a lot of interest on all the social media platforms. This increases the likelihood of users sharing the content that you publish.
Furthermore, most of the major holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving are all associated with consumer spending peaks, so you can harness the power of your prospective customers’ spending power by focusing your campaigns around these key dates.
Pinpointing Key Dates for Your Business
The first step to maximizing the potential of event-based marketing campaigns for your business is to pinpoint the best dates in the calendar to suit your company’s products and services. While there are certain times of the year that virtually every business can tap into, such as the school summer break, the festive season, and Halloween, there are other occasions and events that have particular relevance to certain sectors and industries. For example, the Olympics will be a key event for sporting goods companies to tap into. While Valentine’s Day is the ideal occasion for businesses like Eternity Rose that specialize in gifts and jewelry to launch tailored marketing campaigns.
You can get off to the best start by planning your annual content marketing calendar in advance. Check out the key dates in the year and note down which seasonal events are most relevant for your company. Add each one onto your calendar and add a note to begin planning and executing each specific strategy a minimum of 6 weeks before the event itself.
Begin With a Concept
Finding the perfect hook for seasonal promotions is vital. Perhaps you’ll have a special deal or product to promote that coincides with the event. For example, with the month of January now being associated with Veganuary, you could offer specific discounts on vegan food in your store, offer special vegan menus in your restaurant, or publish social media posts about how your product supports a vegan lifestyle.
Think carefully about what is going to resonate with your target market then draw up clear goals, aligning them with creative concepts for the most strategic approach. By doing this, you’ll be able to come up with ideas for content for your campaign’s duration that is relevant, engaging, and highly converting.
Themed Blogging and Videos
Blogging remains one of the best ways to reach your target market. Writing creative blog posts surrounding an event or occasion is an excellent way of showing off your brand’s personality while driving up more website traffic and promoting your offerings in a subtle yet effective way.
The same is true for your YouTube channel. Let your subscribers know in advance using reels and the community feature that you will be doing something special. Make sure that your posts aren’t too sales focused – the goal is to inform and engage your audience. For example, if you’re running a floristry business, you could create a Mother’s Day-related post about traditional floral gifts, leaving some space to naturally point to your special Mother’s Day packages.
Use Email Marketing Campaigns and Social Media Trends
Email marketing campaigns are a vital element of any event-based strategy. Make sure you begin in plenty of time though – your campaign should be launched at least a month before the event itself. Pull together your email database and make sure that customers are sent offers that are personalized and relevant to them. Avoid sending out excessive numbers of emails, and take sure to ensure each one offers something compelling to the customer. Blog posts can also be used in the format of an email newsletter, allowing you to repurpose your content and put it to maximum use.
Social media platforms offer outstanding opportunities to build up your brand profile for any special occasion or event. With your already-planned-out content calendar, you’ll already have ideas for content to publish across your social media sites, but don’t forget to take the opportunity to run event-specific promotions via social media too.
Make sure you watch conversations and hop onto any memes or hashtags that are relevant to your brand. Don’t overlook the potential of visual content when it comes to social media campaigns, and bear in mind that user-generated content on these platforms can be the perfect way of driving engagement.
Prepare Your Website
When any specific event is relevant for your company, it’s often worth creating a special landing page, section, or customized look for the occasion. Your website can be refreshed with visuals, CTAs and copy that reflects the event or the season. Don’t feel as if the entire website requires a full revamp – just adding a themed wallpaper or a couple of small graphics may be enough to meet your marketing needs.
Making the Most of Key Events
As you can see, there are many ways to take advantage of key dates, events, and occasions throughout the year. By using the ideas we’ve suggested here, you can maximize your marketing potential and increase your revenue at these specific times of the year.
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