PPC
47 Creative February Marketing Ideas (Beyond Valentine’s Day!)
February is home to the most romantic holiday of the year:
Just kidding (shouldn’t that be in March anyway?). But there is so much more to February than Branch’s Conversation Hearts and #sharethelove. So today, I’m showering you with over 50 creative and February marketing ideas and examples to help you connect with customers and build your brand.
Table of contents
February awareness causes
Below is a list of awareness causes recognized in February that can help you with cause-related marketing.
- American History Month
- American Heart Month (heart disease)
- Bake for Family Fun Month
- Black History Month
- Cancer Prevention Month
- Children’s Dental Health Month
- Embroidery Month
- Free and Open-Source Software Month
- Library Lover’s Month
- Self-Check Month
- Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
- Wedding Month
Some of these are general while others are highly specific, so depending on your business, your trade, or your niche, you may or may not be able to apply these to your February social media and marketing campaigns (National Embroidery Month isn’t exactly versatile, for example).
February national days
There’s a full list of February national days and dates at the bottom of this post, but here are some highlights:
- Known: Groundhog Day, President’s Day, Valentine’s Day (Valentine’s Day marketing ideas here), Galentine’s Day.
- Fun: Day the Music Died Day, Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day, Make a Friend Day, Do A Grouch a Favor Day, Comfy Day, Optimist Day.
- Meaningful: Freedom Day, Girls and Women in Sports Day, Wear Red Day, Safer Internet Day, Random Acts of Kindness Day, Shut-In Visitation Day, Set a Good Example Day, Skip the Straw Day.
- Industry-specific: Toothache Day, Dog Biscuit Day, Love Your Pet Day, Spay Day, Clean Out Your Computer Day, Caregivers Day, Lash Day, Home Warranty Day, Women Physicians Day.
- Well alright: Public Sleeping Day.
February diversity, equity & inclusion
Alright, now it’s time to get into the marketing ideas. Let’s start with important dates and observances that can help you in your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
- Black History Month: Your Black History-related content should not actually be a marketing ploy but a genuine initiative to raise awareness and promote civil rights.
Here are some things you can do.- Highlight prominent Black leaders in your industry—lawyers, politicians, scientists, artists, educators, and athletes who have shaped or are shaping American society or your industry.
- Interview or feature Black business owners, influencers, or members of your community who are helping to make history.
- Share quotes, little-known facts, and eye-opening stats about Black History—especially those related to your industry or niche.
- Tammy Baldwin’s birthday (Feb 11): Tammy Baldwin is the first openly LGBT woman elected to both houses of Congress. Post an inspiring quote from her on Instagram or Facebook.
- Susan B. Anthony’s birthday (Feb 15): This famous female is a leader of the women’s suffrage movement who advocated for abolition, labor rights, equal pay and more. On this day, share an eye-opening statistic or inspirational quote to raise awareness.
Meaningful February marketing ideas
In addition to inclusivity, there are plenty of other themes during February that can help you with meaningful marketing. Showing your support for causes you care about is a great way to connect with your audience and express your core values. Here are some ideas and examples.
Heart Health Awareness Month
So February isn’t all about that $1 pink balloon heart but also that invaluable organ inside of you that makes you tick. If your business is focused on health and wellness, this is a great marketing opportunity for you.
- Fitness centers and gyms can partner with a local health center for heart disease awareness or screenings.
- Host special classes focusing on cardiovascular activity.
- Write informative blog posts about heart health and risk factors. Use this time to market your business by educating your customers on leading healthy lives.
- Give out a free heart-healthy gift with purchases or registrations.
In the example below, this fitness center is giving out free heart rate monitors to those who join in the month of February.
If you’re not a health or fitness business, no problem.
- Any business can sponsor a Healing Heart 5k, or donate a portion of their profits to a heart health-related nonprofit.
- Think outside the box—pet hearts, artichoke hearts, hearts of remain, website health (the heart of a business marketing strategy, for example).
RELATED: 34 Genuine Valentine’s Day Messages and Email Templates to Send to Customers
Children’s Dental Health Month
Dentists can certainly have a field day with this one, but other businesses can use this opportunity to teach parents and students about the importance of dental health.
- Daycares, fitness centers, and churches can host special classes about the importance of dental hygiene.
- If you’re a dentist, you may offer to teach such classes. Or spruce up your dentist website with some extra decorations or promotions.
- Ecommerce businesses can promote their oral hygiene products.
- If you’re not a dentist, a simple social media post to bring your target audience’s attention to the cause can go a long way.
Cancer Awareness Month
In addition to having World Cancer Day, the whole month of February is dedicated to cancer awareness. Show your support on Facebook with a purple-themed post or initiative. You can encourage your followers to “purple” their profile, promote your purple products, or run a purple-themed contest.
Wear Red Day
National Wear Red Day is focused on raising awareness for heart disease. On this day, you could:
- Host an event in support of cardiovascular health and promote it on Instagram.
- Promote your red products or give your social media profiles or homepage a red theme for the day.
- Post an applicable picture to Instagram with an eye-opening stat. This is a great way to increase Instagram engagement.
World Cancer Day
You may also want to run a special promotion on World Cancer Day itself, especially if you’re in the health and fitness industry.
Fun February marketing ideas
Some of these are well-known, others not so much. Take a look and see which ones align with your brand voice and values.
Presidents Day
Federal holidays like these are always versatile. Any industry can run a Presidents Day sale—for the day, the weekend, or the whole dang month. Here are some ideas:
- Run a presidential trivia night at your restaurant or even on social media.
- Run a Presidents Day giveaway on Instagram or Facebook.
- Create a Facebook event for your sale.
Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
Ironically, in the middle of Children’s Dental Health Month is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day…oops? But who says you can’t use this quirky holiday to market your business?
Held on the first Saturday of February, this is an opportunity for bakeries, ice cream shops, or restaurants to run special promotions.
If you’re not in the confectionery industry, here are some other ideas:
- Let your local social media followers know where they can celebrate the day.
- Host a virtual ice cream for breakfast party.
- Ask your followers to share their ice cream sundaes.
Mardi Gras
Fat (mardi) Tuesday (Gras) is held on the last Tuesday before Ash Wednesday every year. It’s a celebration of life before the more somber Ash Wednesday and following period of Lent. Here are some Mardi Gras marketing ideas:
- Write a blog post with a “celebration of life” theme.
- Promote your purple, green, and gold products.
- Run a Mardi Gras Instagram giveaway.
- Enter customers on that day into a drawing for a gift card or discount.
- Offer a discount to those who wear Mardi Gras beads to your store, event, or classes. Promote the sale ahead of time with a post and encourage followers throughout the day by posting pictures of customers wearing their beads.
Love Your Pet Day
Love Your Pet Day is February’s opportunity for you to shamelessly post about your pet. But here are some additional ideas to consider:
- Write a blog post about what your pet can teach you about [topic relevant to your industry].
- Have your employees share photos of their pets and put the montage on social media or in your February newsletter.
- Come up with a pet-themed incentive. For example, Select Hotels invited its followers to comment on its post with their favorite moments with their pets, and that if they did, “A surprise awaits the two of you on your next visit.”
Make a Friend Day
This day gives you lots of opportunities for creative marketing.
- Send out a review request email themed around asking your customers to be your friend. (Use these February email subjet lines for inspiration!)
- Partner with a neighboring or complementary business and run a joint friends promotion.
- Remind people of your referral program or run a one-day special where referrals result in a discount or gift.
Groundhog Day Contest
This superstitious day happens on February 2 every year. For the uninitiated, if the groundhog sees its shadow, winter will last six more weeks. If it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive early. Plenty of fun marketing material to work with here.
- Run a sale where the offer is contingent upon the outcome of the day.
- Create content inspired by the Groundhog Day movie, sharing tips to break up the monotony or avoid repeating mistakes.
- On Groundhog Day, you can run a contest, share a question or poll with your audience, or simply share a fun fact about the day.
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched programs on television. How does your target audience relate to football? Are they football fans? Spouses or parents of football fans? Athletes? Is your business located near a Superbowl venue? Run a special during Superbowl weekend, create Superbowl-themed products, or share a helpful tip relevant to what their Superbowl experience will be like.
February hashtag marketing ideas
Hashtags can expand your reach and add some personality to your posts. Here are some basic February hashtags to play around with.
#Febsale
If you’re just getting started with your Instagram marketing, start basic with something as simple as a #Febsale. In the below example, the small business Mexicali took a snapshot of their ready-to-ship orders to promote their February sale and encourage people to buy.
They didn’t use a photo shoot or fancy Photoshop graphics; just a simple behind-the-scenes sneak peek and a caption that closes with a question.
#FebruaryFeels for mood
You don’t need to have a sale for a February-friendly Instagram post. How about just appealing to your audience’s mood during this time of year?
Just make sure you’re appealing to the mood of your specific audience in February as it relates to your business. Is your audience…
- Filing tax forms?
- Returning back to school after break?
- Reading love stories and seeking positive vibes?
- Totally embracing singledom?
#FebruaryFeels for a testimonial
Look back through your photos or even user-generated content. Can you repurpose any of them for a #FebruaryFeels-inspired testimonial, as the Australian Girls Choir does below?
#FebruaryFavorites to promote other content
This is a good way to surface seasonal content or products or even to bring to light some of the forgotten ones. Share a roundup of your most popular products or services, or even your favorite tips, tools, products, or resources related to your audience’s goals and needs.
#FebruaryFeature to promote products
Whether the product you’re promoting is February-themed or not, you can make it so by using the hashtag #Februaryfeature. Pick something you’d like to promote in February and see if #Februaryfeature can help increase sales and engagement related to it.
#FebruaryFeature to feature an employee
You could also feature an employee, student, or customer. These types of feature posts can get your employees, customers, and fans excited about your business. Plus, they’ll want to share their “celebrity” post with their network, which can help increase your reach.
#FreshStartFebruary
Another theme you can take advantage of in your February Instagram marketing is #FreshStartFebruary. This is especially applicable for businesses in the health and wellness industry.
As you can see, there is much more to February than Valentine’s Day (but we have plenty of Valentine’s Day marketing ideas here). Use the ideas above for creative and quality engagement with your audience—the best way to market your business. And don’t forget about March! If you have events or promotions planned for Saint Patrick’s Day or other holidays, get your audience in the know.
For more monthly marketing ideas, here’s our full list:
P.S. For marketing ideas for the whole year, check out LocaliQ’s always-updated marketing calendar.
Full list of February national days & dates
Thanks, as always, to National Day Calendar.
February 1
- Baked Alaska Day
- Dark Chocolate Day
- Freedom Day (Freedom From Slavery)
- Get Up Day
- Serpent Day
- Texas Day
February 2
- Heavenly Hash Day
- Tater Tot Day
- Groundhog Day
- Girls and Women in Sports Day – Changes Annually
February 3
- Carrot Cake Day
- Day the Music Died Day
- Missing Persons Day
- Women Physicians Day
- Optimist Day – First Thursday in February
February 4
- Create a Vacuum day
- Hemp Day
- Homemade Soup Day
- Thank a Mail Carrier Day
- Wear Red Day – First Friday in February
- Bubble Gum Day – First Friday in February
February 5
- Weatherperson’s Day
- World Nutella Day
- Ice Cream for Breakfast Day – First Saturday in February
- Play Outside Day – First Saturday of Every Month
February 6
- Frozen Yogurt Day
- Lame Duck Day
- Chopsticks Day
February 7
- Fettuccine Alfredo Day
- Periodic Table Day
- Send a Card to a Friend Day
February 8
- Boy Scouts Day
- Kite Flying Day
- Iowa Day
- Safer Internet Day U.S. – changes annually
February 9
- Cut the Cord Day
- Bagel and Lox Day
- Pizza Day
- Toothache Day
February 10
- Cream Cheese Brownie Day
- Home Warranty Day
- Umbrella Day
- Giving Hearts Day – Second Thursday in February
February 11
- Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day
- Inventors’ Day
- Make a Friend Day
- Peppermint Patty Day
- Shut-In Visitation Day
- White Shirt Day
February 12
- Plum Pudding Day
- Global Movie Day – Second Saturday in February
February 13
- Galentine’s Day
- Cheddar Day
- Tortellini Day
- Pork Rind Day – Day of the Big Game
February 14
- Cream-Filled Chocolates Day
- Ferris Wheel Day
- Organ Donor Day
- Valentine’s Day
- Football Hangover Day – day after the Superbowl
- Clean Out Your Computer Day – Second Monday
February 15
- Gumdrop Day
- Singles Awareness Day
- Wisconsin Day
February 16
- Almond Day
- Do A Grouch a Favor Day
- Pancake Day (IHOP) – changes annually
February 17
- Random Acts of Kindness Day
- Cabbage Day
February 18
- Battery Day
- Crab Stuffed Flounder Day
- Drink Wine Day
- No One Eats Alone Day – Changes annually
- Caregivers Day – Third Friday
February 19
- Arabian Horse Day *
- Red Sock Day * – Third Saturday in February
- Chocolate Mint Day
- Lash Day
- Vet Girls RISE Day
February 20
- Comfy Day
- Cherry Pie Day
- Love Your Pet Day
- Muffin Day
February 21
- Grain-Free Day
- Sticky Bun Day
- Presidents Day – Third Monday
February 22
- Supermarket Employee Day *
- California Day
- Cook a Sweet Potato Day
- Margarita Day
- World Spay Day – Last Tuesday in February
February 23
- Banana Bread Day
- Dog Biscuit Day
- Tile Day
February 24
- Tortilla Chip Day
- Toast Day – Last Thursday
- Chili Day – Fourth Thursday
February 25
- Chocolate Covered Nut Day
- Clam Chowder Day
- Skip the Straw Day – Fourth Friday
February 26
- Set a Good Example Day *
- Pistachio Day
- Tell a Fairy Tale Day
February 27
- Anosmia Awareness Day
- Kahlua Day
- Retro Day
- Strawberry Day
- Polar Bear Day
February 28
- Chocolate Souffle Day
- Floral Design Day
- Public Sleeping Day
- Tooth Fairy Day
- Rare Disease Day USA – Last Day in February
February 29 (Every Four Years)
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PPC
PPC Campaign Testing: The Dos & Don’ts to Turn Risks into Rewards
There are certain facets of marketing that have always seemed to capture more attention than others in regards to growing your business online. One of these is testing.
This adherence (and some might conclude, obsession) with data is not confined solely to the marketing world, as it seems most aspects of society have transformed into “data-driven” models.
Data-driven decision-making in marketing is incredibly valuable, but there is a time and place for everything, and marketing itself is a lot more than just numbers.
The data that drives successful marketing campaigns can’t materialize prior to creating said campaigns. The chicken that lays the egg that makes testing possible is the creativity that drives results fuels the data that informs decisions.
In this post I’ll walk you through what A/B testing is from a paid media perspective, when it’s necessary, and when human abilities like creativity, intuition, and common sense lay the groundwork.
What exactly do we mean by “testing”?
There are many forms of testing within marketing including multivariate testing, usability testing, and content testing, but for the sake of simplicity within paid advertising we will mostly be referring to A/B testing.
With an A/B test, you create two variants of an ad or landing page, and everything is identical except for one element so you can see which variation leads to more conversions. You can test ad copy, button colors, creative elements, the length of the landing page, and more.
The variant that performs better needs to reach statistical significance, which Investopedia defines as “the claim that a result from data generated by testing or experimentation is likely to be attributable to a specific cause. A high degree of statistical significance indicates that an observed relationship is unlikely to be due to chance.”
You generally want a confidence of 95% to consider that a change or variant is statistically significant.
When is it appropriate to begin testing?
Many folks take an extremely “scientific” approach right out of the gate, analyzing every impression and click with a magnifying glass and conducting micro experiment upon micro experiment with slight alterations in ad copy and creative.
The problem with this is that they are limiting themselves by hyper-focusing on small details too early on. Successful paid media is not always an immediate victory in regards to the quality of feedback or results that you may experience when you get started.
With a channel like Google Ads, for example, patience and observation is key to learning which levers to pull and where to make strategic adjustments. You may create an ad or make and adjustment and wait a week or two to observe the impact. Plus, there’s the algorithmic learning period to consider.
So the question is, when should you begin testing?
Every business is different—their stage of growth, the number of creative resources available, and the industry they are competing in. When it comes to paid media channels, everyone starts with a blank slate at some point. The promotions and strategy that you choose from the start often influence the evolution of your paid advertising accounts for better or worse.
From my experience, testing should begin after you start to get some traction with the results you are looking for. So for example, if you are looking to generate conversions from a lead form submit, then you should begin testing after you begin to see some results. So you might now be thinking, “What if I’m not driving any results and therefore need to test in order to do so?” My answer to that question is to separate testing from experimentation.
Testing vs experimentation
From a paid marketing perspective, testing is comparing a control to an alteration. You are “testing” a new variant against a pre-existing one to see if the changes you have made are statistically significant or not.
Experimentation, on the other hand, is pushing your creative juices to produce a variety of different ads or promotions against your target audience to see what appears to gain the most traction.
Experimentation is not to be confused with Google Ads experiments, a feature within the platform.
Some may call this testing but in my opinion, it is less scientific and restrictive. Once you begin to accumulate meaningful data and feedback you can then identify and zero in on what works and test within that framework.
How to do experimentation the right way
When you are in the experimentation and exploration phase, there is a strategy to apply as well. On paid social networks, I like to create the target persona as best as I can manually, then create 3-4 ads targeting that persona.
Given the objective of the client, these ads will be in alignment from a conversion or web traffic perspective. I will also typically create a retargeting audience to test against visitors who are already familiar with the brand. From there, we may incorporate more variations of ads, play around with copy or creative, and allow the campaign to run and collect data.
This stage allows us to gauge the audience’s receptiveness to different messages and ultimately the data will inform us on a direction to explore further. For one client of mine, we were able to increase lead-to-sales opportunity ratios by over 15% by simply identifying that certain language and creative elements resonated much better with our audiences than others. We arrived at that conclusion, however by not being too stringent on testing early on, rather, letting the ads play out then assessing the findings.
Bottom line? The purpose of the experimentation or exploration phase is to create baselines—which allow you to set expectations as well as goals for improvement. This will move you beyond the experimental phase into the testing phase. From there on you can create a model for testing that allows marginal improvements to performance without all the risk of trying an entirely new promotional set.
How (and when) to move from experimentation to testing
To simplify my process for experimentation and testing I will outline from my experience, the stages of growth within a paid advertising account and what you should be doing:
Early stage: Experimentation only
If you’re starting your Google Ads campaign or account from scratch, you should be focused primarily on setting up proper tracking, pixel implementation, etc. first. The most important part of this early phase is that you know your general goal for advertising and ensuring your website and CRM are tracking these results properly, whether they are website visits or conversions.
From there you should take that overall goal and begin to construct campaigns in which to enter the experimentation phase.
If it is paid search, create campaigns for your branded search terms and through keyword research, some of your most relevant terms. Try to start with something that has the highest probability of producing the result that you want, then expand from there once baselines are established. You can learn how to set up conversion tracking in Google Ads here.
In paid social, you should do the same but with website remarketing and a carefully constructed target persona. In paid social you should establish the goal you are looking for and try numerous promotions that align with that goal.
You can learn how to set up your Facebook Pixel here.
You may also want to set up the Facebook Conversions API for the most complete tracking.
Middle stage: Start testing
What I refer to as the middle stage is where you have experimented with different offers and have figured out what appears to work. You have baseline costs for these promotions and are ready to start testing variations of this offer in a more scientific way. This is where you can begin to A/B test.
Growth stage: Refine your testing
This is where you are certain of what drives business within the account. When an account is in this stage you want to find ways to grow but do so within the framework that has proven to be successful. At this stage in the game, you want to test very stringently with fairly smaller changes to variations to mitigate risk of decreasing performance. Larger riskier experiments should be isolated to their own testing campaigns, separate from the ones that are currently driving business for you.
Patience is key with campaign testing
The main takeaways you should have from this advice is to treat new and early paid advertising much looser than what some others might tell you. Although everyone wants to score a touchdown right out of the gate, it is much more beneficial to your paid accounts and development as a marketer to be patient.
Not relying too heavily on data to make decisions early on allows you to be more creative and push the envelope with your marketing abilities. If you are more open to new ideas early on, it will inevitably reduce the amount of time you otherwise would have been testing micro changes to one idea. For long-term success in advertising, you need to take some risks to set a better baseline for the future.
PPC
How to Get Found Online: Our Top 9 Tips for Local Service Businesses
In today’s digital landscape, having a robust online presence is essential for businesses of all sizes, but especially those in the local service industry. With more people relying on search engines to find what they are looking for, businesses that are easily found online and have a solid online reputation will have a major advantage over their competitors.
So in this post, I’m going to show you how you can improve the local online presence of your service-based business using two fundamental marketing strategies: SEO and PPC
9 best ways for local service businesses to get found online
As a digital marketing instructor and consultatnt, I have had the privilege of not only teaching my students about the importance of combining search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for businesses, but also experiencing the positive impact of this combination firsthand. Here’s how to leverage these two strategies to drive traffic, generate leads, and maximize a limited budget.
1. Pick the right company and domain name
Naming your business should be a thoughtful process. You want something that reflects your brand personality and is not easily copyable.
As a local business, it can be extra helpful to pick something that aligns with your target audience’s search intent, but don’t force it. I once came across a dentist that named itself “Dentist Near Me” and secured the domain dentistnearme.com. Taking this approach to an extreme certainly has its SEO benefits but it may not always be the best idea as others may follow suit and adopt similar names, potentially rendering the strategy ineffective.
A helpful tactic is to include your city, town, or service area name in your business name but it isn’t essential.
2. Get your listings in order
Having an up-to-date Google Business Profile is also a great way to improve your local business’s online presence. Regularly update your business information, add photos, and create posts with deals and helpful articles to build trust and credibility with potential customers. You should follow suit for the rest of your online listings as well to increase your chances of ranking in local searches.
This will make it easy for them to find and connect with you.
3. Target keywords with blog posts
Publish keyword-rich blog posts that answer common questions from potential customers—not just about your business specifically but about things related to the products and services you provide.
This will not only improve your website’s search engine ranking, but it will also build trust and credibility with potential customers.
You can use our SEO-optimized blog post templates to get started!
4. Put your highest value CTA at the top right of your homepage
Make sure your website is user-friendly and provides a great user experience. We have plenty of website examples you can browse through here. Implement prominent call-to-action buttons, such as a clickable a phone number in the top right-hand corner and footer, and a large contact form in the footer. These buttons are easily accessible, intuitive, and make it simple for customers to get in touch with you, book a lesson, start a free trial, etc.
Your highest value CTA should go in that right-hand section.
5. Track your SEO performance
In addition to reporting on your PPC performance, you should also keep track of your organic/SEO performance. Use Google Tag Manager and GA4 to analyze SEO metrics and customer behavior against your goals, as well as Google Search Console. You can also use Google Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) to monitor organic performance.
6. Reduce your PPC spend with location targeting
This is a key home service business marketing tip. One challenge many small businesses face with advertising is a limited budget. One client I worked with had only $10 a day to spend. To overcome this challenge, I used location targeting to reach a 5km radius around the business’s location. This approach helped them save their advertising budget while also reaching the right audience.
7. Bid on commercial intent keywords
When running Google Ads, you have to tell Google which keyword(s) you’re bidding on. While there are tons of keywords relevant to your business, the ones to bid on with your PPC campaigns should have high commercial intent.
Do extensive keyword research to identify the keywords that potential customers would be searching for when looking for what you have to offer. Informational intent keywords should be used for SEO. For PPC, use commercial or transactional intent so that your ads won’t just appear for those searches, but so that they’ll get clicked on by people, and those most likely to convert.
8. Maintain a negative keyword list
In addition to targeting high commercial intent keywords, be sure to use negative keywords—which are keywords that you do not want your ad to appear for. This will prevent your ads from showing up for and getting clicked on by people for whom your product or service is not a good fit.
In my view, even with broad match, this is especially important when your daily budget is low.
9. Set up conversion tracking
Another important aspect of running a Google Ads campaign is measuring your success with conversion tracking. With this visibility, you can harness the campaigns, offers, settings, and strategies that are working and eliminate what’s not and improve your ROAS (Return On Ad Spend).
Check out our list of conversion tracking mistakes to make sure you’re getting the most accurate data possible.
Improve your local businesses’s online presence with SEO & PPC
The best way to improve your online presence for your local service-based business is to use SEO and PPC together. Both will help to improve your presence on the SERP for a wide range of keywords, and with the tips I provide, you’ll be able to reach your target audience and build trust and credibility with potential customers.
Here are the tips I mentioned in this post:
- Pick the right company and domain name
- Get your listings in order
- Target keywords with blog posts
- Put your highest value CTA at the top right of your homepage
- Track your SEO performance
- Reduce your PPC spend with location targeting
- Bid on commercial intent keywords
- Maintain a negative keyword list
- Set up conversion tracking
PPC
50+ Free & Creative April Marketing Ideas (With Examples!)
It’s April and we’re about to make it rain on your business with creative marketing ideas for the whole month. There’s National Grilled Cheese Day, Take Your Child to Work Day, Autism Awareness Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and more. These observances and themes provide opportunities for you to connect with your customers, express your voice and values, and creatively engage your audience—especially on social media.
Read on to learn all April themes, holidays, and awareness causes you can leverage for promoting your business and see well as real examples from businesses across various industries to give you some creative inspiration.
And for ideas for the whole year, check out this awesome marketing calendar by our friends at LOCALiQ.
Table of contents
April national month awareness
April presents us with plenty of options for socially aware marketing. Here are some of the many themes and causes recognized in April:
April diversity, equity, and inclusion
We like to highlight the diversity, equity, and inclusion-friendly observances for each month anyway, but it’s especially important during Diversity Month! Here are the holidays that can help you celebrate diversity:
- World Autism Awareness Day (April 2)
- Palm Sunday (Christian) (varies)
- Passover/Pesach (varies)
- Maundy/Holy Thursday (Christian) (varies)
- Theravada New Year (Buddhist) (varies)
- Good Friday (Christian) (varies)
- Day to Remember Rwanda Genocide Victims (April 7)
- Easter Sunday (Christian) (varies)
- Day of Silence (Students take a day-long vow of silence to protest the actual silencing of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and their straight allies due to bias and harassment) (April 14)
- Orthodox Good Friday (April 14)
- Vaisakhi (Sikh) (April 13 or 14)
- Yom Hashoah (Jewish) (Sunset April 17 to Sunset April 18)
- Laila Al-Qadr (Islamic) (Sunset April 17)
- Eid Al-Fitr (Islamic) (Sundown April 21 to Sundown April 22)
- Festival of Ridvan (Baha’i) (April 21 to May 2)
- Armenian Martyrs’ Day
- Yom HaAtzmaut (Jewish) (Sundown April 25 to Nightfall April 26)
We have lots of DEI resources here to help you out!
April holidays
Here is a list of the many holidays and national days celebrated in April that can make for creative marketing for your local business:
- April Fool’s Day
- Easter Sunday
- World Party Day
- Walk to Work Day
- World Health Day
- Siblings Day
- National Grilled Cheese Day
- Tax Day
- High Five Day
- Get to Know Your Customers Day
- Earth Day
- Picnic Day
- Denim Day
- Administrative Professionals’ Day
- Take Your Child to Work Day
- Arbor Day
- Email Debt Forgiveness Day
Creative April marketing ideas and examples
Between your website, blog, social media accounts, and Google Business Profile, there are plenty of channels by which you can share your April content and promotions. Below you’ll find a plethora of creative April-themed ideas from real businesses just like yours.
Autism Awareness Month
Autism affects one in 59 children in the United States. If you or someone you love is affected by autism, this is a great opportunity to raise awareness by getting involved in activities to give back to the community or raising money to donate to an organization dedicated to autism. Here’s a link to get involved in an event near you. Or you can show your support with applicable products, as with the example below:
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
Show your support for National Child Abuse Prevention Month with a blue pinwheel, which is the national symbol for the cause.
Or plant a pinwheel garden at your place of business and share it with your followers in hopes of raising awareness.
Financial Literacy Month
In honor of Financial Literacy Month, publish a blog post on a finance-related topic. Or, encourage followers to start a conversation about how they’d choose to spend extra cash if it fell into their laps. These comments could get pretty creative! This is a great way to increase Instagram engagement and spark a conversation.
Prom season
Many types of businesses can figure out a post to tap into the prom season frenzy. This restaurant is cashing in on the popularity of “promposals.”
Think about posting something useful for parents who may be concerned about the goings-on of prom night…providing helpful information is appreciated by your followers – no one wants to be sold to 24/7.
If you happen to have an offering that is right in line with prom season, don’t be shy about promoting yourself either.
April Fool’s Day
Have some fun with your marketing on April 1. April Fools Day is the perfect excuse to play a practical joke on your customers—just be sure to keep things light and fun. Fitness centers can offer calorie-free cheeseburgers, preschools can offer a class for teaching ABCs to dogs, and massage studios can offer touch-free massages. These are all obvious jokes related to your business. Another way to market your business for April Fools Day is to run a competition for the best prank, or to share photos of your employees partaking in the fun.
National Siblings Day
If you run a family business don’t forget about National Sibling Day. Celebrate your togetherness while promoting your business. Or simply provide ideas on ways to honor the day.
If applicable, run promotions specific to siblings with two-for-one deals. Or you can celebrate by simply snapping pics of all the siblings that come to your location and posting to social media.
📣 Speaking of promoting your business…
The Boston Marathon
WordStream is based in Boston so we’re huge supporters of the marathon, but you don’t have to be local to support it. Show your support for local athletes who are running or traveling with family members running in the marathon. Fitness centers should show their support across the country for the marathoners. Local restaurants can offer “carb loading” pre-marathon meals and massage studios can offer discounts to runners.
Administrative Professionals Day
Make sure to thank your support staff on Administrative Professionals Day. This is a good way to make your business and brand personal on social media and on your blog. Highlight what your support staff does for your business and interview them on your blog or on a video. Customers who interact with support staff will love seeing them in the spotlight!
Get more April social media holidays and ideas to fill your calendar here!
National Grilled Cheese Day
Everyone loves grilled cheese sandwiches so you should absolutely find a way to incorporate a National Grilled Cheese Day post into your feed—whether you own a restaurant or not! See how these non-food related businesses made it work:
National High Five Day
On National High Five Day, drum up some customer engagement and ask them to pose for a #highfive and tag them. They’ll likely repost on their own feeds and get you some more visibility.
You could also publish an engaging Facebook post inviting customers to tag people they’d like to give a virtual high five.
Or give your own virtual high five as a thank you or special shout out to customers, vendors, or even a cause you support.
If you’re up for it, think about running a promo that coincides with the number five…it doesn’t all have to be about a literal high five!
Take Your Child to Work Day
If you have kids, bring them to work on this day and tell your customers about it. This is a great way to teach your child about starting and running a business and inspire them to follow their dreams.
Take their picture and post it on social media, encouraging customers to come in and say hello. Make your child the “boss” of the day. Posting pictures or stories on social media is a great way to engage customers and to personalize your brand. Plus, you can show off your adorable children!
Earth Day
Earth Day and Arbor Day are all about nature and trees. Use these holidays as a marketing opportunity for some green marketing. Flower shops can host a class or write a blog about reusing dried flowers for decor, interior designers can provide tips about decorating with nature, and fitness centers can take classes outside for a hike or workout that appreciates nature.
Easter & Passover
Restaurants, of course, can host Easter brunch or advertise their Kosher for Passover menu items. Photographers can run Easter picture specials. Daycares can make a special day for children to take pictures with the Easter bunny. Fitness centers can have a family fun day with an Easter egg hunt. Bakeries can post their themed baked goods to increase their orders. Or, run a “peeps” special like this business did:
Our friends at LOCALiQ have plenty more Easter marketing ideas for you to check out.
Tax Day
Tax Day is a day that people either love (because they’re getting a refund) or hate (because they owe money). This is prime time for accountants to market their business—if they haven’t already. But other types of businesses can benefit from Tax Day as well.
Restaurants and bars can host post Tax Day parties. Retail stores can have after-Tax Day promotions to help people looking to spend their refund. Filing taxes is stressful, so fitness centers or yoga studios can use this as an opportunity to have a boot camp class or a special yoga class. For a little extra fun, incorporate a playlist of money songs.
Or you can do something fun with numbers, like this restaurant did:
Spring cleaning
Spring cleaning is high time for cleaning services, organizers, and interior designers. Use this as an opportunity to give your customers and potential customers tips on how they can spruce up their house for the new season.
Cleaning Services should offer promotions or referrals for new or current customers to jump-start business for the warmer weather. Contractors or construction services should blog or post videos about common issues that arise in the spring. If you’re getting started on a blog, spring cleaning is a great topic for writing your first blog post.
Get to Know Your Customers Day
Get to Know Your Customer Day occurs on the third Thursday of the first month of each quarter, so January, April, July, and October—and is, of course, a great opportunity for interacting with your customers. Post questions on Facebook that engage them in a conversation. Ask for their opinions to help improve your services, what they like about your business, etc.
Denim Day
Denim Day is associated with Sexual Assault Awareness. Take a break from self-promotion and educate your followers on the history of the holiday.
Or show your support for victims of sexual assault by asking employees to wear denim to work on this day.
Creatively market your business this April
From spring cleaning and mother Earth to grilled cheese sandwiches and high fives, there are plenty of opportunities to market your business this April. And if you’re looking for more monthly marketing ideas, we’ve got plenty of ’em:
And here’s our full series of monthly marketing ideas
And for a year’s worth of marketing ideas, check out this marketing calendar template from our friends at LOCALiQ.
As promised, here are all the observances and holidays celebrated in April, courtesy of HolidayInsights:
National Stress Awareness Day (first workday after U.S. taxes are due)
Administrative Professionals Day (Executive Admin’s Day, Secretary’s Day)(date varies)
Google Says Ignore Spammy Referral Traffic
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