Anyone saying that the Super Bowl is about football is clearly mistaken; it’s about retail! If you’re like me, you may have forgotten that the Super Bowl was happening on Sunday. But here’s the great news: the Super Bowl is great for attracting last minute consumers, so it’s not too late to kick your marketing into high-gear! While we’ll focus mainly on email strategies, don’t forget you can use these tactics on other channels, such as your website and social. Here’s a look at a few of the major retail categories for ripe for last minute Super Bowl promotions:
Electronics
After the holiday rush, electronic sales tend to stagnate in early January – some call it the “post Christmas hangover.” However, that all changes around the Super Bowl as avid fans and people who just want to host a Super Bowl party shell out some cash to up their viewing systems. If you’re an electronic company, this is a great time to move your left-over holiday inventory. Best Buy decided to create a custom pop-up just for the Super Bowl on their website—a great tactic for gaining new email addresses and bringing awareness to the ongoing promotions.
Home Goods
Similar to consumers and electronics, if you’re a home goods store, now is a great time to pop into inboxes and remind your customers that they need to be ready to host the big game. While you may get people who are interested in larger items, such as couches and tables, focus on smaller, easy to ship items—cocktail glasses, chip and dip sets, coasters, etc.—and consider creating Super Bowl Bundles (your favorite combos of party hosting trinkets and accessories).
Consumable Goods
If you sell consumable goods, it’s time to send an email to your customers who purchase from you. Even if you already have customers receiving replenishment reminders for these particular products, there’s a good chance they made need to stock up on snacks, utensils, paper plates, etc. for the big game.
Health & Wellness
The big game is generally (not always) a day of gluttony. People tend to kick back, relax, drink one too many beers, and eat their weight in seven-layer dip. If you’re a health and wellness organization, this is a great time to get creative and send helpful emails on how to create healthy versions of viewing party favorites. Or perhaps, you can send a workout that people can do while watching the game. Obviously not the usual approach, but chances are your health and wellness subscribers will appreciate a little reminder to be more aware as they nosh on chicken wings and pizza.
Apparel & Footwear
Make sure your customers are decked out for the big game. Take this one step further by segmenting based on demographic data, or, if you record custom information, such as favorite team, use that information segment your list based on team.
Campaign Strategy – Product Bundles and Segmentation
If you’re struggling to come up with a promotion that makes sense, think about creating a “Super Bowl Package” to help your customers get exactly what they need. You could even created a campaign, such as “your guide to the Super Bowl” by picking out combinations of products that may be useful for entertaining, watching, or tracking the game. Think outside the box and include activities that could go along with a Super Bowl theme, such as beer and wine packages for people to bring to a party, kids games to keep the kiddos occupied during the event, etc.
As with any campaign, if you have data, use it! Use zip code to set up specific promotions for certain regions. For instance, maybe you do a Patriot themed promotion for New England postal codes, West Coast (and maybe St. Louis) get a Rams themed promotion, and everyone else gets a generic promotional email. You can even use this information to create product bundles. For example, Florida recipients get an email highlighting grills, outdoor table and barware, lawn games, outdoor viewing screens, etc., while Wisconsin recipients receive an email highlighting indoor favorites.
Lastly, if you happen to be tracking custom information, such as favorite teams, or, if you’re a company that sells sports apparel and you can access information on what team products they’ve purchased in the past, you’ve just hit a gold mine. Send your Patriots fans Pats specific gear and Rams fans Rams specific gear. You could even play off of the “anyone but the Pats” mentality and send all of your other fans (non-Pats and non-Rams) an email playing off that motif.
Bottom Line: the Super Bowl is a great time to send some last minute promotions and have some fun. Use the information you have at your disposal and get creative. Just because your business isn’t a sports company, doesn’t mean you have nothing to offer, so let’s get to marketing!
