Originally posted 2/3/23

It’s that time of year again. You saw the displays up in stores just hours after Christmas. That's right, Valentine's Day. Now, I will not get into the debate about Valentine's Day's storied origin. No matter where it started, it is a $23.9 Billion industry, and no matter what small business you own, there is a piece of that massive pie for you. The big question is, how do you promote your business on Valentine’s Day? Today I will give you three tips on reaching your target market with this February theme.

Love

As Valentine’s day is about Love, it's important to allow the framework of that word, Love, to encompass more than romantic partner love. Valentine’s day can encourage and promote loving relationships on all fronts. With that in mind, my first tip for promoting your business during this holiday season is to do it from the perspective of Love. Don’t shut me out just yet; hear me out here. If we are not only quantifying love as kissy, huggy lovers-type relationships, then marketing from a perspective of love can reach much further than you might initially think. It can be simple. Let's talk about reaching out to a few of your current customers. I have a few loyal customers, and I know something about them. I can promote my business to them, keeping me top-of-mind by addressing their wants and needs as clients and people. Taking the theme of Valentine's day, I can do something as simple as order their favorite Starbucks drink and deliver it with a simple card that expresses how much they mean to me. If you take a moment to think about it, you have at least one client where you know exactly how to make their day. Those acts, my friend, are an expression of love. Even though we are talking about business and keeping ourselves top-of-mind, doing it from the heart changes the dynamic of the relationship and can both make them feel good about themselves and also feel good about you.

Originality

It can be so easy to run down to the nearest pharmacy and grab a cheesy card and send it with flowers. I am not knocking it, but it's far from the original. We are talking about marketing your business - you need to stand out from the crowd. I am not necessarily talking about broad and deep marketing campaigns here, I am going back to intentional and thoughtful relationships. I will share a “Happy Valentines” graphic on all my social media sites, like every other business. So how can I stand apart from the noise? Well, I encourage you to get your research on. Research an ambiguous story or event that you can spin into a Valentine's Worthy Ad, Promo, or just a curated post. If you have shifted your eyes from commercialized hearts and roses and started to look at people and situations with a more relational point of view, I am certain you will find something. The world is full of beautiful, loving, kind, sweet, romantic acts of kindness; all you need to do is look for them. If finding a beautiful story isn’t your thing, that's OK. Still, you must find a way to be original in your Valentine's Day Marketing.

Simplicity

Valentine's Day is an interesting holiday. It's not a season or a bank holiday, and kids don’t get the day off from school. Considering it is just one day, be it a $23+ billion day, still, it's just a day. My third tip for you is to keep it simple. Unless you just love everything about Valentine's day and want to post something about it from the first to the fourteenth, you do you. I will not judge that level of excitement, but if you are struggling to market for this one-day holiday, how? Keep it simple. Take a client out for lunch or drop off a potted plant to your green-thumbed-plant-loving client. Schedule a coffee break with a book-loving client at a bookstore, or strap on your tennies and take an active client on a brisk lunchtime walk. These simple acts increase your value to these clients. And since Valentine's day is about “love,” it makes sense to keep it simple, intentional, and relational. You can hand these special clients a sweet valentine's card, but taking an interest in them is worth so much more, ever so simple.

Marketing your small business has always been about relationships. It will always be about how you create, invest, and foster those relationships over the years of your business. It is the backbone of your success, and treating some of those relationships to a special something to celebrate this holiday, is simply investing in what you have already created.

Till Next Week- Take care-

Jennifer K. Cooper, JKC Mobile Notary