Over the next 4 months, you'll have several opportunities for social media and email marketing campaigns that can be associated with special calendar events.
A quick look at my own wall calendar and I see these jumping out at me as important US dates that can tie into your marketing campaigns:
September 7, 2014: Grandparents Day
October 13, 2014: Columbus Day
October 31, 2014: Halloween
November 2, 2014: Daylight Savings Time Ends
November 11, 2014: Veterans' Day
November 27, 2014: Thanksgiving
November 28, 2014: Black Friday
November 29, 2014: Small Business Saturday
December 1, 2014: Cyber Monday*
December 8, 2014: Green Monday*
December 15, 2014: Free Shipping Day*
December 20, 2014: Super Saturday
Naturally, some of these dates will be more important than others, and the three dates I've marked with the asterisk* are typically more important for e-commerce websites than retail stores. Your level of planning for each or all depends on how much value you feel a promotion will be for you.
For example, this coming Sunday is Grandparents Day. There's no planning time left for that day, but you certainly could send out a quick email tomorrow morning and post a reminder on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. It's simple, and you might get a few last minute sales of book lockets and multi-birthstone jewelry.
Columbus Day is always a big day for retail sales. Make sure to prepare your marketing material now and have it ready to go out with enough time.
If the trends continue this year like last, we will start to see plenty of holiday sales and holiday related events surfacing shortly after Columbus Day. There's always a delicate balance between autumn/Thanksgiving/holiday announcements, and you certainly don't want to annoy your customers with holiday promotions that are poorly timed.
Amidst the autumn email newsletters during late October, there are always a few jewelers who tap into the Halloween spirit with specials for special Halloween related jewelry, black diamonds, and skeleton watches.
Here's a bunch of email headlines I tracked during the last few days of October 2013:
- No tricks, just treats: win a gift card! Plus, spooktacular Pandora savings.
- Hurry! Sitewide Free Shipping + Bewitching Baubles disappear soon
- Here's $50 just for you | No Trick-or-Treating required!
- a FREE TREAT for you TODAY!
- Trick Or Treat! Hidden Coupons Up To 50% Off!
- A sweet offer on #charmcandy
I also track many large retailers outside the jewelry industry to monitor trends. Last year, I saw a Halloween email from Pizza Hut that caught my eye. Their marketing team took a leap of faith that a lot of people are reading emails on their smartphones now. So they included the ghost emoji in the subject of their email.
This is how it looked on the iPhone:
Most computers will display emoji characters now, so don't be afraid to use them. Just don't overuse them. You can see a list of other Halloween emojis here.
Writing a good subject line and headline for your marketing will make or break the success of that individual campaign. Here's a list of typical headline formulas that many marketers use:
- Are you _______?
- How-to ______
- Secrets of ______
- Give me __{number}__ minutes _{to show/do/get something}_
- ___{number}__ ways to __{to show/do/get something}__
- We found the _____ you've been looking for
- __% Off Everything in the Store
- Get a Free _____ with a purchase of ____
Fill in the blanks and see if you can get one of them to work for your individual campaigns. I use the "How-to" headline a lot because it's appropriate for my Daily Nuggets. Your own mileage will vary, and you need to test them over time and with different campaigns.
With the list of important dates in hand, and some headline ideas, you should start planning your marketing as soon as possible.
