February can be a dreary month in the United States. It represents yet another 28 (or 29) days of gray skies, cold weather, and early sunsets.
Marketers are happy to seize on any opportunity to create a festive atmosphere amid the long winter, and Presidents Day certainly offers us that chance.
Presidents’ Day is the third Monday in February each year, a date chosen because both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were born in February—on the 22 and 12, respectively.
Some industries are already closely associated with Presidents’ Day marketing, promotions, and sales. You’ve likely seen ads for car dealerships or appliance retailers offering discounted prices in honor of the holiday. But in reality, any business can put its own spin on this time-tested marketing tactic.
Contents
- Why try Presidents’ Day marketing?
- How to plan your Presidents’ Day marketing campaigns
- Presidents’ Day marketing ideas
- Presidents’ Day promotions and sale ideas
Why try Presidents’ Day marketing?
Any holiday or seasonal event is a chance to switch up your marketing, create timely, FOMO-inducing messaging, and otherwise recapture the attention of your audience.
Using variations on the same visuals and copy all year round can grow tiresome for you and your ideal customers. People tune out messages they think they already know—it becomes background noise.
When you create seasonal marketing campaigns, you put a new spin on things. It’s a tactic that can encourage readers to stop and take notice.
Imagine: You’re scrolling through your Instagram feed and you see posts from friends, videos from influencers, ads for products, and—wait a second, is that Bill Clinton?
Presidents’ Day is just one opportunity you have to try seasonal marketing tactics. Consider creating a marketing calendar at the start of the year that maps out all seasonal messages you plan to use.
Establishing a roadmap for your seasonal marketing helps you stay ahead of relevant holidays and events, so you have enough time to plan something clever and effective. It also highlights gaps for you to fill with new content ideas and angles.
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How to plan your Presidents’ Day marketing ideas
As is true in so many areas of life, advanced planning can help ensure successful seasonal marketing.
Your Presidents’ Day campaign planning begins with goal setting. We always recommend SMART goals, which are:
- Specific: Set clearly-defined objectives for your campaign, including actual numerical targets (e.g., Increase February revenues by X% over the previous year’s numbers).
- Measurable: By selecting goals with numbers attached, you define the metrics you should measure to see if they’re achieved.
- Attainable: Be ambitious, but not foolish. Set a goal that’s actually possible for you to reach.
- Relevant: How are the goals of your Presidents Day marketing campaign serving your broader business objectives?
- Time-bound: Define a specific start and end date for your seasonal campaign.
Once you’ve clearly defined your goal, you can work backward toward the tactics to achieve it and the budget you need to get it all done.
Presidents’ Day marketing ideas
Now that you’ve got your SMART goals set and your KPIs in your sights, let’s look at some specific tactics to employ as part of your Presidents’ Day marketing.
Some are free, while others are paid, but all can help you capitalize on the holiday and get your name out there in new and exciting ways.
1. Update your local listings for the holiday
Local listings are a place where people discover new businesses. If you’re doing something special for the holiday—whether that’s hosting an event or adjusting your business hours—you should update your local listings to reflect that change.
There’s nothing more frustrating for a prospective customer than to look up a place on Google, see that they’re open on Mondays, and drive to the location only to find the door locked. Don’t let this happen at your business!
Alternatively, if you have something special happening on the holiday, let people know. They may go out of their way to visit if you post about an event or sale on your local listings.
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2. Post some Presidents’ Day social content
You need to generate new content for your social media platforms week after week, all year round. Creating Presidents’ Day-themed content can be a way to mix up your feed and keep things interesting—for your marketing team and your customers.
Of course, if you have a holiday sale or event going on, that’s something to share on social media. But even if you don’t, Presidents’ Day is an opportunity to share a punny caption, interesting Presidential fact, or eye-catching visuals that stop your followers mid-scroll.
3. Design a social media contest
If your marketing goal is to boost brand awareness and increase your reach on social media, running a contest on your platform of choice is an effective tactic.
Social media contests encourage people to engage with your brand. And by asking people to follow your business as part of your entry guidelines for the contest, you can boost your follower count today and market to those new followers tomorrow. It’s all about the social media lead generation!
Keep things on-theme with your holiday social media contest. For Presidents’ Day, you might host a virtual trivia contest or American history quiz. The first follower to answer the most questions correctly gets a prize!
4. Sponsor a local event
Since Presidents’ Day creates a long weekend, there may be special events happening in your area. Whether it’s a 5K hosted by the local run club or a craft fair in the school gymnasium, these events might need sponsorship.
Supporting local events—especially if they’re aligned with your business offering—is a great way to put some good vibes out into your community and generate positive attention for your brand.
5. Create a limited-time, holiday-themed product or service
Limited time is a marketer’s best friend. The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a genuine feeling, and some of the best marketing plans cleverly play into this psychological phenomenon. That’s why limited-time sales and offers are effective—they encourage customers to make a move while they still can.
The same principle applies to products or services that are available for a limited time, and holidays can be an excellent opportunity to create “here today, gone tomorrow” offers with a tie-in to the holiday.
Your Presidents’ Day product or service can be something fun and creative. A cafe might serve up Honest Abe-Ade, a special drink. A bar can make its trivia night presidential-themed on the Monday of the holiday. A local historical society could invite a theater group to perform a special show about the founding fathers, only playing over the holiday long weekend.
Presidents’ Day promotion and sale ideas
Another Presidents’ Day marketing tactic that’s not to be overlooked is the sale or promotion. This is a classic approach for a reason: it works.
Capital One notes that 67% of American consumers have made a purchase they weren’t even planning on after being offered a discount. And even relatively small discounts are effective. The same research finds that consumers are twice as likely to purchase a product with a 20% discount than at the regular price.
With those statistics in mind, how can you design a Presidents’ Day promotion or sale that works for your brand?
6. Run an online-only sale with a special promo code
In our digital world, online sales are huge. 82% of shoppers say that the availability of digital coupons influences where they choose to shop. By hosting an online sale, you help your ecommerce store stand out.
In keeping with the Presidents’ Day spirit, create a themed discount code for your online-only sale. A code like “PRESIDENTS20” for 20% off, or “FOUNDINGFATHERS” or “UNCLESAM,” plays on phrases associated with the day.
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7. Host an in-person sale with a special twist
For businesses with a significant brick-and-mortar presence or no ecommerce store, an in-person sale might be a better fit. If this is your game plan, entice people through your door with a little extra incentive.
Perhaps that’s a special deal like the 50th shopper for the day gets a free item. Or maybe it’s that each person who visits is entered to win a gift basket of your most popular products. Or perhaps you have festive beverages or free cookies on hand for customers to enjoy while they browse.
How you structure it is up to you, but making the in-person shopping experience extra special during your holiday sale can encourage greater turnout. Of course, you’ll have to promote your special plans: Post about it on social media and email your subscribers, inviting them to stop by.
8. Offer a themed discount
When designing your sale, think beyond the basics. One way to elevate your Presidents’ Day sale is to add a fun spin to your discount strategy.
Perhaps you opt for a thematic discount amount, like giving your customers 22% off items in honor of Washington’s birthday (February 22). Or, you could host a BOGO event (that’s buy one, get one) since Presidents’ Day is a BOGO event of sorts—celebrating two presidential birthdays on one day.
Alternatively, you may choose to offer discounts on items that fit in with the Presidents’ Day theme. If you’re a retailer, you might focus your sale on red, white, and blue items. Or, a bakery could offer discounts on cherry pies, in honor of the famous George Washington cherry tree myth.
9. Promote your sale with an email marketing campaign
When you’re hosting a sale, it’s vital to get the word out in advance. Email campaigns allow you to build momentum leading up to the sale, and keep excitement high through the very end.
Start with teaser emails several weeks ahead. Let readers know you’re hosting a Presidents’ Day sale, so they can mentally pencil you into their long weekend shopping plans. As the day draws nearer, share more details: What will be on sale, what discounts will be available, and for how long will the sale run?
Send a splashy email with a clever subject line as the sale kicks off to drive that immediate purchase. Then, send a few reminder emails throughout the weekend to catch potential customers who didn’t jump on that first offer.
You may also create special sale offers for your loyal subscribers. Consider sending a discount code in your newsletter just to those people on your regular customer-segmented email list.
10. Step up your sale offerings throughout the weekend
If you don’t snag prospective customers with your first outreach about your sale, consider offering additional incentives as the weekend wears on.
Let’s say you’re hosting a three-day sale. Your communications on the first day might focus solely on the initial sale offer. The second day, you might throw in a code for free shipping on all online orders. And on the last day, you might offer an additional 10% off your already-slashed prices.
Again, you can segment your list so those who purchase early in the sale won’t continue to get emails about additional deals. But by stepping up the offers on each subsequent day, you sweeten the pot for those consumers who are on the fence about shopping.
11. Launch a clearance sale
February is an interesting month to host a sale. Winter is still here, but spring is just around the corner.
That can make your Presidents’ Day sale the ideal time to focus on selling down seasonal merchandise and making room for spring inventory. Clothing retailers can discount cold-weather duds, sporting goods stores can slash prices on skis and snowshoes, and home goods stores can offer flannel sheet sets for less.
12. Get a jump-start on selling spring offerings
If you don’t have winter inventory to clear out, you might instead focus your Presidents’ Day sale on the future: spring.
This option works for product- or service-based businesses. If you sell items, offer a deal on bundled spring essentials. If you’re in a service business, create incentives to customers who book warmer-weather offerings now.
For example, a landscaping company might offer a package deal on several spring lawn care services. Or, a summer camp might create an early bird discount for parents who book their kids in for the season over Presidents’ Day.
Use these Presidents’ Day marketing ideas to revolutionize your seasonal messaging
Any holiday or event is an opportunity to market your business in a fresh way. Presidents’ Day is a time to embrace a revolutionary spirit and try some novel marketing tactics.
Whether you host a sale, sponsor an event, or simply create and share content related to the holiday, it’s all a chance to get the word out about your brand in a way that can capture attention and help drive sales.
These 12 Presidents’ Day marketing, promotion, and sale ideas are a great foundation on which you can build your own unique approach:
- Update your local listings for the holiday
- Post some Presidents Day social content
- Design a social media contest
- Sponsor a local event
- Create a limited-time, holiday-themed product or service
- Run an online-only sale with a special promo code
- Host an in-person sale with a special twist
- Offer a themed discount
- Promote your sale with an email marketing campaign
- Step up your sale offerings throughout the weekend
- Launch a clearance sale
- Get a jump-start on selling spring service offerings
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