Holidays, Events + Promotion Ideas
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS Day Holiday Will Hours Change? Notify Staff & Update Schedule? Tell Customers of Changes? Want to host a promotion? Order Inventory? 14 Valentine's Day 19 President's Day PET INDUSTRY EVENTS & CONFERENCES Day Event Website Attend? Exhibit? Flights? Hotel? 3 Great Lakes Pet Expo, Milwaukee, WI petexpomilwaukee.com 3-7 North American Veterinary Conference & Tradeshow, Orlando, FL navc.com 10-11 Vegas Pet Expo, Las Vegas, NV vegaspetexpo.com 12-13 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, New York, NY westminsterkennelclub.org 15-18 Groom Expo West, Pasadena, CA groomexpowest.com 16-18 World of Pets Expo, Hampton, VA worldofpets.org 17-18 San Diego Pet Expo, Del Mar, CA sandiegopetcon.com 23-25 Texas Pet Sitters Conference, Schertz, TX txpetsitters.com
PET THEMED HOLIDAYS & NATIONAL DAYS THAT YOU CAN PROMOTE Day Holiday Share on Social? Display Needed? Do a Promotion? Order Inventory? 2 Groundhog Day 4 Super Bowl/Puppy Bowl 6 National Frozen Yogurt Day 7 National Send a Card to a Friend Day 11 National Make a Friend Day 13 Mardi Gras - Mardi Paw 14 Valentine's Day 16 Chinese New Year Year of the Dog 17 National Random Acts of Kindness Day 19 President's Day 20 National Love Your Pet Day 22 Walking the Dog Day 23 National Dog Biscuit Day 27 Spay Day USA Pet Boss Nation 2017
WEEKLY AND MONTHLY THEMES THAT YOU CAN PROMOTE Day Holiday WEEKS TO CELEBRATE Share on Social? Display Needed? Do a Promotion? Order Inventory? Feb 25- Mar 3 National Justice for Animals Week MONTHLY THEMES Dental Month Responsible Pet Ownership Month Spay/Neuter Awareness Month National Snack Food Month SEASONAL THEMES Valentine's - Hearts, Flowers, Red/Pink/White Chinese New Year Year of the Dog Mardi Gras - Masks, Beads, Fleur De Lis, Yellow/ Purple Superbowl - Football, Snacks, Green/Brown/White Presidents Day - Stars and Stripes, American Flag, Red/White/Blue
PROMOTION IDEAS Do the ones that work best for you and that your customers will participate in! 2 nd - Groundhog Day If the groundhog sees his shadow, discount winter products in an Endless Winter Sale. If no shadow, celebrate the coming of spring with a Facebook Live preview of new spring products. Host anevent to see if your customer's pets will see their shadows. Offer discounts on booking winter/spring grooming and services, depending on whether the shadow is seen or not. 4 th Super Bowl Run a poll in your Facebook group to see who thinks which team will win. Those who are right win a discount from you! (Be sure to write down their names/take a screenshot of the poll). If your team is in the bowl, offer increasing discounts depending on how many points they score, or a discount if they win. 4 th Puppy Bowl Share your "Starting Lineup" of pictures of your/your staff's pets on Instagram with the #puppybowl #puppybowl2018 and your store's hashtags. Encourage your customers to share their pictures to Instagram/your Facebook group. Randomly choose the winner from the customer pics and present them with a "trophy" or prize. 11 th National Make a Friend Day Partner with a local rescue group to host an adoption day. Create a "New Friend" package of supplies that a new pet owner would need. Feature those products in a Facebook Live post. 6 th National Frozen Yogurt Day Use Facebook Live to educate consumers about the importance of choosing safe frozen treats for their pets (no xylitol, Simplesse, or Olestra, for example). Feature frozen dog treats, with a demo of a pooch happily enjoying one Offer 20% off Frozen Treats on that day only. 13 th Mardi Gras Mardi Paws Organize an in-store Mardi Gras or Mardi Paws party, complete with beads, tasty bites, and music. Write $1 amounts on Mardi Gras coins. Let customers blindly select one from a Mardi Gras jesters hat when they walk in the door, to be redeemed on that days purchase.
PROMOTION IDEAS Do the ones that work best for you and that your customers will participate in! 14 th Valentine's Day Have a Pink and Red sale, marking down everything pink/red at 10-15% off. Create a "You Can t Buy Love, But You Can Buy!" Sale. Could be on services, products, and gift certificates. 14 th Valentine's Day Smooch Your Pooch Host a "Smooch Your Pooch" photo booth in store and promote a canine kissing contest. A smooch attempt gets 10% off, if a pooch kisses back they earn 15% off, up to 20% off for full on make out! Could also give a gift basket to the longest canine to human smooch. 19 th President's Day Host an All-American President's Day Sale, with samples of apple pie for humans and apple dog treats for their furry friends. Discount all red/white/and blue products. Do a Facebook Live with an Uncle Sam type hat, and pull 3-5 must-have products out of your hat to feature. Offer discounts on those products on President's Day. 20 th National Love Your Pet Day On Instagram, post pics of your and your staff's pets, with little blurbs about how you show them you love them. Use your store's hashtags as well as #nationalloveyourpetday Do a Facebook Live featuring your/your staff's favorite pet products/services. Mention a code in your video like "LoveYourPet" for a discount to be used that day on products and services featured. 22 nd Walking the Dog Day Organize a group dog walk from your store or at a nearby park. Discount dog walking products like leashes, coats, waste bags, etc. Feb 25 th March 3 rd National Justice for Animals Week Host a guest speaker on animals rights/protecting animals against cruelty. Could be in person or on Facebook Live. Host a film screening of an animal rights documentary. Partner with a rescue group to promote an Adopt-Don't-Shop Event. Dental Month Organize a group dog walk from your store or at a nearby park. Discount dog walking products like leashes, coats, waste bags, etc. Responsible Pet Ownership Month Organize a Responsible Pet Ownership Workshop to teach the basics of pet care. Partner with a local shelter to offer the class to new pet owners.