"Hallmark" Holidays Can Make Your Registers Sing

Calendar Marketing is a strategy that every restaurant and retail owner should consider. This type of marketing is the art of turning annual observances into sales-building promotional events using calendar dates, holidays, events and special days, weeks and months. These ideas will bring an unexpected excitement to your current customer base and in many cases, it will allow you to build a relationship with a neighboring retailer or group giving you access to their customer base which could be potential new customers for you. The biggest benefit to Calendar Marketing is that it allows you to connect with customers and potential customers on an emotion level and in some cases, your restaurant can be a part of family’s annual traditions.

Last week, a colleague went to Jack in the Box for lunch. On his tray, the liner read: Jack’s Cash Card Great For Gift Giving. Below the headline, the liner was sprinkled with at least 50 occasions for giving a Jack Cash card as a gift. As local store marketing idea generators, we love to see this type of promotion inside the store. Especially because they are giving loyal customers usage ideas for the Jack Cash Card, thus generating sales from gift cards all year long – not just at holiday time. But there was one small mistake – the observance date was not listed with the holiday. For example, the liner listed holidays like Best Friend’s Day, Receptionists Day and National Nurses Day. What if you wanted to actually buy your friend a Jack Card and give it to her on Best Friend Day? Unless you take the time to do a little research or google the holiday, you’ll never know when it occurs. And it’s on a tray liner, so after lunch it will go in the trash and the customer won’t think any more about it.
The bottom line is that as marketers we need to make it easy for customers to spend money. And keep messages and information simple. In the words of psychologist Arnold H. Glasgow, “Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.”