If you haven’t had the time to prepare for them, don’t fret. We put together the following 2022-23 eCommerce holiday calendar to help you get started.

Once you’ve identified the holidays you’d like to participate in, refer to our Holiday Marketing Plan Guide for more insights and instruction.

Pro Tip: Don’t worry about each and every holiday listed below. Focus on the holidays that resonate most with your target audience.

Holiday Marketing Calendar ’22-’23

October Holidays 2022

Dates of note:

• 4 — Yom Kippur begins
  • Considered the holiest day in Judaism.
• 10 — Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Columbus Day
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a recognized holiday in some U.S. states and cities. It’s meant to commemorate the indigenous peoples of America.
  • An official federal holiday in the U.S. that commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492.
• 24 — Diwali
  • One of India’s biggest and most celebrated holidays.
  • Known as the “Festival of Lights” it’s celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs.
• 29 — National Cat Day
  • Meow…
• 31 — Halloween
  • “The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.”

Monthly Themes:

• Breast Cancer Awareness
  • As of 2021, breast cancer has become the most common type of cancer across the globe. It accounts for 12% of all new cancer diagnoses worldwide.

November Holidays 2022

Dates of note:

• 6 — Daylight Savings Time ends
• 11 — Veterans Day
  • A U.S. holiday dedicated to paying tribute to all veterans who’ve served their countries honorably.
• 24 — Thanksgiving
  • Celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving is a holiday to celebrate the harvest and other good things of the past year.
• 25 — Black Friday
  • The Friday after Thanksgiving.
  • Traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping season.
• 26 — Small Biz Saturday
  • The Saturday after Thanksgiving.
  • A day to celebrate and shop at small businesses to support all they bring to their communities.
• 27 — Artists Sunday
  • Sunday after Thanksgiving.
  • Started as a national marketing campaign to encourage shoppers to buy from artists and give one-of-a-kind gifts for the holidays.
• 28 — Cyber Monday
  • The Monday after Thanksgiving.
  • Created to encourage online shopping, it’s the second-biggest shopping day of the year.
• 29 — Giving Tuesday
  • The Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
  • It is “a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.“

Monthly Themes:

• “Movember”
  • Focus on men’s health.
• Holiday preparation and shopping.

December Holidays 2022

Dates of note:

• 18 — Hanukkah begins
  • An eight-day Jewish celebration commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple.
• 21 — Winter Solstice
  • Marking the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the shortest day of the year.
• 24 — Christmas Eve
  • Marks the last day of Advent before Christmas begins on the 25th.
• 25 — Christmas Day
  • A Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
• 26 — Hanukkah ends
• 26 — Kwanzaa begins
  • Observed by many African Americans, this secular holiday celebrates culture, heritage, and traditional values.
• 26 — Boxing Day
  • Originally a day to celebrate and give gifts to the poor, it’s now mostly a shopping holiday.
  • Celebrated in the UK and other commonwealth nations.
• 31 — New Year’s Eve
  • The last day of the Gregorian calendar.

Monthly Themes:

• It’s the height of the holidays.
• Charitable giving and goodwill.

January Holidays 2023

Dates of note:

• 1 — New Year’s Day
  • The first day of the Gregorian calendar.
• 7 — Orthodox Christmas
  • Also known as “Old Christmas Day.”
  • Celebrates Jesus Christ’s birth according to the Julian calendar.
  • Observed by the Orthodox Church.
• 14 — Orthodox New Year
  • The first day of the new year according to the Julian calendar.
• 16 — Martin Luther King Jr Day
  • A federal holiday in the U.S. that marks the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
• 22 — Chinese New Year
  • Also called “Lunar New Year.”
  • Annual 15-day festival in China and Chinese communities across the globe.
  • Celebrates the beginning of the new year according to the lunisolar or Chinese solar calendar.

Monthly Themes:

• New beginnings and resolutions.
• Health and wellness.

With everything happening, it’s often the case that things fall through the cracks or don’t get the attention they deserve.

Don’t let that happen to your marketing efforts.

Below, you’ll find a handy holiday marketing checklist to help guide you through the busiest retail season of the year.

Holiday Marketing Checklist 2022

Pre-holiday Checklist

Have the following items completed by mid to late October.

• Review and forecast your online store based on your historical data or the previous year’s performance.
  • If this is your first year in business, review industry trends and data from the year prior, so you have a sense of what to expect.
• Create the framework for your marketing plan.
• Decide on the holidays you want to focus on.
• Set your S.M.A.R.T. goals.
• Figure out what tactics you’ll use to support your overall strategy and goals.
• Optimize your online store for the holidays.
  • Fix broken links, optimize SEO, test your user experience, and add holiday elements where appropriate.
• Prepare and update your social media accounts.

As the Season Progresses…

• Keep tabs on your performance.
  • Actively monitoring your online performance helps you identify and resolve issues as they occur, instead of allowing them to become bigger problems.
• Communicate your “ship by” dates to your audience. And then remind them of it!
  • Create a sense of urgency, or FOMO (fear of missing out), so that your audience is incentivized to transact ASAP.

Post-Holiday Checklist

• Remove holiday content from your site in a timely manner.
• Review and analyze your metrics while they’re fresh.
  • If you haven’t kept great records, you might not remember what actions influenced your results come next year.
• Keep your customers and clients engaged!
  • You want them to do business with you all year long, not just the holidays. Stay in touch via email, and social media, and keep your site current.

Many have used this time to strengthen their eCommerce operations as more and more people resort to online shopping. And with the holiday season upon us, this trend is gaining more traction.

According to a 2020 holiday predictions survey, 85% of the retailers interviewed estimated that online sales will increase in this holiday season as compared to 2019 and 55% said they are investing more in upgrading their eCommerce platforms.

It’s evident that this holiday season will take the competition to the next level while also posing new challenges for businesses to keep up with the increase in demand, handle shortages created by reduced scale of operations and, most importantly, build trust with new and existing customers.

This, in fact, is the perfect opportunity for businesses to gain the loyalty of wary online shoppers through a fulfilling and secure shopping experience.

Build Trust with Your eCommerce Customers.

Whether you’re a seasoned eCommerce company or have recently started your online store, these five trust-building tips will help you make the most of this pandemic-fraught holiday season.

1. Reassure customers about safety

The pandemic has everyone on the edge about the transmission of COVID-19 through physical contact. Physical distancing rules are either firmly in place or strongly recommended. Several companies have come up with a strict contact-less delivery policy to allow people to reap the benefits of home delivery without hesitation.

If your business has such a policy in place, along with other rules of how products are handled from packing to delivery and safety measures followed in your workplace, such as wearing of gloves, masks, and other protective equipment, make sure you communicate them clearly to your customers.

A great idea is to send an email about it to all of your subscribers to show them that their safety is your primary concern.

Moreover, communicate these policies to each and every member of your team and make sure that everyone is on board to make this virtual holiday shopping season safe for customers as well as staff. 

2. Be transparent about delays

The competition in eCommerce makes it mandatory for businesses to be well-stocked at all times and offer the quickest, most hassle-free delivery possible.

However, most eCommerce companies rely on third parties such as suppliers, warehousing facilities, delivery management agencies, and customer support. Often, delays are caused by situations that are not in your hands.

Several companies had to press pause on their operations during the pandemic and while business is bouncing back now, companies are still at different stages of resuming their operations. This means that not everyone is operating at full capacity, which can lead to longer wait times than usual.

People, too, have become more patient with such inevitable delays but as a brand that cares about its customers, it is your duty to be transparent about any issues that impact their shopping experience.

Make sure you communicate realistic wait times so that people don’t have unrealistic expectations that set them up for disappointment. If a product is out of stock and it will take time for you to obtain it, let the customer know, offer alternatives, and reward their patience with a discount or a freebie.

3. Improve your website experience

If you’ve been considering a website revamp, this is the perfect time to do so. Here are three things to keep in mind when you’re looking to improve your website’s user experience.

Unique Landing Page

To highlight the merriment of the holiday season, you could create a unique landing page where you highlight all your start products that are perfect for holiday shopping.

To give it an additional flavor of branding, you could give this landing page a unique domain name such as www.holidaybonanza.store or www.merrytimes.fun. New domain extensions such as .store, .online, .fun, and .space, can add that extra spark in your branding.

Speed of site and service

People have little patience when it comes to browsing the Internet. Keep bounce rates low by ensuring that your website loads in less than 5 seconds. Optimize image sizes so that they load quickly. Remove all unnecessary plugins and make sure that the built-in apps for payments and other features are not slowing you down.

Optimize for mobile

While there’s nothing like your own mobile application, you can still create memorable mobile shopping experiences by optimizing your website for mobile devices. Before you start your holiday season campaign, see how your website loads and looks on different devices such as computers, phones, and tablets. Take steps to ensure it loads quickly, the alignments are proper, and that scrolling and browsing are easy.

4. Offer quick checkout

Customers have a lot to accomplish when they’re shopping during the holiday season and you can help them save time by offering a short and sweet checkout.

Simple process

The fewer steps in your checkout process, the less likely people are to abandon their shopping carts. Limit your checkout process to no more than three steps: name and address, purchase review, and payment.

Guest checkout

Every brand likes to gather contact information of their customers to get to know them better and continue to attract them with personalized offers and deals.

However, not every customer feels comfortable sharing their email address especially if they’re doing business with you for the first time.

Some customers just want to make the purchase and be done with it and they shouldn’t feel like they’re being compelled to create an account with you. Provide a guest checkout option to make shopping easy and stress-free for everyone.

Multiple payment options

People have different preferences when it comes to online payments. Some are apprehensive about divulging their card details to different companies. Some prefer online bank transfers. Others use third-party apps such as PayPal or Google Pay. Make sure you cater to all preferences by providing as many payment options as possible.

5. Secure your site

Several people are skeptical of online shopping for security reasons. They are unsure about what might happen when they need to input sensitive information such as personal details and credit card or bank account numbers when making online purchases.

As more people may resort to online shopping due to the closure of physical stores and for health safety concerns, eCommerce companies must reassure buyers that their information is safe at every step of the way.

If you haven’t obtained an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate for your website, this is the time to do so. This certificate ensures safe transmission of encrypted data from browsers to websites.

Websites that don’t have SSL of HTTPS in their URL are flagged as “insecure” by Google when a user tries to access them. This message can raise suspicion among visitors and discourage them from shopping on your website.

Apart from the SSL certificate, you should also display security seals across your payment pages, such as badges by trusted companies like Visa, Mastercard, Google, and PayPal so that people feel safe about sharing their sensitive bank account information.

Ready to make the most of the holiday eCommerce season?

The holiday season is always an exciting time for people and businesses, but this one is slated to be unlike any other. For people, it is an opportunity to connect with their loved ones after a difficult year, even if just through gifts or virtual meetings.

For businesses, it is an opportunity to make up for the losses suffered so far. By building trust among customers through safety measures and enhanced online shopping experience, businesses not only stand to increase their revenue but also evolve as players to watch out for in the eCommerce playing field.

Author Bio

Alisha is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .STORE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

It’s the end of September, folks. Can you believe it?

Soon, we’ll need to put out the pumpkins, draw out the broomsticks and black cats, and prepare for the holidays to come. Do you know what to expect?

It’s one thing to deck the halls with boughs of holly, but another to prepare your website and marketing plan for the holiday season. Today, we’ll explore why you need to participate in the holiday cheer, how you can plan for holiday sales, and ways to engage your site visitors and customers. 

Create a holiday marketing plan for your website

According to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast, holiday sales are projected to “result in sales between $1,147 billion and $1,152 billion during the November-January timeframe.” Of the $1.1+ trillion dollars in holiday sales, $182-$196 billion is expected from e-commerce alone. That’s a 25%-35% increase from last year! And the Pew Research Center states that “Today, 79% of Americans say they make purchases online.” So if you’ve been dragging your feet on creating an e-commerce website, or have been putting off giving your website a festive facelift, there’s no time like the present. 

As autumn proceeds and the days get shorter and darker, people are on the hunt for the best deals and gifts to complete their holiday shopping. Let’s discuss how you can identify your goals so you can finalize your holiday marketing plan and attract these online shoppers.

Holiday goals for your website

Stop and think through your goals before making any changes to your site. What outcomes do you most want to see from your holiday campaign? Are you looking to:

• Drive new business?
• Increase repeat business?
• Focus on sales of a specific product?
• Increase site traffic?
• Something else?

It’s important to remember that you can have multiple goals as they are not mutually exclusive. Once you’ve identified what’s most important to you, you can cater your holiday marketing plan to include campaigns that support your goals.

Building your holiday marketing plan

Your plan serves as the guide to moving prospects through your marketing funnel so they become customers.

A marketing funnel represents the pivotal steps prospects take on their journey to becoming customers. Funnels are broken down into different sections. People start at the top of the funnel, drawn in by your marketing materials (like blog and social media posts), and proceed through to the last step of your funnel which represents a conversion. A conversion happens when the prospect takes the action you want them to take on your site (like making a purchase or signing up for your email list) and becomes a customer or subscriber.

Keep in mind that not everyone makes it all the way through your funnel. There are fewer and fewer people, or prospects, the deeper they go into your funnel. This is why it’s important to make sure your marketing plan is well thought out. You want to encourage as many people as possible through all the steps in your funnel. 

Know what holidays to plan for

Can you make a holiday marketing plan without knowing the key dates this season?

We didn’t think so. 

Here are some holidays to consider planning for:

• Thanksgiving — Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020
• Black Friday — Friday, Nov. 27, 2020
• Small Business Saturday — Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020
• Cyber Monday — Monday, Nov. 30, 2020
• Giving Tuesday — Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020
• Hanukkah — Thursday, Dec. 10 – Friday, Dec. 18, 2020
• Christmas — Friday, Dec. 25, 2020
• Kwanzaa — Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020 – Friday, Jan. 1, 2021
• New Years Eve — Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020
• New Years Day — Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

Drafting your holiday marketing plan

Have you stopped to think about your goals? Are they strategic and measurable?

Good.

Know what dates to plan for?

Good.

Let’s think through a holiday marketing plan together so you understand how to build your own. 

What’s your first goal? For this example, we’re going to set a goal of increasing our revenue by $10,000 this December.

Now that we’ve decided on a goal our next step in creating our plan is to determine the strategy we need to reach our goal. This strategy can actually be comprised of various different methods that can all contribute toward reaching the goal.

If we really want to increase our revenue by $10,000 then a couple of things need to happen. We should:

1. Focus on what products to highlight to drive more revenue
2. Attract more visitors to our site in hopes of converting them into customers

Marketing tactics to include in your plan

Once you know the pivotal actions you need to drive (for us, we need to increase site visitors and decide on a product to focus on to drive the additional revenue) you can figure out the tactics to do so.

Consider the following:

• Blog posts
• Social media posts
• Email marketing
• Coupons and discounts
• Contests and giveaways

But here’s the thing — just listing out your tactics isn’t going to cut it. As you think through your tactics try setting smaller goals for them, like in the following example.

Instead of saying, “I’m going to run a social media promotion offering 20% off my top-selling product to new customers” try setting a more specific goal.

This goal could look something like, “I will use a coupon code for my top-selling product to drive 200 new customer acquisitions by XX/XX/XX date.” This is called a S.M.A.R.T. goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.) Go ahead and create S.M.A.R.T goals for all the tactics you’ll use in your holiday marketing plan.

Creating your offer

Once you have your S.M.A.R.T. goals for your marketing tactics identified you can get down to the business of creating your offer(s).

It’s vital that you have a good understanding of your ideal customer and the audience that you’re looking to attract. Sure, you could run a contest where the winner receives a free weekend getaway to the Poconos, but if you sell financial planning consultations then what’s the point? You’re likely to have folks across all spectrums enter your contest and there’s no telling if the person who wins will be your ideal customer and continue a business relationship with you post-getaway.

Your offer should be relevant to your audience. So if you do sell financial planning consultations on your site, consider running a contest where the winner receives a free planning session to help get their finances under control in the new year. This offer is more relevant to the people who are in your audience.

Make your offers look good

As a professional, we’re sure you want to be taken seriously. In that case, presentation matters. Instead of writing a normal Facebook post to announce your offer, consider creating materials specifically for your offers. There are many free tools you can use like Canva. You can “use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and professional layouts to design consistently stunning graphics.”

Don’t miss out on getting new customers by using outdated graphics when you have free options that help make your business and offers look good.

Measuring your marketing success

In order for you to understand the success of your marketing campaign, you need to implement a way to measure it.

Google Analytics is a great way to measure your website’s performance and figure out what campaigns are working and what might need to be tweaked for better performance.

You can check out our guide to Google Analytics here.

Ready for the holidays?

We bet you are.

We wish you the best of luck in creating your holiday marketing plan and running your marketing campaigns. Let us know what has worked for you and what hasn’t in the comments below. And if you have any other tips or tricks for making the most of the holiday season on your site, let us know!

Have you started making your lists and checking them twice? Nailing down who gets what, whether they’ve been naughty or nice?

You’re probably planning to spend time with family and maybe you’re this year’s host.

What does it take to be a host for the holidays? Quite a bit!

You should be able to provide food and drink and most importantly, have a place that can accommodate all the friends and family coming over to celebrate. No one wants to have Thanksgiving at Uncle Jimmy’s house where there’s standing room only (but no one has the heart to tell Uncle Jimmy.)

Why are we discussing website hosting this holiday season?

Well, website hosting is a lot like regular hosting. We’ll explain.

Your web host is the physical location where your website lives and your domain name is the address that leads to that location.

When people visit your site it’s just like people visiting your home. If they can’t all fit inside then some will end up waiting, others will leave instead of uncomfortably waiting, and they’ll have a bad overall experience.

So this holiday season, if you’re planning on running sales and offers to attract more customers, consider reviewing your hosting package first. Make sure all the extra visitors can “fit” into your site to ensure that your website doesn’t go down during this critical time.

Domain.com’s hosting packages

Here at Domain.com, we offer multiple hosting packages to make sure you have the best fit for your site. Our hosting is powerful and reliable (over 99.9% uptime!) and the plans are scalable so they can grow with you and your site traffic.

Our Basic Hosting plan is perfect for a simple website and one domain name. If you’re not expecting much traffic to your site this holiday season and don’t run an e-commerce site, this plan is a good fit for you. You’ll still receive unlimited storage, free SSL, and more.

If you have multiple sites or are planning on creating multiple sites as you grow your business then you shouldn’t settle for anything less than our Deluxe Hosting plan. This hosting plan also comes with free SSL, unlimited storage, 25 databases, and 25 FTP logins.

Are you a web pro or are your sites heavily trafficked? Our Ultra Hosting plan is the best solution for you. You’ll receive an unlimited amount of websites, storage, scalable bandwidth, free SSL, and more. Check it out on our site today.

What if I prefer WordPress hosting?

You’re in luck because we offer that, too.

You can create your site with WordPress and enjoy unparalleled speed, security, and support with Domain.com.

When you choose one of our WordPress hosting packages you’re choosing to make life easier on yourself. That’s because you can select from any of our curated selections of mobile-friendly themes, pre-installed plugins, and a customized user-friendly control panel.

Our WP Starter plan offers unlimited storage and bandwidth, a customized control panel, and the aforementioned themes and plugins. When you choose our WP Essential plan you’ll also receive maximized site speeds, SiteLock professional security, automatic malware removal, and WordPress expert support.

Make sure everyone has a seat at the table

Optimizing your website hosting for the holidays ensures that everyone has a seat at your holiday table, or in this case, website. You don’t want your site to come crashing down during the busiest sales season all because too many people were trying to enter it at once.

So get your domain name and website hosting from Domain.com today, and be the talk of this year’s holiday season.

As the air gets chilly and the year draws to a close, people look to complete their holiday shopping.

How can you take advantage of the season and convince more people to purchase from your e-commerce site versus a competitor’s?

In this post, we’re going to cover 3 ways to make your site more cheerful and less bah-humbug so you can generate more sales this year.

3 ways to ready your site for the holiday season

Be a trusted resource for your site visitors.

How often have you heard someone say that the person they’re shopping for “already has everything they need” or is “impossible to shop for”?

Take the guesswork out of shopping for your customers by compiling a gift guide (or a few) for your site visitors. By doing this, you can direct them to the products that are the best fit for their needs or highlight the products that you most want to sell.

Your gift guides should be clearly titled. There should be no confusion as to whether your gift guide is best suited for someone’s grandmother or great-nephew. Make sure to use keywords and details in your product descriptions to give people enough information to make an informed decision.

And remember that appearances matter! It’s not 1997 anymore — so as much as you might want to throw together a list of goods in a Word doc then post it to your site, don’t do it. There are so many retailers clamoring for attention and sales that you need to stand out.

There are many free graphic design sites and tools that can help you craft a good-looking gift guide. Check out Canva or do a quick internet search to find the tool you like best.

Give your site a festive facelift.

When was the last time your website got a little TLC?

People don’t keep the same clothing or hairstyles forever, and there’s no time like the holidays for updating your site, too.

You don’t have to overhaul your website, but consider updating your main banner image to something better suited to the holiday season. Coca-Cola is a great example of a company that updates its look and feel for the holidays. Before the holidays last year, they updated their site to highlight a seasonal product, Coca-Cola Cinnamon, and their banner image had also been updated to support that.

If you’re thinking, “I can’t afford a photographer or new graphic designer just for this!” then we have good news. The days when you’d need to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for good photography and imagery to use on your site are long gone, so don’t let that be a concern of yours. When creating your new banner image, consider adding a highly-visible coupon code to attract holiday shoppers.

Check out this article for free image resources you can use to spruce up your site.

Be a little less Scrooge and a little more Santa

We’ve talked a lot about shopping this holiday season but that’s not entirely what it’s about. Your customers are looking to purchase gifts for the people they care for as an act of consideration and love.

Help them know that you’re on the same page by dedicating a certain percentage of your holiday sales to charity or a non-profit organization. Even a very small amount, like 1-2% of your profits this time of year, can add up to make a big difference in someone’s life.

Don’t be shy about letting your customers know that part of their purchase is going towards a good cause. It could be the differentiator you need to stand out from the crowd and convince someone to purchase from you instead of your competitor.  

Happy holidays to you and your site

The holiday season is a great time to update your site. Give your visitors what they’re looking for with gift guides, updated seasonal imagery, and another reason to feel good about themselves with a donation to charity.

Do you have other ideas for giving your website a holiday look and feel? Share them with the rest of us in the comments below. 

Seems like just yesterday we were toasting one another while wishing everyone a Happy New Year. And yet here we are, nearing the end of the year’s first quarter. If you’re looking to increase your sales before the month is out, you’re in luck — this is the blog post for you.

March is a festive month. You can’t deny the popularity of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a day where people “claim” Irish heritage, wear green, attend parades, eat corned beef and cabbage, and perhaps even drink a Guinness or two.

According to the National Retail Federation’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Spending Survey, 56% of Americans plan on celebrating this year, and that jumps to 73% in the 18-34 year old demographic. If that age group is part of your target audience, don’t skip this holiday.

We’re not going to focus on how to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as we’re pretty sure you’ve got that covered. Instead, we’re exploring St. Paddy’s day marketing tips and ideas to help your business do more business.

This year, consumers are expected to spend a total of $6.16 billion for St. Patrick’s Day, so let’s make sure you get some of that pot of gold.

5 St. Patrick’s Day Marketing Tips and Ideas for Your Website and Business

1 – Dress Yourself and Your Site Appropriately

The most popular way to celebrate St. Patty’s day, by far, is to wear green. In fact, it’s how 79% percent of people surveyed said they’d celebrate this year.

Consider adding some green elements to your website to get into the spirit. You can accomplish this by temporarily updating your color scheme (many website builders offer the ability to toggle between different colors and themes) or adding some St. Paddy’s-centric images to your site.

If you can’t afford to splurge on expensive stock imagery for a seasonal holiday promotion, don’t worry! Check out these free image resources where you’re sure to find what you need. (Bonus: these aren’t just for St. Paddy’s day materials; you can refer to these resources whenever your site needs a refresh.)

Do you have a brick-and-mortar business? Encourage your employees to get in on the St. Paddy’s Day spirit. They can help decorate your store or restaurant with St. Paddy’s Day decorations and wear green to celebrate the festivities.

Make your location a place where someone would want to celebrate the holiday, or if you’re in retail, make it apparent that you sell the holiday-related materials and supplies they need.

2 – Help Your Customers Save Some Green

Saving money feels good. Saving the planet feels better. Help your customers do one, or both, this March.

Encourage your customers to start “thinking green” as a way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Consider offering to donate a certain percentage of your profits that day to a “green-friendly” organization, like The Nature Conservancy, or run a promotion on environmentally friendly items, like reusable straws and bags.

In doing so, you’re keeping to a green theme that’s in line with St. Patrick’s Day, and giving your customers a reason to feel good about themselves and the impact they’re making on the environment (and their pocketbook.)

3 – Make the Most of Email Marketing

 Are you using email marketing on your website?

If not, now’s the time. Email helps you stay top-of-mind with your customers and subscribers, and can bring people to your site when they aren’t otherwise thinking of you. 

Make the St. Patrick’s day theme immediately apparent in your customer’s inbox by paying attention to your subject line. Your subject lines should be short and to the point, like “Save some green this St. Patrick’s Day ☘️” or “Feeling lucky? Today’s your day to save. 🌈☘️” Using emojis is a great way to attract attention, but as with everything, don’t overdo it.

Your themed email can include special offers, links to St. Patrick’s day goods for sale, recipes, trivia, and more. Make it worth your reader’s while, but be mindful not to overwhelm them with content. You can include “Read More” links back to your website from your email, thereby bringing them back to your site where they can transact.

Pro-tip: When your email address matches your domain name, it creates trust in the inbox. 

4 – The Luck of the Draw

Who doesn’t like winning?

Incentivize your customers, email subscribers, and social media followers to interact with your business by running a sweepstakes or giveaway.

St. Patrick’s Day lends itself well to sweepstakes and giveaways because we often associate luck with leprechauns and the Emerald Isle. Create a sense of excitement around your business with a giveaway, and leave one lucky winner (or more, depending on how you decide to structure your sweepstakes) feeling sweet on your business.

5 – Be Respectful

Why do we celebrate holidays?

Holidays and days of festivity are commonplace the world over. They’re intended as days to celebrate what’s important to us, and many places take their holidays seriously.

Above all else, when celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, be respectful of Irish tradition and culture. A simple example is knowing the difference between a shamrock and four-leaf clover, as only one of them is actually a symbol of Ireland. And make sure to avoid any negative Irish stereotypes in all of your marketing materials.  

Being respectful and mindful of different cultures will help you celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, and will help ensure that your marketing isn’t tone deaf and falling flat.

March is your lucky month.

If you want to see a little extra gold this month, consider joining in on the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations both online and off.

Consumers are poised to spend a record-breaking $6 billion USD this year on St. Patrick’s Day supplies, like clothing and entertaining goods, and celebrations, like going out for food and drink.

How will you be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day? Do you have any marketing ideas for the holiday? We’d love to know, so leave a note in the comments.