The Other Side of Valentine’s Day

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For many, including me, Valentine’s Day has become so commercialized as to represent a type of “Hallmark” holiday.

Regardless of how you personally feel about Valentine’s Day however, you’ve gotta admit, it can be a business owner and marketer’s dream:

• An average of $103.50 spent on Valentine’s Day-related purchases in 2010 — that equates to over $14 billion according to the National Retail Federation and I’m pretty sure that number doesn’t include businesses in the non-traditional Valentine’s market (such as online businesses who offer Valentine’s specials)
• Over 1 billion cards given, an estimated $784 million spent and, according to Hallmark, the #2 card giving holiday (second behind Christmas)
• Over $448 million spent on candy in 2009 during Valentine’s week (National Confection’s Association)
• The busiest holiday for fresh flowers (topping Mother’s Day) with florists earning approximately 40% of their annual revenue from this one day alone (Society of American Florists)
• Restaurants gleeful over full dining rooms and wine/liquor purchases (DH and I got takeout from a local restaurant last night for his birthday and they were WIPED from Valentine’s diners…a day before the holiday)

The power of a holiday.

Are you looking for visibility and a boost in revenue?

Grab your calendar and start looking for ways you can tie your marketing in to established holidays, including your birthday

or

Create your own holiday like Shannon Cherry did with her upcoming Be Heard Day.

How can you/have you piggybacked on the power of holidays?  I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

Note: As a “Sweetheart Special”, Carol Hess is offering an ebook on how to create your own editorial calendar today for $9.00 – perfect for organizing all your marketing and communications activities.

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