Veteran’s Day Marketing Tips

Veteran’s Day can provide a great opportunity for small businesses to reconnect with their community and show their appreciation for our veterans. There are several ways that small businesses can celebrate this day and help grow their business. Here are a few Veteran’s Day marketing tips to help you get started.

Honor our vets 

Though many businesses big and small offer special discounts to military members on Veteran’s Day, if your business isn’t one of them, today is the day to step up. You don’t have to give the store away, nor should you shamelessly exploit the holiday. It can be as simple as offering vets a discount, a free meal, or a special gift for being a customer. It’s all about the gesture. You can extend a sale to everyone on this day of course, if you prefer not to limit it to military personnel and their families. It’s your call. You can even offer a special discount to anyone on this day, and an extra discount for vets. Get creative!

Your time to serve

The common phrase we say to veterans is “thank you for your service”. How about taking today to have YOUR small business serve the community?  Volunteer for something in the community, do a food drive or a water drive, or start the holiday season early by adopting a family in need.  There are many ways to serve. How about volunteering to help out veterans and their families? There are national organizations that assist military veterans (see a list here) and ask how your small business can get involved. Local organizations can include support services for aged or disabled veterans. If you’ve ever volunteered you’ll understand this is a win-win.

Offer a special Veteran’s Day only service or product

How about getting creative and offering a product or service custom-made for Veteran’s Day?  A special coffee drink, a custom email marketing campaign, or a red, white and blue mug? Be creative but always be sincere in your efforts; vets want to feel appreciated, not leveraged for the sake of making a quick buck. Brands have a tendency to offer discounts, promotions and appreciative ads with overly patriotic messages and images. While the social media post appears genuine, it could turn off military audiences. Be true to your brand voice.

More than any of the suggestions above, take a moment to truly and sincerely honor this day. We have an opportunity to be small business owners thanks to the efforts of our military and what this county worked so hard to build. Take a moment and honor the day.

Strategic Marketing Services wants to thank ALL veterans who have served our country. We support our veterans and are proud of their service and all they do for us.