January is the month of good intentions, of new beginnings: for every business, regardless of the size of the company, it is essential to start the new year with the planning of marketing activities. Planning, in fact, means allocating your resources in terms of time and budget throughout the year and minimizing the risk of unforeseen events or surprises.
Using an editorial calendar with the important dates of the new year provides ideas for the various marketing activities to be implemented: there are so many international and world days, so it is necessary to select only those most relevant to your business.
Here are some examples of how to take advantage of certain times of the year:
Winter sales: January 6
Dates vary depending on the region, but roughly from January 6 until mid-March you can kick off the winter sales: a period in which to discount unsold items from previous months in preparation for the arrival of spring and new products.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Newsletters to their customers to alert them to the arrival of the sales a few days before January 6;
- Facebook Ads and Google Ads advertising activities to increase the number of potential customers and make your brand known;
- Local marketing initiatives, ideal for city stores, such as local Google Ads campaigns (which allow you to show our ads even while people are using Google Maps) or the publication of posts in local Facebook groups.
Valentine’s Day: February 14
It needs no introduction: Valentine’s Day has been the holiday of lovers for centuries now. Tradition has it that partners exchange gifts as a sign of affection: as we all know, gifts mean purchases, so this occasion represents an excellent opportunity for many companies. It is good to keep in mind that the choice of the gift is a long process for many people, especially if it is to surprise their partner: for this reason, the marketing activities on the occasion of Valentine’s Day must begin well before February 14.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Create Valentine’s Day-themed content for social: for Instagram, Reels, short videos with special filters and custom music, are great.
- Improve the visibility of your website by updating it with Valentine’s Day themed keywords.
- Create a banner within your website to indicate when the order should be placed if you want to receive the goods by February 14 (and insert the same message during checkout);
Women’s Day: 8 March
International Women’s Day is a holiday that has been celebrated since 1922: expressing your values, on occasions like this, can increase the trust that customers feel towards your brand, since they recognize themselves in the same principles.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Guerrilla marketing: Women’s Day is a great opportunity for bolder marketing actions that can make their mark;
- Video marketing: giving a strong message in support of the female community is very important all year round, but especially on this day.
Father’s Day: March 19
Father’s Day in Italy is celebrated on March 19: as in the case of Valentine’s Day, it is good to plan your marketing campaigns in advance in order to give people time to think about what to buy and take action.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Create bundles for the occasion and place them on the home page in order to give them the right relevance.
- Extend the period for the return of goods and indicate it within your e-commerce: if the gift is not liked, it can be easily changed and this reduces the consumer and increases the chances that he will conclude a transaction.
Easter: April 17
On this holiday, people exchange edible gifts: chocolate eggs are a great classic, but traditional dishes or baskets of food are also popular gifts.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Gamification: a much-loved Easter tradition for little ones is the egg hunt. This light-hearted atmosphere can be the right creative cue to engage your customers with themed mini-games. One idea? Bingo! Each completed action is a box to check off on the chart. Once you’ve hit bingo you could send a giveaway;
- Create downloadable materials with themed recipes: in exchange for an email you can download a pdf cookbook with ideas for the perfect Easter lunch (this is clearly only suitable for those businesses that operate in sectors related to gastronomy);
- Create a photo contest: in addition to hunting for eggs, decorating them is also a typical Easter activity. Ask your followers to share their creations with you, the most voted ones could win a gift card or a special discount.
World Earth Day: April 22
An important date to bring attention back to the preservation of the planet and to a conscious and sustainable use of resources: it’s the perfect day to show the steps taken by your business towards a greener future.
Recommended marketing activities:
- CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities: show initiatives undertaken by the company such as planting trees or donating part of the proceeds of sales during Earth Day to companies involved in research on renewable energy.
- Guerrilla marketing: as in the case of Women’s Day, this type of performance can help raise awareness of issues related to the environment and sustainability, communicating shared values.
Mother’s Day: 8 May
The holiday that every year puts tens of thousands of children around the world in crisis: towards the end of April opens the season of hunting for the perfect gift, because there is only one mother.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Create a section within the site with ideas dedicated to Mother’s Day;
- Create a new collection of items specifically for moms: once created it is necessary to promote it properly, through social campaigns and Google;
- Create emotional campaigns on Facebook and Instagram;
- Offer free content for moms, such as a video tutorial of a beauty routine or a PDF, downloadable by leaving an email contact (lead generation goal).
Summer sales: July 2nd
Summer sales are one of the most anticipated times of the year for bargain hunters: the sales period coincides with many people’s vacations, so the key to success is to send several reminders throughout the two months of deals.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Rewarding loyal customers: for those who have a registered account, it could be useful to propose a gift with every purchase made during the summer sales or to give a discount in addition to the one proposed to the non-loyal audience.
- SMS marketing: messages are a marketing strategy little used among brands. SMS arrive everywhere, they don’t depend on the computer screen: in a period when many people are on vacation or less present at the PC, it is what is needed to get noticed.
Back to school: beginning of September
September marks the return from vacation and the return to the regular rhythm of working life, the kids go back to their desks and it’s officially back to school time. Electronics, clothing, books: for those who sell these kinds of items, September and the return to school is undoubtedly one of the most important times of the year.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Facebook Ads: if the kids are on TikTok, the parents are on Facebook. That’s why you can’t miss Facebook ads in a back-to-school marketing campaign;
- Influencer marketing: collaborating with children’s idols is a very effective way to attract a large audience to your pages, even if, clearly, this is a strategy that requires a medium-high budget depending on the influencer chosen.
Halloween: 31st October
Celebrated in the United States, Halloween is a holiday that has also spread to Italy: given the growing popularity of this day, many brands have begun to propose offers and launch marketing campaigns for the occasion.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Create a scary design: involve every one of your communication channels with themed graphics and designs. Remember not to lose your brand identity while giving your design the right horror touch.
- Plan a Halloween contest: the classic contest for the best mask can be transformed and used as an excuse to receive a series of content created by your audience. Warning: you must ask for consent before reposting an image on your social profiles.
Interactive posts and quizzes: a nice way to do lead generation is to create themed tests and collect emails to send the results.
Singles Day: November 11
Also known as 11:11, Singles’ Day was born in response to Valentine’s Day. Still little known in Italy, year after year it is gaining momentum and more and more brands are participating in Single’s Day flash offers.
Recommended marketing activities:
- 11% off: so many Italian brands are offering 11% off during Singles’ Day. This is by virtue of the fact that the day falls on 11/11, a date chosen precisely because of the presence of the number one representing singles;
- Flash sales: leveraging FOMO (fear of missing out) is a good strategy for Singles’ Day. It’s easy for an eCommerce company to channel this FOMO into timed sales, which give the user a sense of urgency and product limitation (thus exclusivity).
Black Friday: November 26
Black Friday, which brings with it the beginning of Christmas shopping, falls every year on the fourth Friday of November: more and more consumers wait for this moment to take advantage of discounts and buy Christmas gifts.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Prepare for Black Friday: spending on advertising in the previous months costs less than usual and helps you increase the number of potential customers.
- Work with “hot” audiences through remarketing: bring your brand to the attention of an audience that already knows us through advertising, especially in the presence of discounts, is an excellent strategy.
- Create and use banners to give visibility to current offers.
- Intensify customer support: more user traffic within your site translates into more demand for support. To ensure a positive shopping experience even at such a busy time, invest in customer service by adding support people.
Christmas: December 25
Christmas, the most awaited day of the year by children and adults. According to tradition, people exchange gifts and this starts a real hunt through the streets of the city centers.
Recommended marketing activities:
- Gift Cards: many people are afraid to buy something the other person doesn’t need or already has. Gift cards meet this need and offer the possibility to give a gift without the risk that it will not be appreciated;
- Storytelling: Christmas lends itself so much to storytelling. People love to go back to “Once upon a time”: stories make us excited and, consequently, make us buy!
- Take advantage of the video format to wish your most loyal customers a Merry Christmas, perhaps accompanied by the presentation of an unmissable offer.
The recurrences we have indicated are just some of the most important dates that can be exploited by most companies: a good strategy is always the basis of a good marketing plan.
Alessandra FoxMarketing Specialist
@ Starsystem IT
Pubblicato il 13 January 2022
Starsystem IT srl Business Center “Ponte Regio”, Loc. Fratte, 49 – 38057 Pergine Valsugana, Trentino, Italy