When we think Valentine’s Day, we think of classroom card swaps, a good candlelit dinner (and a really good charcuterie board if you’re from around these parts), and those pastel rainbow conversation hearts that admittedly taste like spicy chalk.

Valentine’s Day was made for lovers to encourage connection and expressions of love. *Swoon*

Now, someone tell me how we’re supposed to make grand gestures of love amidst a global pandemic where we’re encouraged to keep our distance? Holding hands? Forget about it. A warm embrace? Def off-limits.

The good news is: During this pandemic if we have found anything, it’s the power of non-physical connection. (Thanks, technology.)

So as a business owner, what’s the deal? Marketing during a pandemic has been hard enough, but Valentine’s Day Marketing during a pandemic? Come on.

We have a trick or two up our sleeve. Valentine’s marketing during a pandemic will look different but matters all the same. It’s just time to take a deeper look at value and adjust accordingly.

Plan for the Future

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people still aren’t comfortable going out and having experiences in places like restaurants or entertainment venues. It’s understandable, but that doesn’t mean you should stop encouraging people from visiting your business altogether.

Encourage people to visit your business, just at a later date.

If your business is reliant on foot traffic, strategize getting people in your door when it’s safe to do so by investing in future efforts. Consider the type of bundles you can offer for the future through gift certificate packages and fun, special promotional events post-pandemic.

Go the extra mile to share the love this Valentine’s day and create gift packages that are hard to beat while also visually stunning. Marketing is always an investment in your business, especially now.

Market for tomorrow, today.

Bring the Love Home

It’s safe to say many people will be choosing to spend Valentine’s Day at home this year, but that doesn’t mean the festivities have to cease. How can your business help people bring the love home?

Valentine’s Day may be a perfect time to host an exclusive online event, whether it be a promotional sale or just a time to sit back and have a chat or play games with your online audience. This gives you the chance to do some bonding and maybe offer a treat or two to your online customers that tune in.

Another great option for bringing the love home is creating a Valentine’s Day gift guide. Throw together a “last-minute gift guide” of things your business has to offer, or spread the love and add in some odds and ends from small businesses. The people you’ll save from heartache this Valentine’s Day will thank you, and some may even become repeat customers.

All the Love for Small Businesses

The new generation of young lovebirds are into the weird and the wonderful, and they are especially into shopping small. Valentine’s is the perfect time for small businesses to market to the younger generation. (Yes, the ones falling in love via TikTok. We love to see it.)

Small businesses are still killing it on TikTok, so don’t shy away from some super sweet short-form video marketing this Valentine’s Day. Spread some limitless love, and see what love comes back to you.

If you are offering any Valentine’s Day goodies, now is the time to showcase them through your social media channels. Don’t be afraid to switch up your packaging a little to match the season. Check out this precious take on a heart-shaped box of chocolates turned crystal wonderland from Crystals & Creations. Smart packaging is a marketing superpower. Little tweaks to the presentation can make a huge difference, especially during holidays, when people are more likely to buy with their eyes.

Translate Your Services

Is there anything you have to offer that can be turned, flipped, and reimagined into a digital experience?

Alone Together, an online escape room experience released early in 2020 amidst the growing number of coronavirus cases, allowed one Sacramento business to keep their customers entertained while their doors were closed.

Enchambered, an escape room out of Sacramento, CA, used their puzzle-solving skills to unravel the mystery of “what do we do next?” during one of the oddest times in modern history.

The interactive experience of Alone Together ended up doing much more than just keeping Enchambered’s local customers entertained, as people from all around the world were able to complete the escape room completely virtually.

This could be the perfect opportunity to reimagine some of the things you offer to reach a larger audience.

What services can you translate to a digital experience or offering this Valentine’s Day?

The Anti-Valentine’s Day Valentine’s Day Marketing

Let’s be real, just having roughed it through 2020 and still facing a pandemic-stricken 2021, a lot of us just aren’t hyped up about Valentine’s Day this year. Some of us aren’t hyped for Valentine’s Day any year. That’s fine. No biggy.

Be there for your audience regardless. If you aren’t feeling lovey-dovey this Valentine’s season, run the other direction with it.

Try a “Completely Mundane Sunday” marketing campaign and promote the shit out of it instead of sharing love-centric stories and promotions. The best way to cope with heartbreak is humor. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, what can we laugh at?

If you need a few more anti-love ideas, grab some ideas from these anti-love marketing campaigns from last year.

Consider All of the Love

Don’t get caught up in the idea that Valentine’s is just for couples. It’s not. (#Galentines, am I right, ladies?)

In some cultures, Valentine’s Day is just a day to express love. Love to the partner standing by your side through thick and thin. Love to your mother who has cooked you macaroni every Christmas. Love to your friends who brought the wine and watched “A Star is Born” with you for the 12th time this year. Love to your puppy that just wants to lie on the couch a little longer. Love to everyone that weaves in and out of your life on the daily. Love is love, and we’re firm believers in the expression of love.

When you start marketing outside of the traditional Valentine’s Day scope, you open yourself up to an entirely new audience that’s ready to express love outside of the traditional roses, violets, and red wine.

For this one, we’ll take our “thank you” in Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts.

Gravity Junction Loves You

Because Gravity Junction loves you (like, big time), we want to help you take your business to the stars. As a full-scale digital marketing agency based in Atlanta, we can offer services to business owners across the country that get all the likes and harness all the love. From web development to social media marketing, Gravity Junction covers all the bases, making sure there’s plenty to love. Find out how we can help you today by visiting our website, reading our blog, or giving us a call.