Throughout the month of February, love is in the air—and brands jump at the opportunity to express their love for customers in order to exploit the holiday for their marketing campaigns.
When it comes to Valentine’s Day, most people might think of flowers, candy, jewelry, and the marketing campaigns or sales that surround these products. However, many B2B companies can learn from B2C companies to utilize the holiday in their digital marketing efforts and show some love this February 14th.
Integrating Valentine’s Day into your digital marketing efforts has both pros and cons. The pros of adding a spice of Valentine’s Day—and other national holidays—into campaigns include staying connected with your audience and customers, as well as promoting content that’s relevant. Plus, keeping content organized and on-schedule keeps clients up-to-date on initiatives and news.
However, there are a few cons to including Valentine’s Day in your marketing, as it could potentially annoy customers and the Valentine’s Day scrooges out there. Still, there are a few ways B2B companies can send a little love this Valentine’s Day.
1. E-Newsletters
E-Newsletters are a great tool for keeping customers up-to-date on news about your company, products, services, and any other content that relates to your brand. Including a touch of Valentine’s Day in an E-newsletter is a great way to do all this, while also personalizing your message. So how can you integrate the upcoming holiday into your e-newsletter?
Customer appreciation: Send your clients and customers a little love by writing a message, creating a graphic, or making a video to show your appreciation. You can also include a section for employee appreciation, with an exemplary employee receiving recognition.
Show love to a charity: If your company frequently works with a charity or non-profit, you could announce a donation or volunteer hours that your company has committed to “spread love.”
Reasons to love your company: Create content such as “5 Reasons to Love ____” to recognize new products/services—or that just gives plain reasons love your company.
2. Email Campaigns
Another way to incorporate Valentine’s Day into your digital marketing efforts is to add it to your email campaigns. This can be done in a few different ways, such as sending customized Valentine’s Day cards to customers letting them know how much you appreciate their business, sending cards to potential customers describing how much you would love to work with them, or something as simple as adding a reference in subject lines and content in existing email campaigns. Whatever you decide to do, find ways to get creative.
Regardless of which avenue you choose, your Valentine’s Day email should be constructed carefully and include a segmented list of targets, provide something of value (such as a discount, coupon, or a whitepaper), and a killer subject line. According to Vertical Response, a great subject line can take your Valentine’s Day email to the next level. Some examples of killer subject lines listed are “We’re making Valentine’s Day a little sweeter,” “Will You Be Our Valentine? Sweepstakes, News and More to Show our LUV,” and “Show Your Files some love.”
3. Social Media
Since social media is probably the most important tool for your company to keep current and up-to-date, platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more are the perfect channels to add a spice of Valentine’s Day cheer. Social media platforms can include the same content used in the newsletter (posted in a timely fashion) and can be used to add snippets of Valentine’s Day spirit. Also, choosing the right hashtags and platforms can add value. A few examples of how to apply Valentine’s Day to social media accounts include updating avatars and cover images for the day, posting behind-the-scenes snippets of why and how much employees love what they do, and other reasons why the day is extra “sweet.”
Across all platforms and media, it’s important to create content such as videos and graphics that can be posted and sent through email and social media. One example of how a B2B company did this came from Cisco, which created a humorous video ad titled “The Perfect Gift for Valentine’s Day” that promoted a router. This content combined great messaging with humor that kept it relevant.
