Mother’s Day Marketing Ideas

Are you thinking about Mother’s Day yet? You should be. As a small business owner, you should be thinking about your Mother’s Day marketing goals and strategies well in advance of the actual day. After all, with over 85.4 million mothers in the United States and the average person spending over $200 per person on Mother’s Day, you can’t afford to miss out on a slice of this homemade pie.

Why you should market for Mother’s Day

Traditionally, Mother’s Day marketing strategies were left for the flower and card shops, with social outings bringing up the rear for favorite gifts. However, when Covid restrictions were in place, gifts such as housewares, books, CDs, and electronics rose in popularity. And, in a pre-Mother’s Day poll conducted by the National Retail Federation, in 2022, ‘special outings’ was one of the top three gifts. There’s no reason to believe that trend is over. After all, a great gift is a great gift.

If you are a B2C (business-to-consumer) business, there’s no reason not to market for Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day marketing ideas by industry

If you’re not in a common Mother’s Day industry, you’re probably wondering what you can do to market your business for the day, and honestly, it will take some brainstorming for your particular niche. However, here are some ideas to get you started:

• Artists, Writers, & Performers — Think about offering a custom portrait sitting, writing a life story, or doing a private live stream performance or special recording of “Mom’s favorite song.” As a creative, the possibilities are endless. 
• Child daycare services — Depending on what you offer now, you may entice fathers to opt into special after-hours care so they can take their wives out for the holiday. Or provide an add-on option for a take-home Mother’s Day gift that the kids can make at your facility.
• Fitness, Health & Wellness — To position your fitness and wellness offerings as a great gift for Mother’s Day, promote that you offer child care in your facility, or suggest a gift of online yoga or meditation classes (especially if you have a class that allows for mother and child to practice together). If you offer self-care services like facials or body rejuvenation, think about putting together a special Mother’s Day package that people can purchase as a gift.
• Home Services & Construction — Think about enticing customers to have work done on their mother’s or grandmother’s house. Think, “This Mother’s Day, give a gift that really makes a difference.” Then mention your service and offer a free quote and maybe a discount for scheduling the work or putting down a deposit. Seriously, what mom wouldn’t appreciate getting their house painted, their bathroom or kitchen remodeled, or a custom closet built just for them? And if you’re in the cleaning business, entice customers to give the women in their lives a day off by having the house cleaned for them.
• Repair & Maintenance — If you own an auto repair shop, think about how you can entice people to “take care of the women they love by making sure she’s safe when on the road” and offer things like a free inspection or brake check, with discounts on repair services.
• Technology services — While Mother’s Day may seem way out of your wheelhouse, think about what services you might want to add just for the occasion. Do you normally teach people how to use their computers? Maybe offer a special class or one-on-one session to teach Grandma how to use her new cell phone or laptop. If you offer repair services, think about offering discounted services or special “Moms only” computer check-ups.

Of course, I can’t possibly cover every niche of every industry, but hopefully, this list gives you some “out of the box” ideas and gets your creative juices flowing.

The point is that although you may think Mother’s Day doesn’t fit your business, it’s really about how you look at it. And, while you don’t necessarily have to offer your current services at a discount, you can always offer related services for free, or perhaps add a service just for the occasion. 

Think about what you can do that your mother, grandmother, sister, or cousin might appreciate and go from there. And if you’re not sure… ask them. We women are seldom shy about stating what we would and would not want to receive as a present.

Must do digital marketing for Mother’s Day

Once you’ve figured out what you want to offer for Mother’s Day, it’s important to set up a strategy for your marketing. You want to make sure that you’re reaching the right people with the right message at the right time.

A good place to start is with your target audience.

Target audience

If you’re not familiar with the term, your target audience is the people you want to get your message to.

For Mother’s Day, your audience is pretty broad because people don’t just give presents to their moms on Mother’s Day. Quite often, they also send gifts to their grandmothers, sisters, girlfriends, and even “mother figures” that they’ve had in their lives. I know this may sound overwhelming, but it’s not as difficult as it may sound. As a matter of fact, it’s really quite easy.

Just start with who your current customers are. If “mothers” aren’t part of that current customer base, then you should be adding something to your offerings just for them. Once you’ve gotten your “end-users” sorted out, then, think about who would potentially pay for your services or products for them. 

Here’s what creating a Mother’s Day offering might look like in practice:

1. I have this product or service to offer (this can be what you currently offer or what you can offer for this occasion).
2. I think about who benefits from what I have to offer (in this case, the answer is “moms”).
3. Then I think about who could potentially purchase my product or service for the individuals in number two. In this case, it may be dads, sons & daughters, sisters, brothers, grandkids, foster children, etc.
4. Lastly, I look at my current customer base (those who currently purchase my product or use my services), and I cross-reference that with those in number three, and that is the audience that I’m going to primarily target in order to gain Mother’s Day business.

If that seems “clear as mud,” let’s try a couple of examples.

I think you get the picture. And, now that you know who you’ll be marketing to, it’s time to look at what tools to use.

Mother’s Day email marketing

Email is a great place to start. Remember, every person on your list either has a mother or knows a mother. Your task is to let them know what you’re offering for Mother’s Day and let them know how they can get it, either for themselves or for the special mothers in their lives. 

Mother’s Day email templates

To keep within the spirit of Mother’s Day, it’s a good idea to use a Mother’s Day-themed email template like the ones below from Constant Contact. 

The great thing about these templates is that every one of them is customizable, so you can brand them with your logo, images and even colors.

Social media marketing for Mother’s Day

I’m pretty sure that social media was made for marketing. While you may only post on your page, there’s no telling where your post may be shared by others. Social media is definitely the new word-of-mouth advertising platform. So, take advantage of it by posting content that creates engagement.

Advertising

If your current customer base isn’t your target market, advertising is going to be the way to go. Whether you’re introducing something new just for Mother’s Day or trying to expand your customer base, boosting your organic social posts or creating stand-alone ads will increase your reach and help you focus on hitting that target market.

Facebook and Instagram ads

While many people only think of Instagram and Facebook ads for ecommerce, they’re great for driving local success for all kinds of businesses. 

If you’re a little leary about creating your own ad, don’t be. Advertising isn’t as difficult as it used to be. According to Facebook for business, the process is as easy as:

1. Choose your objective
2. Select your audience
3. Decide where to run your ad
4. Set your budget
5. Pick a format
6. Place your order 
7. Measure and manage your ad

While you’re setting up your Facebook ad, you can choose whether to advertise on Facebook or Instagram, or both. And, if you want it to be even easier, create your ad right inside of your Constant Contact account, then link to your Facebook business account to place your order. Easy-peasy.

If you want to get people talking about you — sharing, commenting, and liking — you may want to boost one of your organic posts instead of creating a stand-alone ad. Boosting a post allows you to extend your reach beyond your followers and gives viewers the option to engage with your boosted post.

Google Ads

If you’re not familiar with Google Ads, just look at the top of your next Google search. That’s where you’ll find listings with a little “Ad” placed next to them. 

Basically, what a Google Ad does is place your business at the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) when someone searches for your keyword or phrase. 

This makes Google Ads especially useful when you’re one of the “common” Mother’s Day businesses (flowers, cards, gifts) competing for the holiday business. However, due to competition, you are likely to find the pay-per-click fees a little higher because Google Ads work on a sort of “bidding” price scale, where the advertiser willing to pay the most per “click” gets the top ranking. But don’t let that put you off. 

When you want to bite into a slice of a $31+ billion pie, you want to be seen above the competition.

Benefits of Mother’s Day marketing for your business

There are several great things about strategizing for doing business on Mother’s Day. Besides opening yourself and your business up to new possibilities, you also have the potential to grow your business in ways you previously may have not thought possible. 

And, if you follow the advice above, and hit your target market, you potentially gain two new customers — the individual who bought the gift and the mother who receives it. Just one more reason why you can’t afford to miss out on Mother’s Day business.

Thinking about marketing for other holidays?
Then check out our Online Marketing Calendar for help planning your holiday marketing strategy.