If you’re like most business owners, you’re constantly looking for ways to engage your existing and potential customers. Valentine’s Day is the perfect holiday to reach out to your customers, even if your business isn’t directly related to the industries that usually benefit from this holiday. We’ve come up with a list of 10 Valentine’s Day marketing ideas to add to your February marketing that you can execute easily to boost your business’s relations with your customers.

valentines day marketing ideas coupon

We’ll cover industry-specific, general, and last-minute ideas to fit your particular circumstances. So let’s jump in.

Valentine’s Day marketing ideas

No matter what kind of business you run, there are different ways to promote your business and connect with your audience on and around Valentine’s Day. Below you’ll find some industry-specific and general marketing ideas for this holiday.

1. Industry-specific Valentine’s Day Promotions

There are countless Valentine’s Day promotions that you run this month to engage and communicate with your audience in fun and creative ways. Here are some industry-specific ideas:

Fitness centers

Host a special Valentine’s Day class for couples, a workout to show your body some love, or a post-Valentine’s Day workout to burn off all those sweets.

Massage therapists and spas

Run a special offer on massage services. Couples massages, a day at the spa, and a chocolate facial (yes, a chocolate facial) can all be used for Valentine’s Day promotions.

valentines day marketing ideas chocolate facial

Restaurants

Try a couples cooking class, add a few special items to your menu, or add a special something to your delivery or curbside orders. More restaurant marketing ideas during COVID-19 here.

2. Create a Valentine’s Day Gift Guide

Consumers are forever in search of the perfect gift for their loved ones and significant others. Take advantage of this by creating a blog post or downloadable gift guide. This is a great time to promote new products or services, or you can even make gift suggestions for products that you don’t offer at your business. The goal is for you to help your customers find something they’ll want to give to their loved ones; not necessarily to sell or promote your business directly. By suggesting great gift ideas to your customers and helping them solve their problem, you build trust with them. Remember to share your gift ideas on all your social media platforms and even through promotional emails.

valentines day marketing ideas gift guide

Photographers

Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that falls in the middle of the significance scale. Your audience might want to do just a little something special on or for this day—nothing major—which opens up an opportunity for you to run mini deals. For example, photographers can do quick (socially distanced) 30-minute sessions at half price. This way, you can attract interested prospects at a low commitment or cost, who may potentially return to you for larger holidays and events.

valentines day marketing ideas mini sessions

3. Couples-themed posts and promotions

Another way to incorporate Valentine’s Day into your February marketing is through a couples theme. The business below got creative and asked its audience to comment with their favorite “couple” of smartwatches for a chance to win them.

valentines day marketing ideas couples themed posts

4. Valentine’s Day visuals

Show your social media and email marketing some love with Valentine’s Day-themed graphics. Hearts, candy, and love are good things to use to catch attention from customers. You can use holiday graphics alone to spruce up your Facebook marketing and other social media profiles, but they’re even more useful when combined with Valentine’s Day promotions.

For help with creativing captivating visuals, check out these visual marketing tools.

valentines day marketing ideas valentines day graphics

Image source

5. Promote or give away a product

Does your business have any products or services that support Valentine’s Day themes? Promote or sell them on Facebook or run a giveaway. Think love, pink, hearts, friendship, teddy bears, flowers…you know the deal.

valentines day marketing ideas love themed product

Note that you can run a Valentine’s Day contest or giveaway using any of your products. That’s the beauty of holidays!

valentines day marketing ideas giveaway

6. Run a craft tutorial

If art, decorations, gift-giving, bouquets, or design are relevant to your business or audience, why not post a DIY tutorial on a Valentine’s Day craft? Video can help to engage your audience and reveal your business’s personality. Try a Facebook Live or Instagram Live session.

valentines day marketing ideas craft session

Last minute Valentine’s Day marketing ideas

Were you too busy doing your January marketing to plan for February? Don’t worry, we’ve got some last minute ideas to help you market your local business and build your brand.

7. Accommodate last-minute shoppers

Did you know that more than 60% of Valentine’s Day spending occurs on or within five days of the 14th? So your last-minute offers may even see more success than deals offered earlier in the month. Accommodate these shoppers by extending your hours on Valentine’s Day (be sure to update your hours in your Google My Business account). Also, don’t be afraid to emphasize the “last-minute” aspect. Create a post on social media encouraging your followers to just go for it with that gift. You may inspire them to stop in your store or redeem your online offer on their way to their Valentine’s date. Or, remind them that they only have x hours left to use this day to tell loved ones how much they care. Stir up some excitement and urgency around the holiday, and you’ll be sure to get some engagement.

8. Show your customers some love

Even if your products or services aren’t related to the holiday, you can still carry out creative and effective marketing on Valentine’s Day. For example, instead of encouraging your customers to buy gifts for their significant others, give a gift to them! Send out an email with a deal or coupon to show your customers some love. Hand out free swag with purchases at your store. Or simply throw an extra perk or two into an order, free of charge. Showing customer appreciation strengthens your relationship with them and builds loyalty, and Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to do this.

valentines day marketing ideas customer appreciation

9. Promote a Valentine’s Day offer on Google

While running a Google ad for a Valentine’s offer would be ideal, this is about very last-minute ideas. Thanks to the Google My Business platform, you can publish posts to your free listing that show up when customers find your business. Create an Events post to encourage attendance at an event you’re hosting (virtual during COVID-19), or an Offers post to expand the reach of your limited-time Valentine’s Day offer. This is a marketing bonus, as posting to your Google Business Profile is one of the many Google My Business optimizations you can perform to rank higher on Google Maps and increase your chances of getting found in local searches.

10. Email your customers a Valentine’s Day card

If you have an email list, send your subscribers a Happy Valentine’s Day card and include a special offer or promotion along with it. Again, you can market your offer as a special “gift” for your loyal customers instead of promoting products or services for your customers to buy for their loved ones. This email functions as a “Thank You” card and gives you a great excuse to reach out to your customers again in a non-intrusive way.

Bonus idea: ask for reviews

Valentine’s Day is a great day to reach out to your fans and ask them to give your business a little love in the form of a review. Not only will this help increase your positive reviews and attract more new customers, but it will also remind those who have had a good experience with your business to reengage. Customers are generally happy to write reviews, you just need to know how to ask for them.

Build up your customer relationships with these Valentine’s Day marketing ideas [recap]

Whether you create products that can be customized for Valentine’s Day or run a business completely unrelated to the holiday, there are plenty of ways to promote your business in February. Here’s what we covered in this post:

  1. Industry-specific Valentine’s Day Promotions
  2. Create a Valentine’s Day Gift Guide
  3. Couples-themed posts and promotions
  4. Valentine’s Day visuals
  5. Promote or give away a product
  6. Run a craft tutorial
  7. Accommodate last-minute shoppers
  8. Show your customers some love
  9. Promote a Valentine’s Day offer on Google
  10. Email your customers a Valentine’s Day card
  11. Bonus idea: Ask for some love in the form of reviews