We love waiting until the last minute to do things here in Kenya. Perhaps it’s because we always get extensions on the deadline day. But if you are running a business and hope to take advantage of Valentine’s Day spending, tomorrow, you don’t have that luxury.
If you didn’t prepare to promote your business on Valentine’s Day, don’t worry. HerBusiness has 5 simple marketing tips to help you increase sales on the day.
1.Couple discount
This is the go-to marketing campaign for this special day. The great thing about it is that you can pull it off, well enough, whether you prepped for it in January or are doing it with only one day to go. If you have a restaurant or a pub then give meal or drink discounts to any man in the company of a woman. If you sell commodity, like clothes, twin them up and have a discount. The strategy remains the same if you offer services. You should know about this if you want to know how to market your services beyond Valentine’s Day.
2.Give gifts
I know, giving gifts is a strategy that can fail to generate the response of increasing sales right now. You should think of it more as a customer retention strategy. Go beyond giving gifts with purchases made on Valentine’s Day. I dare you to simply give gifts to some of your customers tomorrow. Cheap enough stuff, of course.
3.Social Media campaign
What you will be trying to do is what you should always be doing on social media; that is, always communicating with your customers (and prospective ones). Celebrate couples if you’ve got a massive social media (SM) presence. How? Have a contest of the best date, couple or simply highlight some of them. If you are finding your feet on SM then do simple stuff like having Valentine’s Day themed photos, hashtags and what not.
4.Decorate premises
Do customers come to your place of business? If yes, splash the place with simple Valentine décor. Special days infect people with a spending bug and it might just rub off onto your business. You don’t have to break bank. Put balloons, heart garlands, collages or banners of red, pink or white color.
5.Tell your customers you love them
Yes, telling a person you love them is kind of a big deal. But your customers give you monies, so they deserve it don’t you think? And since “love” is special, tell this only to your special loyal customers. If your business has only few clients then you should tell all of them. Like gift-giving, this is a neat customer retention tactic.