Memorial Day marketing campaigns can bring in some much-needed revenue at the beginning of the second quarter. As a business owner, you know using upcoming holidays and national events can have a huge positive impact on your marketing campaigns.
Memorial Day is quickly approaching, and this is one of the national events that businesses of all sizes use to run marketing campaigns.
This is one of the more sensitive public holidays, however. There are some do’s and don’ts to be aware of when running marketing campaigns over Memorial Day weekend.
There are also some effective marketing strategies to employ for increased sales over the long weekend. See how to execute Memorial Day marketing campaigns successfully and sensitively.
Be Sensitive and Remember What Memorial Day Is
First of all, let’s take a moment to remind everyone what Memorial Day is, and what it means to you as a small business owner or marketer.
Most American families spend this holiday enjoying the long weekend together having BBQs, being outdoors, celebrating together, and so on.
This is only possible because men and women lost their lives fighting for this very freedom we enjoy today. It’s still a sensitive time for those who lost loved ones during military service, and those with veterans or active military family members today.
This doesn’t mean you can’t market offers to anyone affected by the war. The right offer, delivered in the right
way, will always be welcome. If not right away, then when that person has time to look at it properly.
With this in mind, here are some of the most effective Memorial Day marketing campaign ideas:
1. Run Promotions for Active Military Members and Their Families
As I mentioned above, this holiday is particularly important to families and individuals who have been affected by war or those with active duty family members.
There’s no better way to show you understand and support Memorial Day better than to run a promotion or offer that’s only available to veterans or active military personnel.
From a marketing perspective, this is a good tactic to narrow down your audience. You’re also hitting on a timely event with a highly targeted group of consumers.
If you have products or services that solve a pain point or are relevant to this section of your audience, you can expect a high ROI.
2. Use Red, White, and Blue for Your Marketing Materials
This isn’t anything innovative and new. If you look at other marketing campaigns during Memorial Day weekend, you’ll see liberal use of red, white, and blue.
This is because it works. Consumers expect to see the American flag and iconic colors everywhere over the weekend, so don’t try to go against the trend.
Additionally, if you can go an extra step and get your company logo or mascot reprinted in these colors with an appropriate tagline, that can add some extra trust to your brand over the weekend.
3. Offer Something Special to Your Email List/Existing Customers
A huge part of Memorial Day is spending it with family and loved ones.
What better way to get into that mindset as a business than to offer something special to your own “family” of loyal customers?
If you have a small audience, don’t worry. You don’t have to limit this offer to your audience, but you’ll start with them and lure in others.
Depending on the type of products or services you’re selling, find a way to encourage your customers to share the offer.
Something like a “buy one get one half off,” or “refer a friend for x% off” might work for your offer. It’s essentially a way to utilize word-of-mouth marketing starting within your own audience.
4. Use Social Media (#memorialday will be trending)
Social media is at the heart of most company’s marketing campaigns over Memorial Day.
Screen time and social media activity will be up over the weekend, and hashtags like #memorialday will be trending across several platforms.
There are a number of different strategies you can use, and it may depend on where your existing audience is.
To give you an idea, here are some of the social media strategies you should consider:
Running competitions in the weeks leading up to Memorial Day – this can generate some activity before the weekend and will encourage people to share your content.
Use Memorial Day-themed videos to promote products – if you respectfully honor the day, people will share your content.
Post coupons – if you follow the branding advice above and target certain demographics you will maximize your ROI.
Sharing Memorial Day posts – people will be consuming a lot of Memorial Day content, so make sure you have some of your own. If you can generate your own content, try reaching out to your audience, and feature those who respond.
Some Additional Tips and Things to Note
As with most marketing campaigns – especially those targeting a specific holiday period – the better prepared you are, the better success you’ll see.
The earlier you can start your marketing campaigns, the better. That’s why it’s important to develop a content strategy at the beginning of the year.
If you already have Memorial Day content on your site, don’t forget to update and reindex it with Google well in advance of the actual day. This will ensure your content comes up organically prior to or over the weekend.
It’s also important not to go all-in on one marketing channel, too. Even if most of your audience is on one platform, it’s always best to diversify your marketing efforts to reach a wider audience and increase your reach. For example, a wholistic approach to any marketing campaign combines the following elements:
- Email – Highlights the sale and some of your products
- SEO – Organic page about the topic
- PPC – A landing page that highlights the sale
- Social Media – Images and posts centered on the sale
You can link your social posts to your organic pages, or even URLs to individual items on sale for the weekend. Working in some capacity on all channels can bolster sales and increase that word-of-mouth potential.
If you plan and design all pieces alike, you can achieve a cohesive look and feel to your marketing materials. Of course, this helps solidify your branding and can entice people to come back to your site in the future.
If you follow the advice above when developing your Memorial Day marketing campaigns, it can position you to make sales and gain loyal customers.
Naturally, calling us today can bring more leads and sales to you sooner! Learn more about marketing for holidays and keeping ahead of the curve.
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