Mother's Day Marketing Tips for Merchants
The mother of all holidays is quickly approaching, which means that merchants should be focusing their marketing initiatives on all of their gift-giving customers.
Mother's Day madness is in full force because the big day is less than a week away, which means that there is related content floating all over the Web - from sales and promotions to inspirational photos and videos. Let this act as your wake-up call! Although merchants should have already started their marketing campaigns, it's not too late to get started or to step it up a few notches.
Here are three tips for implementing a Mother's Day marketing campaign onto your website:
A Mom-optimized Website
If you haven't already, it is time to optimize the customer experience of your website for Mother's Day. This means featuring the best-selling and most appropriate gifts on your landing page, as well as adding a special Mother's Day section to the top of your menu bar.
By doing this, you will cut out the guesswork for your customers and enable them to find exactly what they want. Merchants can also provide special coupon codes or free gifts for purchases that exceed a specified amount.
Nordstrom's provides a great example of a Mom-optimized website by prominently featuring a "Gifts For Mom" section in the menu bar, as well as featuring "Mother's Day Gifts Under $100" on its landing page. Look through your analytics data from last year at this time to see just what was driving traffic and generating sales.
Email Marketing
This is an especially good week to put your email list to good use. Merchants should be promoting last-minute gift ideas for the big day via a series of email suggestions. Remember to use catchy subject lines that convey both the immediacy and importance of finding the perfect gift.
I have been the recent recipient of many Mother's Day-themed emails, including this Smashbox message, which reinforces the limited amount of shopping days left and prominently features free shipping - which could be the determining factor of a sale.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media is a marketer's best friend, especially for pushing sales when there is limited time left to make purchases in time for a holiday. If you are lucky enough to be one of the first businesses with the Facebook Offer feature at your disposal, waste no time in taking advantage of it this week by offering a coupon that will push them to your website and/or brick-and-mortar store.
Additionally, aside from normal promotions on social sites like Facebook and Twitter, merchants can leverage newer sites to step up their social game. For example, merchants can create a Mother's Day pinboard on Pinterest to keep consumers thinking about the holiday and encourage gift ideas.
Nine West not only used this strategy for Mother's Day, but also made a contest out of it by enabling website visitors to win gifts after they have followed the company on Pinterest and re-pinned images from the "Nine West Hearts Mom" board.
