Top 10 Memorial Day Promo and Marketing Ideas in 2024

Thanks to Memorial Day, May is a joy for eCommerce brands and customers alike, signaling the unofficial start of summer.

In any case, our goal is to support you in making sure your Memorial Day sales campaign is a success.

This long weekend will be used by customers to shop for summer essentials, have barbecues with loved ones, and visit the beach.

Memorial Day is typically associated with weekend getaways, family get-togethers, and feasts with friends for the majority of Americans. Memorial Day has evolved into a weekend for big deal hunting, with an explosion of marketing promotions that rival Black Friday, in addition to being a holiday that encourages socializing and second helpings of delectable food.

As we dive into Memorial Day promo and marketing ideas supported by actual examples, we have the solution for you.

What is Memorial Day?

Although it has been observed as a national holiday since 1971, Memorial Day was first observed as a way to remember and honor those who died while serving their country in the late 1860s.

It's wonderful to honor these people on Memorial Day.

Unofficially, summer officially begins on Memorial Day. People are eager to enjoy the warmer weather and crisper drinks as pools open and schools let out. Moreover, in 2022, three out of every four Americans will celebrate, it’s a huge opportunity for business owners to connect with their customers.

When Do Memorial Day Sales Start?

Memorial Day 2024 falls on Monday, May 27

Google Trends indicates that searches for "Memorial Day" and "Memorial Day sale" begin to increase in the early to mid-May period. The weekend of Memorial Day marks their zenith.

This makes it clear that you should plan ahead 1 month to start promoting your Memorial Day campaign. As the final weekend of the month approaches, step up your marketing efforts.

Best Memorial Day Promotion Ideas and Strategies

1. Bundles and packages

One estimate from McKinsey suggests that 35% of all Amazon purchases come from recommendations (some of which qualify as “bundles”).

Establishing a Memorial Day promotion package is ideal for eateries and retailers. Consider the best-selling items during this season and include complementary items. For instance, if you know that sandwiches sell well during the weekends leading up to holidays, set a competitive price that goes well with a drink and dessert.

Retailers can investigate ways to shift fall and winter inventory by creating bundles that provide customers with a discount on several items. Along with clearing out back inventory, this also has the added benefit of introducing consumers to products that may not have received the attention you had planned.

Source: Kosas

Kosas, for example, is marketing “Memorial Day Sets” in honor of the holiday.

2. Special memorial day coupons and freebies

According to a survey by RetailMeNot, 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if they find a discount.

Memorial Day is a big day for events and sales, so if your company has any planned, make sure your website reflects them. You can add upcoming sales to your promotions or coupons tab. If not, a slider callout or a banner on your homepage will help advertise and generate excitement.

Source: American Mattress

You can have a look at the most common types of discounts and freebies below:

Try a buy one get one free Memorial Day sale

This Memorial Day, a buy one get one free (BOGO) sale is a fantastic way to advertise some related goods or services. You could combine seasonal goods or offer a new item with a tried-and-true one. Consider what would entice and motivate your customers to buy from you.

Use a Memorial Day promo code

Source: 310 Nutrition

Make a promo code for your Memorial Day sales if you run an online business, and post it on social media. To track how customers learned about your offer, you could also change up your promo codes. For example, #memorialweb might mention that they saw your promo code on your website, but #memorialsocial might mention that a customer saw it on social media.

Read more: Amplify Sales With Shopify Page Templates For Seasonal Promotions

Offer free gifts

A surprise gift is sure to please everyone. When considering your best course of action for Memorial Day weekend, providing a small complimentary item to customers is a low-key way to make a big impression.

As an unexpected meal closer, restaurants can design a special mocktail for Memorial Day that features a tiny American flag or themed stir stick. However, even offering a round of tea or coffee "on the house" is a kind gesture.

You can surprise your customers with small soaps or give them free samples of an upcoming product; the possibilities are endless.

Offer free shipping

Give free shipping in general or for orders over a specific amount on Memorial Day weekend. Free shipping is cited by nine out of 10 of respondents as the best deal to make an online purchase. This could be the perfect promotion for a prospective client to check out your business.

3. Limited edition product lines

According to Trust Pulse, 60% of people make purchases because of FOMO, mostly within 24 hours.

Display the limited edition merchandise with a time-sensitive offer for Memorial Day sales. Customers are prompted to act by this FOMO since they are limited-edition and only available while supplies last.

To start a new collection, you don't have to invest everything. Offer a limited-edition product instead, like Chobani did with the introduction of its Hero Batch:

Source: Chobani

In order to collect money for Operation Homefront, which aids the families of American service members, Chobani founded Hero Batch. They extended a donation invitation to the crowd.

You can design packaging specifically for Memorial Day, or you can launch a limited-edition product and donate from its sales, just like Chobani does. The latter aids in raising awareness of the occasion.

Remember to make a dedicated landing page asking for donations if you're raising them.

The feeling of unity among Americans on Memorial Day is exemplified by products designed in the shape of the flag.

Products with American flag themes are available from Tipsy Elves.

Source: Tipsyelves

Customers can celebrate their American identity through initiatives like the one mentioned above, and clothing and accessories make it very easy to do so. This is motivated by historical customs that have cultural significance.

To help sell America themed products:

• Showcase classy models donning your American-themed merchandise because, thanks to the Halo Effect, people tend to think well of beautiful things.
• To encourage a strong sense of cultural attachment, give your products names based on American themes.
• Employ low stock alerts to highlight the urgency of the moment.
• Prior to Memorial Day, ensure timely delivery to impact purchasing decisions.

4. Build a holiday-themed landing page

Landing pages have a 160% higher conversion rate compared to other types of signup forms according to Market Splash Statistics.

Using landing pages in your digital advertising campaigns can help you draw in new clients. To enhance conversions and lead generation, you can target every customer segment more effectively by creating a unique landing page for every campaign. Landing pages can also assist you in generating leads by providing a lead magnet in return for client information.

Compared to other parts of your online store, landing pages are more narrowly focused and let you tell visitors about a single product. You can avoid the typical website distractions and keep your audience engaged with just one call to action and offer.

You can create a landing page using a landing page builder, such as PageFly Landing Page Builder, a drag-and-drop page builder app for your Shopify store, allowing you to build beautiful landing pages. with over 100+ templates.

Don't have a Shopify store yet? Start your 3-day free trial now and enjoy 3 months of Shopify for $1/month only!

Given how well-known Memorial Day is as an e-commerce holiday, some brands might decide it's worthwhile to dedicate a landing page to the occasion. This is a common sight in appliances, furniture, and home décor areas. Every year, American Mattress, a well-known mattress brand, updates its Memorial Day landing page with information about their holiday promotion and the products that will be on sale.

Source: American Mattress

In the aforementioned example, simplicity is effective. Someone is able to quickly identify the exact promotion type and offer that this is. It doesn't have to take a lot of work to create a separate landing page if your store is hosted on Shopify. All that is required of you is:

Source: PageFly

• Have a Memorial Day-themed image displaying your offer.
• Have the items that will be discounted.
• Communicate how long the offer will run.
• Communicate any terms and conditions of the holiday offer.

Source: PageFly - Kitchen Crafters Template

If you are a product seller in this market, dedicating a landing page to this holiday could result in a significant increase in sales come springtime.

5. Run ads

According to Datareportal, Marketers can reach a total potential audience of 2.249 billion users through Facebook ads as of April 2023

Source: Unsplash

You can reach and connect with new people who might benefit from your product or services through social media advertising, whether you're thinking about running ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok, or Snapchat.

Quick read: Newest Shopify Discount Code & Support Program (Always-Updating)

Source: Facebook

Social media advertising can help you achieve all of these goals and more, including boosting e-commerce sales, app usage, website traffic, and engagement. Compared to organic posts alone, social media gives your business much greater online visibility.

The more targeting options that advertisers have at their disposal, the more audience testing we can conduct. We can then make use of the built-in tools on social media platforms to comprehend audience breakdowns and their relationship to performance. Facebook's breakdown reporting, for instance, provides information on age groups, genders, countries, regions, and the devices users use, among other things.

6. Engage on social media

According to Statista (2023), increased exposure is the top benefit with 86% of businesses saying it’s an advantage of social media marketing.

During the holidays, social media is an excellent sales channel to use. Throughout Memorial Day weekend, you should use relevant material to draw more visitors to your online shop.

Source: Alex and Ani

Memorial Day, like any other holiday, is a fantastic chance to engage your audience. You can commemorate Memorial Day and inform people about your sales, events, and promotions by using a variety of social media ideas.

Engaging with potential customers is the most reliable approach to enhance conversion rates and augment your revenue. Everything that can be done on social media. You can launch a Memorial Day campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media platform, regardless of the products you sell in your Shopify store. You can begin by downloading images or videos with Memorial Day themes. If not, present your summertime offerings and advertise specific discounts.

7. Use memorial day marketing slogans

Slogans are shareable and can be used effectively on social media platforms to spread awareness and engage a wider audience

Slogans for Memorial Day are promoted at military events, cemeteries, TV shows, and commercials. Slogans for Memorial Day serve to both remember and uplift the deceased.

Source: Alex and Ani

These catchphrases are strong, inspirational, and meaningful in addition to being emotionally charged. They maintain the nationalist spirit blazing in people's hearts.

• A time to honor America’s heroes
• Bold as a soldier – Precious as a Life
• Celebrating with you the great spirit of our country
• Every drop of blood counts
• For all the sacrifices
• Freedom didn’t come for free
• Gone but not forgotten
• Keep calm and Happy Memorial Day
• Memorial day, we will not forget
• Remembering the service and sacrifice
• Remembering those who paid for our freedom
• Repay them for what they did with your respect
• So many lost so many heroes, Memorial Day
• Survival Guide by the working mom
• Their peace lives in our hearts
• They did it for us… Not for them
• They served our future, now we should serve the next
• Thoughts for the ones gone
• Wishing you a blessed memorial day
• You always live in our hearts

8. Summertime tie-ins

As was already mentioned, summer officially begins on Memorial Day. This makes it the ideal time to highlight your summer offerings, whether it's trying out new menu items or observing which products customers are drawn to as they get ready for summer 2023.

If your goods or services coincide with the season, think about creating a special landing page that leads to a carefully chosen offering. Think creatively and incorporate elements that relate to the weekend's theme if you don't sell anything specifically related to the summer. A Memorial Day badge on the homepage or digital menu could be all that is needed. An email with the colors red, white, and blue feels celebratory and encourages conversion.

Source: Bonobos

9. Contest

Brands that run contest marketing campaigns gain an average of 34% new fans per campaign according to Hubspot.

Source: Outdoor Products

Having a contest that grows your audience is one of the best Memorial Day marketing ideas. Additionally, this marketing tactic may increase the quantity of clients who sign up to receive emails.

There are countless possibilities for contest themes and an equal number of social media sites to host them on. Running a contest is a great way to interact with your audience and promote your brand on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

• Photo contests don't need a large number of participants and are simple to set up. You could request that they post pictures of their kids, pets, outfits, or other Memorial Day-related content to social media and tag it with a specific hashtag.
• Another smart idea for a contest is a sweepstakes. For an entry chosen at random, you can provide specific advantages. You'll be able to gather more emails and grow your subscriber base because of sweepstakes.
• For grocery stores, health food stores, fitness centers, etc., recipe competitions are a great idea. Request recipes from your customers for Memorial Day barbecues, and offer the winning entry a special gift.
• You could ask your customers to write an essay explaining what Memorial Day means to them, and you could give away a prize or some cash for them to spend in your store.

Pick a straightforward hashtag that best incorporates your company name. Organize the contest so that it is easy to administer and comprehend. Provide participants with a clear copy of the rules and regulations and work out the timing.

10. Donate a portion of Memorial Day sales to charity

In a survey by Fidelity Investments, 66% of those polled said it’s important for companies to support different causes.

Source: Jeep

Memorial Day is a great time to highlight the human side of your brand because of its significance and the way it honors those who have served in the armed forces. There's no better way to accomplish this than to give a percentage of your holiday sales to a good cause.

Additionally, don't be afraid to promote it! To gain momentum and raise the most money for the charity of your choice, mention it on your website and social media accounts.

Conclusion

Whatever you do on Memorial Day weekend, never forget the significance of the day. It will serve as a guide for you to behave with decency. As people get ready for their weekends of travel and get-togethers with friends and family, it's the ideal time for promotions.

Make sure to emphasize the cost savings in any Memorial Day campaigns, whether they are for restaurants or retail establishments. Consider using a bold color and larger fonts for the revised price. Make sure that the red, white, and blue colors, wording, and overall vibe of all social media posts, landing pages, advertisements, and banners are consistent with the theme for this weekend's Memorial Day advertising.

Explore more, check out: Free Shipping Day 101: How To Make Best Sales For The Year In Just One Day