Impactful ways to market your store for Labor Day this year
When is Labor Day this year? Too soon probably! There’s never enough time to prepare for this major seasonal milestone, but note that it is on the first Monday in September.
Store owners are currently preparing their Labor Day sales and all the deals they’ll offer. But how can you stand out without Labor Day sales deals? This is not to say, “don’t offer a discount,” but rather, how can you compliment a deal with some amazing marketing strategy?
Read on to discover new marketing methods and channels, some content gems you can copy+paste, and an easy way to link your marketing to an important date.
Here are 3 steps to take in the lead-up to the Labor Day this year:
1. Prepare time-sensitive copy
Jazz up your content ahead of Labor Day! Revamp your messaging across all these channels:
- Email marketing
- SMS marketing
- Website texts
- Social media posts
- Texts for affiliates
- Messages for influencers
- Personal notes in orders
How? Acceptable time-sensitive copy for this particular US holiday includes talking about summer being over which signals sweater season, and dressing in all white: tradition suggests that you shouldn’t wear white after Labor Day weekend in the US because the seasons turn.
Here are some examples of marketing copy that we love, and you’re welcome to steal!
For fashion brands:
“What does your wedding and Labor Day have in common? They’re acceptable dates to wear all white! Here are our favorite white garments that transition perfectly into the Fall season…”
For home decor brands:
“As Martin Luther King said: No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. And while we know you don’t see decoration as painstaking labor, you deserve a discount to carry it out with excellence, into the Fall!”
For stationary brands:
“What better way to honor Labor Day than to look introspectively and consider which tasks in your day are true labors, which are jobs you enjoy, and which roles you hope to continue beyond Labor Day this year. Jot down your reflections in our calendars and then take notes on how you take care of yourself through these beautiful journals.”
We hope these serve as inspiration for some new content! Most of all, ensure you’re making it clear – either through copy with slashed out prices like Nation LTD does on their Labor Day sale or within the design – that you’re offering Labor Day sales or special discounts that are close to their finale. You can do the latter with a title like “Final Sale” on the page, or a “Soon to Sell Out” section.
2. Link to back-to-school season
Labor Day isn’t one of America’s top 10 annual consumer spending events, according to the National Retail Federation. However, “back to school” and “back to college” both rank in the top three.
Why does this matter? This is relevant to Labor Day because most schools in the US go back to classes in early September — shortly after Labor Day weekend. So your online store can attract school and college-age shoppers around Labor Day with sales or deals, especially if you offer fast shipping.
In fact, 60% of consumers plan back-to-school or college shopping around major discount events like Labor Day sales. So while the best buys at this time tend to be end-of-season items, many others like lunchboxes, stationery, clothing and footwear, even electronics also get a boost if they’re part of Labor Day sales.
How can you tap into the back-to-school sales like a pro? Here are plenty of details on how to do back-to-school marketing as an online store.
3. Expand to a new marketing channel
You’re likely doing store marketing if you’re reading this blog, but you could also use the Labor Day weekend as a testing ground for one more marketing channel.
A new channel with invigorating content will put you in front of new prospects, and if you choose your channels correctly, those prospects will be high-intent buyers!
Here are all the channels you might want to try next, from order of easiest to hardest to start:
- Email marketing
This is easy to set up if you do Holiday Marketing through Aument on your Shopify store.
- Social media organic promotion
Use your own channels to share fresh images, explainer videos, example uses, and your Labor Day deals with your audience.
- Advertise on social media
Go beyond Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, buyers with spending power are on LinkedIn, creative shoppers are on Pinterest, and tons of people who shun other social media sites are on Reddit and Quora. You can grow social organically if you know how, but a targeted ads campaign expands your audience further.
- Paid media on search engines
Search engines accurately target the right demographic by recognising keywords in your ad copy and links, and you can create a paid campaign in just a few clicks. Why is this not up there with email marketing as being easy to set up, then? Ultimately, paid ads only prosper with excellent copy. It’s highly recommendable to try it out if you have the cash to test and find your perfect niche!
- Direct selling
This sort of marketing is impactful, but time-consuming. First, consider who you could sell to for next to no acquisition costs: Could you send a freebie sent to all your neighbors or hand out flyers somewhere you’re known? This is, of course, always to be done with delicacy, Labor Day weekend or not. If you can offer a QR code for interested buyers to scan, instead of printing, the trees will be even happier with your Labor Day sales tactics!
- Event marketing
Attending and presenting your store at events allows buyers to interact with your brand in real time and build a personal connection with you as a store owner. To attend events you can share your ideas and advice as a speaker, or staff a stand where you can talk to prospects in person. Events are excellent for generating leads and selling on the spot, but they usually carry a heavy entry fee for brands, so the up-front cost. Gartner says most companies spend (and shouldn’t spend more than) 1% of their annual revenue on event marketing.
- Retailer partnerships
Start small with partnerships, finding local stores that might stock your product for free, and help you learn how to manage your online store’s product in a physical location. As you grow, you can consider larger deals that will help you both by associating with brick-and-mortar retailers, as well as provide another digital sales source. Approach the small stores with your online store’s mission, and ask them to only showcase your product up to Labor Day this year, after which the marathon of winter sales will start. This gets your foot in the door through summer!
Automate your Labor Day marketing
If you don’t know which is your priority segment or who to target around Labor Day weekend, with Aument there’s no need to do this research yourself! Aument has the easiest holiday marketing campaign to set up. Activate a Labor Day sales campaign and let us worry about the perfect sending times, programming for effective audience engagement, and branded designs.
Ready to boost retention and sales for your Shopify store over Labor Day this year? Install Aument.
