5 Marketing Ideas to Boost Sales for the 4th of July Holiday

Summer is a valuable time to test new marketing ideas before the big holiday shopping season arrives. Start by testing some of these ideas during a summer holiday, like the 4th of July. This is a great opportunity to see if any of your fun concepts, along with clever content and interesting partnerships, can drive sales and engagement.

Decide which of the following ideas works best for your business and start preparing. You may need to support your campaign with marketing efforts leading up to the holiday, so mark your calendar and get started now.

Instagram Story Interviews With Veterans

Industry: Veteran or military-focused

While any brand can use this marketing idea, the audience of a military or veteran-involved business is likely full of those who love, support or have served in the military. These are the people who will find these Instagram story interviews most interesting and motivational.

There are a number of ways to facilitate the interviews; here are a few details to consider:

• Time frame: Will you do one interview an hour? Five set interviews at top engaging times throughout the day?
• Questions: Will you ask all the vets the same questions or different? Will there be just one question, or will you ask a few?
• Interviewer: Who will be doing the interviews? Assuming the interviews are in person, you’ll need a place to conduct them. Note that you can add pre-recorded videos to your story, allowing you to do these during the work-week and then share on your story on the holiday.

Boost sales: Have every veteran choose their favorite product of yours at the end of each interview. Put that product on a special 4th of July sale for 24 hours. Throughout the day, you’ll have a number of product-specific discounts to offer your customers and the discounts are connected to the holiday. Ask ahead of time to create marketing collateral for promoting each product and discount on various social platforms.

Host a “Red, White and New” Product Launch

Industry: All

Use the holiday as a chance to launch a new product or service offering. You may be worried about launching a new product on a holiday, but there are two ways to make it effective:

1. Build buzz about your product launch in the weeks leading up to it, via social media, email, and the other marketing channels where you’re active. Remind people to check their email, or follow along on social on the July 4th holiday, to catch the new product at a steep discount.
2. Promote shopping on mobile. Mobile commerce currently accounts for nearly $100 billion per year in the U.S., according to Huffington Post. The key to driving these sales is one-click purchasing. During the 2015 holiday season, almost 70 percent of all Amazon sales were via mobile and that’s attributed to this feature.

Boost sales: Promote your 1-click shopping experience in all emails. Your customers are on the move on 4th of July, bouncing from one barbecue to the next. Remind them how easy it is to buy from you with their phone and watch as your sales climb.

Partner With an American Charity

Industry: All

The 4th of July is all about celebrating America. That makes it a great time for you to stand out among your competitors for supporting an American cause: a 2016 BBMG Study found that among 21,000 consumers, across 21 countries, only half could think of a single company as having a strong purpose, as reported by Sustainable Brands. This is a chance for you to be one of those brands.

Once you choose an American-based charity, there are a number of ways you and your customers can support them. Here are a few ideas:

• Donate a percentage of sales: “We’re donating 20 percent of sales today to [X Charity]!
• Donate product: “For every pair of shoes sold today, we’ll donate a pair to [X Charity]!
• Encourage customer donations: Add an option to your checkout page for donating to the charity, with the messaging being, “We supported [Charity X] with a $5,000 donation. You can support them to by adding your donation at check-out!”

Boost sales: The Good Purpose Study found that 47 percent of global consumers buy brands that support a good cause at least monthly. Make this a regular event for various holidays to show your dedication to supporting other people and causes, while getting a nice spike in sales each month.

Create a Local Fireworks Guide With Coupons

Industry: Local outdoors gear retailers, local restaurants

A great way to boost sales for the 4th of July holiday is to be helpful to your customers and email subscribers. This is most valuable for local businesses that know where customers are likely planning to watch the fireworks. Create a fun guide or map email, listing each firework location, time and one “need to know” tip. For example:

South Bay Fireworks

Time: 8:30pm

Need-to-know: People start getting seats around 4p.m. Arrive early!

Boost sales: Encourage people to visit you for last-minute dinner reservations or gear needs with a holiday coupon or discount. The key is choosing a coupon that’s most effective for driving sales. A 2016 retailer survey found that “Sitewide, All Products” was the all-time best discount offer, with 43 percent of respondents citing “maximizing sales” as the reason. This is likely your best option for a revenue-driving holiday offer.

Holiday Style Guide

Industry: Retailers

A great way to boost sales is to show people why your products are must-haves for their holiday attire. Everyone will be attending barbecues, parties and firework displays and it’s your chance to remind them that they’ll look great in your clothing and accessories.

The key with this marketing idea is to start sending your marketing emails 2 to 3 weeks in advance so people have a chance to buy the items. Prepare a set of emails—think: one each week—that features a different variation of your style guide. Pair clothing items with accessories like tote bags, hats, sunglasses and jewelry to boost the upsell opportunities as well.

Boost sales: As you get closer to the big day, boost sales by offering free, expedited shipping: 9 out of 10 customers said free shipping was the number one incentive for shopping online, according to Walker Sands’ 2016 Future of Retail study, making it a valuable offer for driving sales.

 

Use the 4th of July as testing grounds for driving sales during the big holiday shopping season. See what works, what doesn’t—perhaps a combination of two or three ideas will be most motivating for your customers. When you figure it out, you can deploy similar marketing campaigns seamlessly throughout the year, driving sales year-round.