The 4th of July is one of the hottest times of the year for sales and shopping. But it’s not this month’s only event that will help you connect with and convert many new customers. There’s Amazon Prime Day, a host of celebration days (like National Ice Cream Day), and more summer themes to tap into than we can count.
We’ve gathered up 51 July promotion ideas and enough examples to inspire your marketing all month long. Find your favorites, tweak them for your brand, and keep the Independence Day momentum going straight into August.
Contents
- Give your July promotions a summer vibe
- Get patriotic for the 4th of July
- Go all-in on Amazon Prime Day
- Launch a summer-themed giveaway
- Offer occupational discounts
- Get subscribers with your July promotion
- Celebrate days of observance and seasonal stand-outs
💡 Download the Mega Must-Have Marketing Calendar to get a year’s worth of promotion ideas.
Give your July promotions a summer vibe
You may sell things that are useful all year, but with a bit of finesse, you can help shoppers see why your products are a summertime necessity. So, make sure you’re tailoring your July marketing messages for the summer vibe.
Position your products for summer
Try positioning your products in scenarios where your customers will use them this time of year. That’ll help them imagine how much better their July adventures will be once they get your goods.
Use imagery and emotional copy to tell a story where the shopper is the hero and what you sell is the perfect sidekick.
Get help from influencers
Influencer marketing is an excellent play here since influencers can speak authentically to their audience about what’s happening during the season. Find an influencer with an audience that matches your ideal customer, and work with them to talk about what you sell in the context of summer.
Pair your summer positioning with a discount
You’ve got their interest. Now, close the deal by offering a July or summer-only discount on this season’s must-have items.
The time-sensitive deal will motivate some of those undecided shoppers to get going and complete their purchase.
Want more? Here are a few other ways you can capture the sensation of summer in your July promotions:
- Run an Instagram poll to find out people’s favorite (flavor, color, model) and give a discount on the winning product.
- Combine social shopping to place ads people can buy from without leaving their favorite social media app.
- Run a user-generated content campaign asking people to share a photo of your product in a summer situation (like at the beach or at a baseball game).
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Use these 4th of July promotion ideas
There are so many themes associated with the 4th of July, from family to freedom to fireworks. These July promotion ideas tap into several of those motifs for fun and engaging marketing messages.
Use a 4th of July promo code
Promo codes are great because they help you attribute transactions to specific marketing campaigns. Try one this July to see how well your promotions increase sales.
Some buyers are more attuned to looking for coupons over codes, so you may want to try that variation as well.
No matter how you present it, add relevant hashtags to your 4th of July social posts, like #July4thpromo and #Independencedaydeals. That’ll help make your seasonal deals easier to find.
Add a timer to your 4th of July promo
Seasonal discounts are fleeting by nature. To increase the sense of urgency for your 4th of July sale, add a countdown timer.
You can also highlight the need to move quickly in other ways. Try having a 24-hour sale, offering a limited quantity, or only offering the discount to the first 100 (or 1,000) buyers.
Offer a huge discount
You won’t be the only business rustling up conversions for the 4th holiday. A 10% discount won’t turn many heads, so make a bigger splash with a deal no one can refuse.
Don’t forget about BOGO deals or gifts-with-purchase as desirable alternatives.
Feature products made in the USA
Independence Day leaves people feeling particularly patriotic. Let them know they’re buying locally by spotlighting items made in the USA.
For service businesses, highlight that you are local, use local suppliers, or have a staff that grew up in the area.
Go all-in on Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day typically occurs for two days in the second or third week of July. It’s become a huge deal, with millions of shoppers dropping billions of dollars during the event.
You only have 48 hours to capitalize on Prime Day, so here are a few ways to get the most out of it.
Prime influencers before the big day
There’s a huge buzz on social media about Prime Day. Influencers galore share their favorite finds. You can get ahead of the game by leaking your best Prime Day discounts to influencers and accounts in your space.
These social media personalities gain followers by promoting hot deals, so they’ll be grateful for any heads-up they can share on their feeds.
Use sponsored ads on Amazon
The first day of Prime Day in 2023 (July 11) was the largest sales day in Amazon’s history. That means a lot of shoppers were perusing the website. A sponsored ad on Amazon is one way to get in front of all that traffic.
You don’t need to create a July or Prime Day-specific ad. Just time it to show during the height of the event. Here’s an example Amazon shared.
According to Amazon, the brand in this example increased sales to new customers by 69% using this tactic.
Promote your Prime Day deals before and during the event
Prime Day only lasts for 48 hours. Get your customers ready to jump in and buy with some pre-Prime Day social posts and emails.
When possible, add links to your Amazon shop so buyers can click quickly on the big day.
Then, run social media ads and unpaid posts during the Prime Day window when excitement is at its highest.
You can also use Prime Day’s massive popularity to springboard the release of new products.
Getting that initial exposure when people are in the shopping mood will help make your product launch a huge success.
Launch a summer-themed giveaway
Regardless of their form, giveaways are always an excellent way to generate awareness for your product and brand. There are a few ways you can add them to your July promotion plan.
Social media giveaway
This July, try using a social media giveaway to boost your visibility through the Instagram or TikTok algorithm. Do it by asking people to do things like:
- Follow your account
- Like the post
- Share the contest on their Instagram Stories
- Tag a friend
Adding those actions lets you take advantage of the networking power of social media platforms.
Loyalty giveaway
You can also use giveaways to boost activity among your most loyal customers. One way to do it is by offering a unique code or loyalty points.
This is a July promotion power move if you sell products ideally suited to summer.
Partner giveaway
Gather up a few complimentary businesses this July and offer your customers some great buys with a little help from your friends.
Here’s an example that packs a powerful promotional punch for adventurous dog owners.
Why do partner marketing campaigns like this work so well? The combined prizes are more enticing than what a single brand would normally offer, and each of these brands will get exposure to the other brands’ audiences.
Offer occupational discounts
It’s always a good time to show appreciation for people who do challenging jobs that benefit us all. July is an especially good time to show love for a couple of occupations.
For example, if you sell experiences (dining, entertainment, etc.), give teachers a discount this July so they can enjoy it during summer break.
With the patriotic theme that permeates July, it’s also a great month to give discounts to military members as a thank you.
Get subscribers with your July promotions
Extend the return on your July promotion investment by using them as a subscription drive.
If you produce a newsletter, offer a July-only discount to people who subscribe to it.
Once those people are signed up, you can market to them all year.
You can use the same tactic if your product is a subscription service—like a monthly food or apparel box. Create a special July or summer-themed collection and give people who sign up for your service a discount for the first month.
Celebrate days of observance and seasonal stand-outs
July has no shortage of days designated to enjoy our favorite foods, commemorate historical events, or support important causes. If you promote your business during these times of observance, just remember to match the mood. No one wants to see a hard sell if the topic is somber and reflective.
National Ice Cream Month or Ice Cream Day (July 21)
Sure, we all scream for ice cream, but we’ll also come running for it. If your business has physical locations, hold an ice cream event in-house and watch that foot traffic surge.
Variations can be an old-fashioned ice cream social, a “build your own sundae” bar, or just a big cooler stocked with mini frozen treats for people who stop in your shop.
Get to Know Your Customers Day (July 18)
Get to Know Your Customers Day is recognized on the third Thursday of each quarter. In 2024, it will be on July 18.
Here’s one creative way to learn more about your customers while giving them a reason to shop. Present a customer feedback survey and offer everyone who completes it a discount code for future purchases.
Of course, there are many other options for learning about and thanking your customers. For example, you could hold a contest for a prize and enter every customer who replies with their favorite product or service.
Support Clean Beaches Week (July 1-7)
Clean Beaches Week reminds us to leave our oceans clean and trash-free (especially plastics). This brand offers a smart promotion in July by giving a portion of its proceeds to a non-profit that supports clean-ocean efforts.
If profit sharing isn’t in the cards for your brand, consider donating a few products to an organization as part of a contest or promoting their efforts in your marketing. That’ll help generate some brand awareness while you do good.
Here are other times of observance worth promoting in July:
- National Anti-Boredom Month
- National Grilling Month
- National Picnic Month
- American Zoo Day (July 1)
- Cheer Up the Lonely Day (July 11)
- Embrace Your Geekiness Day (July 13)
- National Give Something Away Day (July 15)
- Space Exploration Day (July 20)
- Amelia Earhart Day (July 24)
- National Love Is Kind Day (July 27)
- Buffalo Soldiers Day (July 28)
Have a Christmas in July sale
July is roughly the halfway point between the Christmas holidays. So why not break up the time in between with a bit of summer-time festiveness?
You can run basic email promotions to capture the attention of your subscribers with a mid-year sale.
Or, take it to TikTok and create an engaging and entertaining video (complete with the right audio) to promote your Christmas in July event.
Start your back-to-school promotions in July
It’s sad for some, but exciting for others, that school starts not too long after the end of July. While the Independence Day excitement has waned, you can kick your July promotions back into high gear with some pre-school specials.
A straightforward way to do it is simply showcasing your new BTS product lineup.
This is also another good time to use giveaways. Notice the subtle addition to the rules for this promotion.
The brand asked people to share how they felt about their first day back at school. Comments are great for audience engagement and for placing your content in Instagram searches and on the TikTok For You page.
Get more bang for your marketing with these July promotion ideas
The 4th of July holds a lot of potential for a significant uptick in sales, but try not to over-index on marketing for just one day this month. Instead, look at other opportunities—like the ones we’ve listed here—to keep your customers engaged the other 30 days of July. That type of consistency is where great growth is born.
To that end, here are several other resources to help you have your most successful July ever:
- Dazzling 4th of July Slogans for Explosive Marketing
- 4th of July Social Media Posts to Make Your Brand Sparkle & Shine
- July Social Media Holidays & Ideas to Jazz Up Results
- July Email Subject Lines for Booming ROI
- Free & Creative July Marketing Ideas (with Examples!)
- Perfect 4th of July Messages, Greetings & Email Templates
