How To Take Advantage Of Valentine’s Day For Seasonal Business Promotion

For me, Valentine’s Day is just one of those strange holidays that are totally unnecessary. But for business, it’s a completely different story. In my opinion, it’s mostly there to help bridge the gap between Christmas and the spring/summer season in hopes of bringing most of us out of the January-February winter slump by giving us another reason why we need to get back out there and spend, spend, spend.

Lo and behold, we have Valentine’s Day!

And just for all of us, one of my favourite YouTubers recently uploaded a video and summed up quite nicely what Valentine’s Day is really about:

“What I can guarantee to you guys–as somebody who worked at a card store for over five years–is that Valentine’s Day is meant to pick up a slump in the economy in the beginning of the second quarter.”

So, with that said, here are some really fun facts about Valentine’s Day–and how you can help leverage the power of this totally unnecessary holiday to help bring your website, blog, or online business out of the winter blues!

Valentine-Themed Promotional Ideas For Existing Businesses

Sometimes, it’s nice to have an excuse to show appreciation to your existing customers or readers. Here are some generalized “Valentine themed” ideas I quickly came up with you may consider implementing on your blog or website for February 14th:

• Send out funny and/or personalized Valentine ecards to your mailing list
• Start a Valentine contest
• Give away prizes like gift cards, coupons, free trials, or special gifts
• Hold an one-day-only February 14th sale or discount on products
• Make a Valentine quiz, survey, or poll
• Give something away for free
• Help raise money for a charity or non-profit organization

These are all pretty generic promo ideas that you can adopt for practically any holiday or business, but I just thought I’d share them for the heck of it. You don’t have to go nuts since V-Day isn’t really a major holiday at all, but it can be fun to acknowledge it and create some up-to-date excitement for your audience.

What About Micro Niche Site Ideas For V-Day?

Now, I think this could totally work. Of course, like I said, Valentine’s Day isn’t one of the major holidays of the year, but there are indeed those individuals that need help finding gifts and related products for the occasion. Why not help them out? Start a Valentine niche site (months ahead of the actual date, of course ) and you’ll likely face less competition and more targeted customers once the big day hits.

I took the liberty of doing some research on Valentine’s Day and then paired it up with some good ol’ Google Keyword Tool research. Feel free to use any of the ideas or keywords I have here, for this year (you’ll need to do PPC) or for next year!

52% Of Men In Relationships Propose On Valentine’s Day And 10% Of Americans Get Engaged On This Day

So, I guess it’s trendy to propose on Valentine’s Day.

 

Notice the spike in “Local Search Trends,” signifying high searches likely around January and February. Although the searches don’t look outstanding, remember that they’re only an estimate, and will mostly likely be at their peek highest right before February 14th hits.

Ideas? Rank for these terms and consider building a “Valentine Proposal” website. You could review engagements rings and monetize it through a chosen affiliate program, or even just AdSense to start out.

The Top-Selling Brand Of Perfume For Last Year’s Valentine’s Day Was Chanel No. 5

It just so happens to be that us women love smellin’ like a fresh apple orchard of blooming lilacs with a hint of vanilla extract and cinammon… or something like that.

I seriously think that a niche site geared toward reviews on perfumes, fragrances, bath & body products, and other cosmetics in terms of Valentine gift ideas could do pretty well seasonally for February 14th. With that said, I’m kind of surprised that the “local search trends” was not skewed to one side of the year for the the phrase “valentine perfume.” My guess is that there is an actual brand of perfume called “Valentine” or something.

Approximately One Billion Valentine Cards Are Sent Around The World Annually

Yeah, so… after plugging in these terms in the good ol’ Google Tool, I realized that any combination of “Valentine” and “card” is highly sought after around February.

A lot of these are highly competitive keyword phrases. If you wanted to potentially design your own Valentine cards using Photoshop and/or any graphic design skills you may have, I’d suggest doing some research on a long-tail keyword or much less competitive keyword variation of “Valentine cards.”

The Most Popular Recipient Of Valentine Gifts Are Teachers

My mom is an elementary school teacher, and when she receives 25 boxes of chocolate each and every Valentine’s Day… about half of them go to me.

I actually couldn’t believe the number of “valentine” + “teacher” keyword variations there were. Jackpot! Start a niche site for teacher gifts. Why not?

53% Of Women Will Dump Their Boyfriends If They Receive Nothing From Them On Valentine’s Day

I think this is just so hilarious. It just goes to show how materialistic modern society really is. It’s sad… but great for business! LOL.

Why not start a niche site geared toward boyfriends who have no freaking clue what to get their most likely high-strung girlfriends? Haha. Targeted marketing at it’s finest!

3% Of Pet Owners Give Their Pets A Valentine’s Day Gift

Yes, seriously. People love their pets so much these days, they treat them like their own children. It’s weird, but it’s fine. I’m not sure if a “Valentine Pet Gift Ideas” niche site would fly so well, but here are just a few keywords I took a look at:

The Average Amount Spent Per Gift And Per Person On A Valentine’s Day Gift Is $90

Last but not least, the average amount spent per Valentine gift is almost $100! I don’t know about you, but I sure think that’s a lot to be spent on a “fake” holiday. Nevertheless, it shows us that there is good reason to take advantage of the hype surrounding the date of February 14th. Even if you just use it to stir up some fun with your existing audience, it’s great for just plain, good ol’ customer appreciation… not necessarily profit.

Last But Not Least, Don’t Forget All The Single Folks!

Promote eHarmony! Yes, I’m being serious.

I have a close friend who found someone through eHarmony… as well as a best friend’s widowed father who also found someone through eHarmony. And as much as it is heavily advertised and plugged all over television and the web, the track record for this site is apparently not bad. I won’t ever try it, but the fact that it has actually worked out for some of my friends is enough credibility to encourage me to promote it… if I ever decide to start a niche site in the dating niche.

So, want to promote eHarmony through their affiliate program? You can earn $50 PER PERSON who signs up!

Now, that’s not bad at all. And on the plus side, eHarmoney already has huge brand recognition. Everyone knows it by name, so all you need to do is get it out there!

A Valentine Vlog, Bitterly With Love From Yours Truly

And even though I think Valentine’s Day is kind of lame (but great for business), I made one epic vlog out of all of it because I like doing blog posts and videos with holiday related themes.

Click Here To Watch The Vlog

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

P.S. If you haven’t joined my mailing list (in the header), I think you should! I’m handing out Valentines on Monday and you WON’T want to miss it.