I’m with Cupid

Valentine’s Day best practices you’re sure to love

For some guys, Valentine’s Day means two weeks of careful planning. For other guys it means a stop at the drug store after work on February 14th, possibly followed by a stop at the emergency room later that night. (And if you don’t know why, you’ve never rushed a Valentine’s gift.) But if you’re selling items to either kind of Valentine’s Day shoppers, you’ll need to start planning now for your campaigns. These tips will help.

First priority: sell your stuff
Advertisers who sell chocolates and candy should be sure to put the emphasis where it belongs in their listings. Calling out recipes and other fun things is never a bad idea, but you wouldn’t want users to accidentally think you’re just an informational site. So if you offer actual sales – be sure and put those front and center in your creatives.

If you both sell and buy jewelry, your Valentine’s Day listings should put the emphasis on sales. Unless the keyword specially mentions “sell” or “trade,” most people who search for jewelry online are looking to buy, not sell. Likewise, if you sell more than just jewelry, be sure to front-load your jewelry keywords in your creatives so that users can spot them quickly when they come across your listing after searching on jewelry keywords.

The smell of delivery
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a rose that may not be delivered in time is gonna smell not quite as sweet. So if you’re a florist and you offer same-day delivery, make sure to absolutely call that out in your creatives. Not only will that appeal to last minute Valentine shoppers, it’s a good idea in general to let people know that you’ll get the flowers there on the day they’re ordered, no matter what.

The same goes for advertisers who sell gift baskets, balloons, chocolate or anything that might be locally delivered. If same day delivery is something you offer, be sure to make that fact know. It could be mean all the difference in the world, especially to those 11th hour shoppers.

Target your campaigns
Advertisers who sell locally should also consider creating geo-targeted campaigns, which will serve their listings specifically to users within their geographic area. This way non geo-specific listings, such as flower delivery, will only serve to users in your area. Which makes sense, since they’re the most likely people to be searching for you.

Make Valentine’s Day special
While it’s a good idea for all advertisers to create distinct Valentine’s Day campaigns, this is especially smart for dating sites, who can play up the connection between Valentine’s Day and their services in their creatives. On the flipside, Valentine’s Day keywords that lead to non-Valentine listings for dating sites may just confuse and deter users — so make sure your landing pages have the right language.

As always, the usual rules apply to creatives no matter what you sell. If you keep all those hints in mind, you may be able to turn some heads this Valentine’s Day. And you may help a few guys prepare for February 14th, which means they’ll still be alive come the 15th.

— Noah Belson, Content Quality Editor

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Joshua Rappeneker.