Take the Labor Out of Your Labor Day Marketing Campaign

4 Tips for small and local businesses to max their weekend sales

The Labor Day weekend is almost upon us, a bittersweet end to our lazy summer days. The holiday was initially designed to give workers the day off, however, if you’re a small business, it could be a great opportunity for you to get your cash registers ringing! As folks get ready to celebrate the season’s last long weekend, it’s an ideal time to motivate your customers through exciting Labor Day marketing campaigns. If you’re looking for a few fresh ideas for your Labor Day strategy, here are four tips to stimulate your creativity and get into action:

1. Theme it!
   Labor Day means a lot of different things to different people, say, for instance, it could mean the end of summer vacation for school goers or the beginning of the football season. The Labor Day weekend lends itself to a lot of themes and provides a terrific opportunity to incorporate creative marketing strategies in your campaigns. Once you’ve identified a theme that you believe will resonate with your customers, try including elements of storytelling or humor to generate a positive brand association with the holiday weekend.
2. Content personalization is key
   Brands sticking to the same ol’ marketing tactics for the holidays is beginning to get a bit archaic. If there’s one thing you can be sure about, this Labor Day, is that your customers will be inundated with emails, retargeting ads, push notifications from most of their brand connections. Making your message stand out from all the holiday clutter is key to getting through your customers. With all that customer data, you’ve accumulated all these years, it is time to analyze and leverage that information. Use the data to glean insights into their product affinities. What did they buy recently? What are they looking at? Who are they buying for? One of the often-overlooked aspects to Labor Day promotions is, reading customer browsing habits. Think about it for a second – your customers spend the entire year shopping for themselves, but during holidays like this, they are thinking of family and friends. They are looking to buy gifts, and now if they were to receive a message from you based on their behavior and interests, it would definitely help your cause.
3. Email still works
   Just google email marketing, you will find a gazillion articles on how emails still rule the roost when it comes to conversions and engagement. Emails might not be as glitzy as Instagram stories or Facebook posts, but they are an integral element to your Labor Day marketing mix. When planning your Labor Day email campaign, you need to keep in mind that your customers are going to be crunched for time and eager to some quality time with family. One of the biggest faux pass in holiday email marketing is to cannibalize your own campaign by sending multiple emails about various promotions and offers. You know how annoying it is to wake up and see email upon email from brands practically begging you to open it and take a look.
   One of most effective ways of increasing your open rates during the holiday weekend is, getting creative with your email subject lines. Leading in with a catchy yet meaningful subject line will help you stand out in an inbox full of “SALE: 50% Off!”.
4. Keep it social
   With barbeques, football and family get togethers taking place all weekend long, one place you will find your customers is, on social media. Encourage your customers to engage with your brand via contests and promotions. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are great channels that can help you get traction, particularly if you offer cool prizes. Announce a Labor Day photo contest and have customers share photos of themselves enjoying Labor Day festivities, or better still, with your products (if applicable). Post the contest entries and results across your network to increase engagement and draw more customers into your funnel.
   Another great move to promote your Labor Day on social is by offering discounts for social sharing. A sweepstake offering discounts for social shares is a simple yet effective way to engage customers.

Finally, Labor Day campaigns and sales are ubiquitous, but thinking outside the box can help you create engaging customer experiences. Whether you just run an email campaign or go the whole nine yards with your Labor Day marketing, these tips and ideas should help you get off on the right foot. Happy Labor Day!