Valentine’s Day brings about many marketing opportunities for businesses to connect with their audience and celebrate with them for the season of love.
The retail and hospitality industry is usually the dominant force delivering a Valentine’s Day marketing campaign, but Valentine’s Day marketing tactics can benefit a range of other sectors. It’s all about keeping in line with current trends and positioning your business as a relevant and trendy brand.
Be like cupid and shoot your shot this year with these marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day.
1. Familiarise yourself with Valentine’s Day marketing statistics
Before you embark on a marketing strategy for Valentine’s Day, be sure to familiarise yourself with current Valentine’s Day trends. Knowing your audience, their values, demographics and spending habits will help you deliver a data-driven strategy for a successful Valentine’s Day marketing campaign.
It’s not just couples who are celebrating Valentine’s Day
76% of the U.K. celebrated Valentine’s Day in 2022, but it’s not just a day for couples to celebrate their relationship. Love comes in a variety of forms, and this is seen in the spending habits of the U.K. and US populations.
- In the U.K., over £27 million was spent on Valentine’s gifts for pets.
- In America, it was estimated $751 million was spent on Valentine’s gifts for pets.
- In 2020, 59% of parents planned to celebrate the day with their children.
- In 2020, 79% of people said they planned to celebrate it as a family event.
Spending habits and poll statistics show the general trend of extending Valentine’s Day beyond the confines of a two-person relationship. It is now becoming more common to spend the day celebrating a loving bond with pets, friends, family or children.
Considering these trends can help businesses create an inclusive Valentine’s Day marketing campaign without excluding singles, and taking into account that love is celebrated in all kinds of different ways.
Who is buying Valentine’s Day gifts?
Knowing who is most likely to partake in Valentine’s Day celebrations and their spending habits will help marketers create a strategy tailored to their audience. Take into account the following statistics:
- 86% of millennials will spend more on gifts compared to other generations.
- Men, on average, spend more for a valentine’s Day gift compared to women.
- Of the cards purchased for Valentine’s Day, 85% were bought by women.
- Over 36.5% of people bought their Valentine’s Day gift on Amazon.
These data insights will help you create meaningful marketing messages that align with your target audience and their shopping habits. You need to know who is buying what and how they are going about purchasing it as this will enable you to position your brand in front of audiences at the right time.
People are buying Valentine’s gifts for themselves.
Who says you have to on rely on someone else to buy you a Valentine’s Day gift? There is an increasing trend for people to treat themselves, taking it as a day of self-love and self-appreciation – which we’re all totally for!
- 25% of the U.K. will buy a gift for themselves on Valentine’s Day.
- Interestingly, it’s the people who are already in a relationship that are most likely to buy a Valentine’s Day gift for themselves.
Considering this, brands might want to alter their Valentine’s Day marketing tactics as a treat-yourself occasion rather than a day to treat someone else. You’re the special person in your own life, and Valentine’s Day is the time to show it.
What are people buying for Valentine’s Day?
You might think of the iconic chocolates and beautiful Valentine flowers for a Valentine’s Day gift, and you wouldn’t be wrong. In ranking order, the most popular choices for Valentine’s Day gifts are as follows:
- Jewellery
- An evening out, e.g.) dinner, drinks, etc.
- Clothing
- Candy
- Flowers
It’s also worth noting that over 25 million Valentine’s Day cards were sent in 2022, and this does not count digital cards, indicating that there is still value in a tangible Valentine’s Day message. However, with an increasing number of people turning to eco-friendly and cost-effective solutions, businesses should not overlook the popularity of digital options such as free Valentine’s Day eCards. These virtual expressions of love and friendship offer a convenient and modern way of celebrating the occasion without sacrificing emotional impact.
In consideration of these statistics, brands may want to create a content marketing campaign that promotes these types of gifts or suggest ideas for places to go on Valentine’s Day. Check out this blog, Valentine’s Day in Belfast, for inspiration for content.
Sources: finder.com and Moosend
2. Marketing strategies for Valentine’s Day
No matter what industry you’re based in, most can benefit from some sort of marketing strategy for Valentine’s Day. It ensures that your brand is at the forefront of popular trends and in keeping with current discussions.
Some industries will need to focus on a Valentine’s Day marketing strategy more so than others, i.e., hotels, restaurants, jewellers and retail stores. This is quite an obvious point, as these industries will likely be sought after for Valentine’s Day gifts and celebrations.
However, standing out from the competition is hard for any business, no matter what time of the year it is. We’ve put together a list of some marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day, ensuring that your brand gets the love it deserves!
3. Content marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
Content marketing will be a large part of any marketing plan, but especially for Valentine’s Day. Set the theme of love in your content and allude to how your brand can assist audiences in their quest to celebrate the special occasion of love.
Here are a few ideas that you can incorporate into your own content to promote your brand’s celebration of Valentine’s Day. We’ve divided them into content marketing ideas for different industries, but feel free to pick and choose what types of content you think would work best.
Retail marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
The retail industry will be at the forefront of delivering a Valentine’s Day content marketing strategy. Attempting to engage audiences with the selection of gifts and clothing that they have available for celebrating the day.
Here are some ideas you could incorporate for your Valentine’s Day content marketing strategy:
GRWM – Get Ready With Me
Get Ready With Me or GRWM, is a new video trend on social media where individuals show the process of themselves getting dressed for a special occasion. This can include everything from bathing to hair styling or putting on make-up and selecting an outfit to wear.
There are plenty of marketing opportunities for a brand to subtly interject its own products into this type of GRWM content.
Whether your business sells face products, clothing, hairstyling tools or any other product that someone can use to get dressed, a GRWM video can launch your Valentine’s Day marketing strategy whilst simultaneously prompting your product.
GET READY WITH ME: VALENTINE’S DAY GLOW
Gift guides
A gift guide will be especially well received by audiences for Valentine’s Day, and it’s another marketing opportunity for your brand to introduce its own products in a subtle yet informative way. A gift guide can be in the form of a blog, image collection or part of a video marketing strategy.
Simply create content that gives a list of recommendations for Valentine’s Day gifts. It’s a good rule of thumb, though, to match these gift guides with the kind of products you sell, e.g.), If you’re a business that sells electronics, create a gadget gift guide for Valentine’s Day.
Although, there really aren’t any rules for this type of content marketing strategy, and you’re free to suggest whatever products you think your audience will be interested in hearing about.
Valentine’s Day GIFT GUIDE for him & her!
Restaurant marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
For those celebrating Valentine’s Day, it’s not unlikely to assume that they will be looking for somewhere to enjoy a nice candlelit dinner and get lost staring into each other’s eyes.
Restaurants need to be active in targeting these love-dove customers and convincing them to visit their premises to celebrate their own Valentine’s Day.
Check out these restaurant marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day.
Promote your menu
Restaurants that are seeking to launch a successful Valentine’s Day marketing strategy should advertise their special menu and promote any Valentine’s Day events that they are hosting. It also makes for greats social media content and places your business in front of audiences who are actively seeking your hospitality services.
Check out this post from a local restaurant in Belfast:
They are hosting a special set menu, supplying a recipe box for a date night in, and holding a Valentine’s Day cookery class. All great Valentine’s events suitable for a range of different interests and budgets.
Video marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
Video is currently the most popular form of content that is consumed on the internet. For an effective content marketing strategy, restaurants should attempt to create engaging videos that showcase their Valentine’s Day hospitality.
Video content might include tasty-looking shots of special set dishes or even recipe guides for those having a home celebration for Valentine’s Day. Check out this video below, showcasing a popular local restaurant that created a video recipe guide for one of their classic dishes.
Restaurant video marketing is one of the best ways to engage audiences and convince customers to visit your premises. They’ll get a feel for your venue and gain an insight into the delicious dishes you are serving up this Valentine’s.
Hotel marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
Another popular sector when Valentine’s Day is approaching is the hotel industry. Couples especially will be seeking somewhere to escape and a place to celebrate their relationship on Valentine’s Day.
Hotel marketing is essential at this time. You need to capture the attention of couples and promote your hotel as the best choice for celebrating Valentine’s Day. You might want to seek out the following marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day:
Digital advertising
Digital advertising can help give you that leg up when competing with other hotels that are marketing their Valentine’s Day campaign. You could explore pay-per-click ads where you pay for ad space on Google search results or social media platforms. It’s a great marketing tactic for short campaigns, especially coming up to Valentine’s Day.
SEO marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
SEO is the process of strategically curating content so that it appears as a response to people’s search engine queries. For Valentine’s Day, in particular, hotels will want to focus on local SEO, meaning that they target local audiences who are seeking a place to stay in that specific location. Check out this seo for hotels guide and see how your business can generate organic traffic.
Video marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
Similar to restaurant marketing, video content is another great way to promote your hospitality venue. You should create promotional videos that showcase everything the hotel has to offer, from rooms, pools, saunas, garden space or any other unique selling point of the hotel. Video marketing content is going to help audiences pictures themselves staying there and encourage them to celebrate Valentine’s Day at that location.
For more ideas, check out this guide to hotel marketing article.
4. Email marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
Email marketing for Valentine’s Day is used by almost every industry. It’s an opportunity for brands to grasp their audience’s attention, deliver a witty joke or surprise them with a humorous subject heading.
Retail industries such as Amazon and Pandora tend to deliver strong email marketing campaigns. Last year, Pandora sent 26k emails and gained an impressive 28% open rate. Successful headings usually include some form of immediacy or clever, catchy commentary.
Check out these subject lines for email marketing ideas this Valentine’s Day:
- Last minute v-day gifts that won’t break the bank.
- Galentine gifts for the day 1s.
- We like you a latte this Valentine’s.
- Roses are red. Violets are blue, here’s a special discount, just for you.
- Celebrate self-love this Valentine’s Day.
- Love is in the air! Whether you’re single or taken, it’s time to show yourself some extra love this Valentine’s Day.
- It’s time to show the special someone in your life a little extra love this Valentine’s Day!
5. Social media marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day
Much of the previously discussed marketing ideas for Valentine’s Day can also be shared on your social media channels. Video content, in particular, is becoming a dominant form of consumed content, and brands have easy access to create reels or short videos that grasp their target audience’s attention.
You can also support the reach of your social media posts by including hashtags that are suitable for Valentine’s Day promotion, e.g.)
- #valentine’sday
- #V-day
- #happyvalentinesday
- #valentinesdayspecial
- #valentinesday2023
- #BeMyValentine
This will help you reach more audiences who are exploring the theme of Valentine’s Day and looking for gifts to purchase or things to do.
Social media influencers
Another great way to tap into other markets and increase your audience reach is to partner with social media influencers as part of your Valentine’s Day campaign. This can help lend credibility to your brand and be seen as an option for celebrating the special occasion. Choose a social media influencer who aligns with your brand values and might share in similar target audiences.
Kickstart your marketing campaign for valentine’s day
Brands should utilise Valentine’s Day as a way to connect with their audience and position themselves as a relevant and current brand. It’s also one of the few marketing opportunities where light-hearted humour is accepted and appreciated by audiences, so show off your brand personality and increase the authenticity associated with your business.
You don’t have to use all of these marketing ideas for valentines’ day, but rather use them as a launch pad for creating your own v-day marketing strategy.
Sara Lynch
Claire Mulligan // 11th February 2024 
ProfileTree // 13th April 2024