Five Marketing Strategies for Brands To Boost Mother's Day Sales 

Mother’s Day is more than a holiday, it’s a unique opportunity for brands to connect with customers in a meaningful way. But between flowers, brunch reservations, and gift cards galore, how can your franchise stand out?

As someone who heads up the marketing strategies at two national franchise brands (Painting with a Twist and Pinot’s Palette), I’ve seen firsthand the power of thoughtful, strategic marketing around Mother’s Day. It’s consistently one of our biggest revenue days of the year. While we’re an experiential brand, these strategies can apply across any franchise system looking to maximize holiday sales.

Here are five ideas to grow your Mother’s Day sales:

Sell the simplicity

We all love mom, but let’s face it - most people have a million things on their to-do lists most of the time. Make it easy to give mom something special. If you’re a retail brand, curate Mother’s Day “bundles,” grab-and-go gift options, and have gift cards prepackaged in gift bags with tissue paper. Promote last-minute gift options in the final days. Some of the biggest revenue surges come in the final 72 hours.

Celebrate all types of moms

Not everyone will be celebrating a biological mom, so be mindful in your messaging. It will go a long way for those that may be celebrating a grandmother, aunt, or other mother-figure in their lives.

Leverage your existing customer base

Reaching your existing audience is often easier, and cheaper, than trying to acquire new customers. Use the tools you have to engage with them. If you have an email marketing platform, send them a series of emails leading up to Mother’s Day, letting them know all the ways they can celebrate mom, or mom-figure in their life, with your business.

Have a text opt-in list? Text them about your Mother’s Day offering since everyone has their phone within arm’s reach! If you have tagged photos of customers on Mother’s Day from years past, use them. User-generated content is a great way to show off your amazing brand or products from a customer’s point of view.

Reach new customers with a paid digital campaign

Running paid ads is the quickest way to reach the masses and be able to track results. Multi-channel advertising campaigns across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, and the Display Network can help you reach both existing and potential customers and drive traffic to your business. If you don’t work with a digital agency, run ads, or boosted posts directly on Facebook and Instagram to your core audience.

The more strategic you are, the more efficient and effective your campaign will be as long as you are mindful of your audience size. If your audience is too narrow, you may not get enough impressions in the market to be successful. If it is too large, people won’t see the ad enough times to take action. It will take a bit of experimenting to find that sweet spot, but it does exist.

Collaborate with local influencers

Many people, especially our Gen X-ers and Millennials, follow and trust influencers. They don’t like to be “sold” to. Influencers can help sell on your behalf with a much more authentic approach. One simple way to find local influencers is to search on Instagram. Search hashtags related to your core audience, such as #ThingsToDoIn[YourCity], or #MomsOf[YourCity]. Once you’ve found influencers whose content aligns with your brand, reach out to them via direct message. Offer something of value to the influencer and their followers to get the most out of it!

At the end of the day, Mother’s Day isn’t just a date on the calendar, it’s a chance to connect with your customers on a deeper level. Whether you run a restaurant, retail store, or service-based franchise, creating a thoughtful Mother's Day campaign can pay off in more ways than one. Make it easy, be inclusive, and reach current and potential customers on every channel available to you. There is no silver bullet, but by leveraging marketing tools, you can reach your customers where they are and make this your best Mother’s Day yet.

Brittany Graff is the co-CEO for Painting with a Twist and Pinot’s Palette.