If you are a retailer, it’s fairly easy to develop the promotional campaigns for big gift-giving occasions. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, graduations, anniversaries, birthdays: Everyone’s on the prowl for these. But what about the rest of the year? Here are a few gift-giving holidays that few people know about, but could probably be convinced to buy a present for the honoree. We’ve even included some ideas for promoting them.
National Be Kind to Lawyers Day (Second Tuesday in April)
Promotion: Encourage customers to use your Facebook page to post something nice about a lawyer they know. For this, they receive a 10% off coupon and a chance to win a brief case.
Sibling’s Day (April 10)
Promotion: If a customer is accompanied by a sibling, they can have a choice of several Buy One, Get One Free items. Explain to them that most siblings solve the obvious dilemma by paying 1/2 each, but be prepared to say, “If you don’t stop arguing with one another, I’m going to make you flip a coin to see who gets the free one.”
World Veterinary Day (Last Saturday in April)
Promotion: If you are a veterinary, use this day as a chance to promote your Social Media outposts. For either a Facebook like or Twitter follow, you’ll give the pet owner 10% off one vaccination during the month of May.
Teacher’s Day (May 6)
Promotion: Have children of your customers draw pictures of their favorite teachers that includes a sentence explaining why their teacher is the best. Post these in the office/store somewhere for all to see. Work in a special coupon on the types of gifts a student can give his or her teacher.
National Ice Cream Day (Third Sunday in July)
Promotion: Host a contest during the first two weeks of July (which Ronald Reagan deemed National Ice Cream Month in 1984) for a new, unique flavor of ice cream. Winner has their flavor served in the store for a day.
Grandparent’s Day (first Sunday after Labor Day)
Promotion: Hold a “Grand” event to honor the grandparents in your customers’ lives. Games, snacks, and prizes. Perhaps a photographer so kids/family can take a picture with grandparents. Hand out coupons for those in store.
Mother-in-Law Day (October 26)
Promotion: Whatever you do, don’t tie it into your Halloween promotion taking place at the same time.