Get a Head Start on Your Memorial Day Weekend Marketing Strategy

Memorial Day, celebrated every year on the last Monday of May, commemorates those who passed away while serving in the U.S. Military. While the day itself is somber, the weekend preceding it has become the unofficial kickoff of summer and is very promotion-heavy.

With 2024’s Memorial Day coming up on May 27th, it’s essential to start preparing your promotional campaign ahead of time! The success of the weekend will come down to your integration of sales with the holiday on Saturday and Sunday, while taking ample time to pay respects on Monday.

Consider these marketing ideas that can help create an impactful Memorial Day Weekend Marketing strategy.

The Different Between Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, and Armed Forces’ Day

• Memorial Day: Commemorates those who passed away while serving in the U.S. Military.
• Veterans’ Day: Honors all veterans from any period.
• Armed Forces’ Day: Appreciates people currently enlisted in the military forces.

Memorial Day Facts

1. National celebrated in 1868 but was called Decoration Day until 1971 when it officially became a Federal Holiday.
2. It originated from decorating soldiers’ graves
3. Memorial Day has its own flag etiquette. Flags must be raised briskly to full-staff and then slowly lowered to half-staff at sunrise, honoring those who have fallen in the line of duty. At noon, the flag must be raised to full-staff, honoring all those who have served.

Memorial Day Statistics

1. 47% of Americans plan to celebrate Memorial Day
2. 50% of consumers make their plans 1-2 weeks in advance
3. 95% of companies close their offices 
4. Over 46 million have served the country in wartime

Memorial Day Weekend Marketing Strategies

Memorial Day Weekend unofficially kicks off the summer season with a three-day weekend! Your brand can be creative and build campaigns that are both respectful of its solemn purpose, and lighthearted at the same time. Think BBQs, beer, beaches, and bargains! However, it is essential to remember the true importance of this holiday as you do not want to risk your reputation.

Sales

All products and services can take advantage of this weekend by offering Memorial Day discounts. Memorial Day Weekend is not a holiday for gifting but a time to purchase for yourself or your household. If your company has a service member discount, now is the perfect time to bring awareness to it. If not, it is a perfect time to commemorate our heroes with a generous discount for military families.

Memorial Day Weekend is synonymous with discounts on big-ticket items like refrigerators, beds, TVs, and computers. To welcome the start of summertime festivities, offer major sales on grills, outdoor furniture pieces, gardening supplies and lawnmowers.

Celebrate the Memorial Day Weekend with a special discount code, such as “MemorialDay,” “MMDW,” or “Honor.” However, discounts are not the only course of action when promoting sales. Consider upgrades and freebies instead; for instance, add a sheet set to mattresses purchased or include a grill set with grills bought! For cruise packages sold throughout the holiday season, throw in an impressive complimentary drink package! If you sell lower-cost items, this time of year is ideal for upselling by creating tiered promotions; spend $30 and receive 15% off your purchase price, shell out $60 and get 20% off select products, or pay over $100 and acquire 30% savings on everything you buy!

Social Media Campaigns

Amplify your brand’s visibility, products, events, charities, and any other activity occurring during Memorial Day weekend on social media. Since this holiday weekend is not traditionally associated with gifting, take this as an opportunity to connect with your target audience. Besides regular posts about special deals and offers, you can also sponsor influencers to promote specific items such as makeup sets, summer apparel, local experiences, and food-related products.

When you select a campaign, it’s essential to hold consistent branding throughout all your platforms. Graphic designs for social media posts, photos, and videos should match those on your website as well as in-store ads. This way, customers will be able to effortlessly recognize the company behind any advertisement or product they encounter!

When Monday morning arrives, it is imperative to stop posting about sales and make sure you are paying respects and embrace the true nature of the holiday. You can seriously impact your reputation if you ignore the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. Any posts scheduled for Monday should align with this thinking.

If you must post about sales on Monday, at least wait until the middle of the afternoon. Also, be mindful of time zones. Your 2pm eastern post will be read by those on the west coast in the morning.

Advertising

To create an impactful Memorial Day Weekend advertisement, utilize the iconic patriotic colors of red, white, and blue. This will help ensure that your content is both on-brand and memorable while promoting sales, events or charity drives associated with the holiday. Memorial Day can be used as a powerful tool for customer retention strategies and brand awareness campaigns alike, do not forget to leverage customer segmentation when crafting promotional material!

To create a successful Memorial Day campaign, focus on your company’s buyer personas. They are the ones who will be making purchases for themselves and understanding them should be quick and painless.

Assemble advertisements designed to appeal to this specific audience – think about products, services, and discounts that would speak directly to their needs. Make sure you incorporate the holiday theme into it as well! Bundle any red, white, or blue items in your promotions while still promoting what is most attractive to your buyers; that way you can easily tie in the holiday theme.

Now is the perfect moment to create or update your customer persona if you haven’t done so already. Although you may have an educated guess from purchase data, it’s often not enough when designing a marketing campaign and targeting specific audiences. To get started on the right track, LiftEngine can use our proprietary LiftBase data to provide comprehensive reports about your customers’ demographic information, interests and hobbies – all of which will become invaluable assets in crafting personalized campaigns that resonate with them!

Events

Events are an exceptional way to attract attention toward your business and boost recognition of what you offer. With Memorial Day Weekend fast approaching, why not show military families a special gesture? For example, give American Flags or car magnets when they enter your store. You can also create sales with even deeper discounts for those in military families as well! Restaurants have plenty of options too like providing discounted meals or hosting live music that will draw patrons into the establishment. Hosting events is sure to leave attendees informed about your company!

Boost the morale of those who served our country by creating a charitable event to raise funds for a military-related charity. Or, you can collect goods and send them directly to active service members. Support your local charities that dedicate their time into decorating gravesites, sponsoring meals or even providing flags as part of their initiatives! Every amount helps in honoring those who have fought bravely so we may enjoy freedom today.

Why not team up with another local business if you don’t have the time or space to organize a Memorial Day event? Consider allocating financial resources toward advertising spots if that’s not an option. Chances are there are plenty of Memorial Day Parades in your vicinity that would be more than willing to accept advertisement revenue and entertainment for their festivities.

Email Marketing

To maximize the reach of your Memorial Day Weekend sales, events, or charity drives to your customers this holiday season, engaging in email marketing is an ideal way! By creating personalized emails that highlight discounts and promotions for military families as well as updating them about any events you’re hosting or sponsoring can help ensure that everyone knows what’s on the agenda.

Email marketing is a great way to not only emphasize special deals but also promote philanthropic efforts or commemorate those lost in battle. Fuel your campaign with personal stories by prompting customers to share how they are celebrating the holiday weekend. Add character and individuality to your emails by expressing the unique identity of your brand that resonates with its target audience. Segmenting customers gives you the ability to customize every email promotion, so no one feels left out—this will ensure that you stand out from other businesses too!

It is important to stress, the same social media rules apply to email marketing that Monday. Do not have your customers wake up to a promotional email. Instead pay respects to those who have served and sacrificed.

It’s essential to plan ahead and carry out your plans in order to commemorate those who have been lost. If you require assistance creating successful email campaigns, our team at LiftEngine is here for you – simply contact us today!

About LiftEngine

Since 2005, LiftEngine's primary mission has been to help clients better understand and connect with their most responsive prospects and customers, online or offline. Our expertise is behind the marketing campaigns of 400+ clients.

Behind LiftEngine is LiftBase, our proprietary addressable consumer database. Comprised of 250 million US consumers, 140 million US households, and 1,000+ enhanced data elements, LiftBase powers our audience development services and industry-leading products, PortalLink and LaunchPad.

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