Is Valentine's Day part of your web marketing strategy?

If you are in the red roses or chocolates or greetings card business I would expect you to say yes, especially if you are reading this in Ecuador which is apparently the rose growing capital of the world.  But what about the breakdown business? That's car breakdowns not relationship breakdowns. Are events like Valentines Day an opportunity for you to market your business and engage with your prospects and customers in a different way?

I would say yes. Here's an example from the RAC.

Before I started Brand New Way, one of my marketing roles was at the RAC, the UK motoring organisation that's been around as long as the motor car, I tested the idea of RAC patrols giving red roses to stranded motorists on Valentines day. I sourced single red roses in a clear container with a card printed 'With best wishes from the RAC'. The strategy was for patrols to give them to members having breakdowns on Valentines Day, providing we had given great service i.e.

• got there quickly (within 30 minutes)
• and fixed the car quickly

Having fixed the car, the patrol would say something like "I'm sorry that you have been inconvenienced today by your car breaking down. Please accept this rose with best wishes from the RAC". I trusted patrols to use their discretion and decide when it was appropriate to hand over the rose and when not.

'Looking for a man you can rely on?'
To help change peoples views about the RAC brand (which at the time was perceived as old fashioned & unapproachable), we also ran a small ad in the national press on the pages devoted to Valentine's messages. The ad said 'Looking for a man you can rely on 24 * 7? Call the RAC on 0800.....Apparently, we got a lovely call from an elderly lady who didn't know that we offered that kind of service!

Don't just bolt it on without thinking?

Developing a Valentines Day theme will be easier for some companies than others. The RAC example shows that it is possible to think laterally. However, an email I received on Saturday from Hewlett Packard was pretty poor. It had hearts pictured on the email and featured price cuts on printers, PC's and a camera. It also included savings on supplies such as ink cartridges. 

Call me old fashioned, but I would never have considered sending an ink cartridge (not even light magenta or pink) to my Valentine. Apart from the hearts, the only attempt to tailor their communication to the theme was the subject title 'Surprise your Valentine'. It certainly would have been a big surprise for most people! This is a particularly crass example from a big corporate with undoubtedly a huge marketing team and external agency support.  

Web marketing tips that any business (large or small) could apply to attract and retain valuable customers

• Do you have a promotional calendar that's in tune with your customers or do you sell the same stuff in the same way all year?

• Make promotional themes a key part of your web marketing strategy to focus your activities across the web site to create an event that is relevant and topical for your customers

• Don't just bolt it on to what you would have done anyway (like HP), but consider how to make the theme work most effectively with your offer (like RAC)

• Make sure you have a business objective for every marketing activity e.g. attract x target web visitors per week at less than £z per visitor or achieve p sales per week with an average revenue of £q at less than £r per visitor 

• Measure your web performance against your key objectives on a regular basis. The more you spend, the more frequently you should measure
  

• Identify what's working and what isn't

• Make improvements based on the learning

• Continue measuring & improving

• If you need help then get a Web Marketing expert 

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing consultant with UK web marketing agency Brand New Way which helps companies to attract and retain valuable customers online.