Valentine’s Day is more than just an emblem of love and romance; it’s also one of the calendar’s most eagerly anticipated holidays. As this day of affection draws near, businesses gear up for a significant influx of customers.
Notably, Valentine’s Day ranks as the fourth-largest spending holiday, underlining its commercial importance. For businesses looking to leverage this occasion, integrating Valentines Day keyword online marketing into their strategy can make all the difference.
This is especially crucial if they’re offering signature Valentine’s Day treats like chocolates, cards, and bouquets.
Highlighting this approach, data from 2015 showed that a substantial 40 percent of Valentine’s Day searches employed “gift” as a keyword.
This invaluable insight comes courtesy of the Bing Ads Insights Team, as showcased in their comprehensive report “Valentine’s Day: Insights to woo digital marketers”
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Key Highlights
The report presents a number of interesting insights to help you attract customers this holiday season. Here are some of the key findings of the report:
- Twenty six percent of consumers plan to research products and compare prices to shop for Valentine’s Day.
- The first two weeks in February is when the bulk of Valentine’s Day searches on Bing Ads happen.
- Mobile captures roughly one-third of all Valentine’s Day searches.
- Jewelry, gift cards and flowers are the top search categories for Valentine’s Day.
- Ad copy for gifts works best when there are superlatives such as “best”, “top” and “great” in the ad title.
- There are plenty of last-minute searches, with mobile volume being greatest on Valentine’s Day between 3-10 p.m.
- Ad click-through-rate improves when ad copy contains certain words (see the top ad copy combinations below).
Key Findings from Valentine’s Day Digital Marketing Insights
For a snapshot view of the key insights from the Bing Ads Valentine’s Day report, refer to the comparison table below:
| Insight Category | Key Finding |
|---|---|
| Consumer Behavior | 26% plan to research products and compare prices for Valentine's Day shopping. |
| Search Timing | Bulk of Valentine’s Day searches happen in the first two weeks of February. |
| Device Usage | Mobile devices account for roughly one-third of all Valentine’s Day searches. |
| Top Search Categories | Jewelry, gift cards, and flowers are the most searched categories. |
| Effective Ad Copy | Ad titles with superlatives like “best”, “top”, and “great” perform the best. |
| Last-Minute Searches | High mobile search volume on Valentine’s Day between 3-10 p.m. |
| Click-Through Rates | Certain word combinations in ad copy lead to improved click-through rates. |
| Non-celebrators Behavior | 45% of Americans don’t plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day but many intend to treat themselves. |
Woo the Lonely Hearts Club on Valentine’s Day
The report notes that 45 percent of Americans don’t plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day, a significant portion of the population.
Interestingly, though, many of these individuals, while not engaging in traditional festivities, plan to get together or treat themselves to something special.
These are people who may not have elaborate plans for the annual celebration of love, or may feel somewhat disconnected from the holiday, but are still willing to spend money.
With 10 percent of happy singles planning to buy gifts like jewelry, spa, and apparel for themselves, this becomes a niche market you may want to explore.
Seizing this opportunity by planning a special campaign directed at this group can be a brilliant move.
It’s about understanding the subtleties of consumer behavior and targeting a market that might otherwise be overlooked, thereby maximizing your reach and potentially increasing sales during this romantic season.
Success Lies in a Great Valentine’s Day Marketing Strategy
With billions being spent on a single day to celebrate love, Valentine’s Day is a big event for businesses today. To make the most of it, you need to plan well and early.
Here are some tips that will come in handy:
- Kick off your marketing campaign in January to target the early shoppers before your competition.
- Be consistent across all devices. Offers on desktop, smartphones, and tablets should be identical.
- Offer same-day delivery on February 13 and 14 to capture last-minute shoppers.
- Make it easier for customers to connect using Call Extensions, Location Extensions and Location Targeting.
- Call-to-actions always work. Consider using compelling calls-to-action to entice your audience.
Valentine Photo via Shutterstock, Graphic via Bing
I think it can work on other occasions as well. I think Christmas is also a great time to add ‘gift’ to your marketing campaign. It can also be quite effective.