Apparently today is “Show & Tell At Work Day.” Who knew? Almost any date on the calendar is a holiday to someone. As you plan your 2016 email calendar, consider including some B-List holidays in the mix. These less important holidays (compared to Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day, and the like) provide an opportunity to do something fun, different, unique, and revenue driving.

What’s a B-List Holiday?

What are B-List holidays, you might ask? Fun ones, like Groundhog Day (2/2), Pi Day (3/14), Daylight Savings Time (3/13), St. Patrick’s Day (3/17), April Fool’s Day (4/1), Tax Day (4/15), Earth Day (4/22), Star Wars Day (5/4). What’s so great about these? Because they don’t carry the sentimental importance of the big holidays, the marketer revenue expectations associated with the email results is not as high focus.

They are fun holidays and the email campaigns surrounding them can be fun also.  They are an opportunity to do something different, try something new and stand out in the inbox. With that being said, be conscious of your competition and their promotional calendar as you plan yours. If your business is faced with a pool of heavy hitters for say, National Nacho Day, it may not be as obscure as you need it to be to succeed with this strategy. Find the holidays that match your brand and voice and are not already saturated by your competition.

Stand Out from the Crowd

While I was formulating the idea of this post, a dear friend of mine sent me a Halloween card in the mail. This was the exact same kind of holiday card as a Christmas card, with pictures of her kids and a sweet message – but she sent it on Halloween. Talk about standing out! Talk about surprise and delight! That day’s postal mail had brought the usual mix of bills, catalogs and junk. But there in the stack of mail, like a gift to be opened, was a Halloween photo card. This was certainly the only photo Halloween card I received this year and it was welcomed probably more than the dozens of Christmas cards I receive every year. It got me thinking about the idea of “surprise and delight” and how to use an uncommon holiday to your program’s best advantage.

Keep Your Customers on their Toes

The idea behind crafting a campaign around a less-traveled holiday is to have your subscribers get that same feeling as I did from the Halloween card I received in the mail. Among the inbox mix of the usual free shipping offers, new product announcements, survey requests and sales, your obscure holiday email can stand out and hit a home run for your team. It’s an opportunity to stand out, do something different and get noticed for it. It also keeps people engaged with your brand by mixing up your promotions and keeping your content fresh and relevant. Being unique and speaking with your brand voice allows these promotions to pack a punch and stand out from the crowd.  

There are tons of even more obscure holidays (I’m talking about you, Talk Like a Pirate Day) – and some that are even made up. It’s up to you how you choose to pursue it in a way that works best for your business as you plan your email content calendar for 2016.