Planning a 4th of July Email Marketing Promotion
This is the first of several broadcasts that was sent out to Email Groove members – a free email marketing service that helps busy store owners and marketers stay on top of creating holiday promotions.
If you’re interested in getting these emails in real time for future holidays, you can sign up for free here.
Our aim here is to provide actionable advice and deadlines to help you plan out a 4th of July promotion. You’ll find a recommended to-do list at the bottom.
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July 4th weekend is in 11 days, so it’s time to start putting your plans together for an email marketing campaign.
Deadline for deliverables: Friday, June 30, 2017
Since July 4th is traditionally not a gift-giving holiday, there’s no rush to start sending out promotions early to give a lead time on shipping.
Note: consider your products when deciding on your timeline. July 4th (and particularly the weekend around July 4th) are best known for gathering with friends, being outdoors (often around water), grilling food, etc. If your products fit into that experience where people will want to have them in time for their 4th of July celebrations, then an earlier promotion is needed.
At a very minimum, you want to have everything ready to send out by Friday, June 30th. After that weekend, you’ll either send something out Monday, July 3 or use Monday as a buffer to make sure everything is scheduled properly to go out July 4th.
What to do for your promotion
Let’s consider a two approaches:
- Directly promoting your products
- Building awareness and buy-in with your brand by delivering something interesting/valuable
Approach #1 works best when:
- The Fourth of July has a natural fit with your products or brand (i.e. it makes sense to run a promotion around this holiday). You don’t want it to feel like a forced connection.
- When you’re wanting to run a sale or special offer (maybe you need to clear out some inventory or it has been a while since your last one)
- Your store has a history of a spike in interest/sales around the summer time
Approach #2 is less aggressive on getting the sale right away, but great for strengthening the relationship with the people on your email list. See it as setting yourself up for a sale down the road. Here are some examples:
- An email that teaches them something valuable related to your industry (e.g. if you’re in fashion/clothing – share tips on how to nail that casual/outdoors-y look at their upcoming 4th of July get together)
- Sharing a fun/interesting fact or story related to 4th of July (e.g. did you know this about ____?)
- Sharing a short video or photo that takes people behind the scenes of your company (even just you saying hi and wishing them a fun/happy 4th of July adds a really powerful, personal touch). Thank them for being on your email list. That’s a big deal these days.
Your homework for today
Decide on what approach you want to take and get a rough idea of what you’ll be sending out. Then create a checklist (like the one I recommend below) to get everything done and ready by the deadline (Friday, June 30).
4th of July Promotion Checklist (Approach #1)
- Plan your campaign and what you’ll be sending out
- Record a short video or take a couple photos to use in your email
- Create a graphic to use throughout your site, in your email and on social
- Write/design at least two emails (one to announce the offer, and at least one for the day-of to prompt them to purchase the offer)
- Set up your discount codes or special offer and notify your staff so that everyone is on the same page
- Schedule your emails to go out
4th of July Promotion Checklist (Approach #2)
- Plan your campaign and what you’ll be sending out
- Record a short video or take a couple photos to use in your email
- Write/design your email
- Schedule your email to go out
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If you’re interested in getting these emails (in real time) for future holidays, you can join Email Groove for free here.
