Lucky for You: Eight Last-Minute St. Patrick’s Day Promotion Ideas

By Madison Tincha

The busiest holiday season has come and gone, and we’ve moved onto holidays that allow for financial flexibility and parties we don’t dread. This is the best time for your business to take advantage of a sales opportunity. As we enter the month of March, you may have neglected your St. Patrick’s Day marketing plan — or forgotten about it all together, but it’s not too late!

Lucky for you, we’ve come up with these last-minute St. Patrick’s Day promotion ideas for your business.

Themed Video Content

Often times, when we’re talking about B2C, customers want to see what is happening behind the scenes. In other words, they want to know if business owners are “regular” people. This is the perfect time for you and your staff to show your fun side by playing some Irish music, dressing the part, and going live on Facebook. Facebook Live, along with any type of video content, is a must-have marketing trend in 2018. Going live gives the audience an opportunity to interact with you in a way that is almost face-to-face.

Bonus Tip: Once you and your staff have completed your Irish jig, turn the live video into a talk show by responding to customers’ comments. Using first names when you respond will give the returning or potential customer the personal connection they’re looking for!

Create a Pinterest Board

Use your business’s Pinterest to create a board of St. Patrick’s Day themed content: recipes, party ideas, games, and more. This is also a creative way to build traffic to your Pinterest page. Use your business’s other social media to share your board. Who knows, you might just gain a follower (or two).

Host an In-House St. Patrick’s Day Happy Hour

What says St. Patrick’s Day better than happy hour? The holiday, best known for its beer consumption (particularly, green beer), could be the perfect time to host a casual in-house happy hour event. Use the themed snack and drink recipes you shared on your Pinterest board to prepare for the event! Relaxed casual events increase the amount of time customers spend in-house which means one thing – more opportunity for sales.

Don’t forget: use email marketing to promote the event beforehand along with gathering any new traffic’s information to add them to your list!

Select Sale Items and Promotions

Every business needs to thank their loyal customers in a big way every once in a while. Promotions that happen every few months with tons of fine print typically lead to more damage than they do good. Use your business’s social media and email marketing to send a digital version of a promotional
offer made for your dedicated followers. Keep it simple and straight forward, and have them show the digital copy at checkout. This leads to more trust and returning visitors.

Establish a Themed #PromotionalHashtag

Think of a hashtag specific to your promotional plan and use this to market or simply to engage customers with not only you but each other! Holidays are a fun chance to challenge people to share their best-themed photo, answer brand trivia, and share past St. Patrick’s Day memories. Use other generic themed hashtags such as #shamrock, #lucky, and #green to bring extra traffic to the threads.

 Bonus Tip: If you’re thinking of how this might work for your company, look for inspiration from none other than Jimmy Fallon. He frequently incorporates hashtags into his show and shares what his followers wrote.

Use “Why We Feel Lucky” to Thank Your Staff

Sometimes we forget that our customers choose which goods and services they use based off of more than just quality. The people they interact with in your business definitely plays a role in repeat customers. Take advantage of the wording St. Patrick’s Day has given you and share why you feel lucky for your staff and career. It’s 2018, and emotional appeal is working.

Safety First

As mentioned earlier in this article, St. Patrick’s Day is known for various celebrations involving alcohol. This provides an opportunity to let your customers know you care about their safety. Try pairing with a driving service such as Uber or Lyft for a promotional code to make sure your followers get home safe. Share the promotional code along with other safety tips through your email marketing.

Be a Saint

Consider using the holiday as a charity opportunity. Not only is this great PR for your business, but it’s a chance to get your followers involved. Create a poll in which they can vote for the charity they’d like to see you work with! This not only allows them to feel like they have a say but will also encourage them to participate in the charity once chosen!

We hope these last-minute St. Patrick’s Day promotion ideas are helpful for you! What promotions are you doing for the holiday or what would you add to the list?