Special times of the year give great opportunity for marketing so planning for important dates is very important when you run a small business.

Of course there are the main holidays like Christmas and Easter and events such as Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Valentines Day, but there are also other events and key marketing dates throughout the year that you can use to your advantage.

Although not every date will be relevant to your business, there’s bound to be something that will appeal to your target audience.

Here are some upcoming events that your business can plan for.

Summer Sport (June/July)

With the UEFA and Wimbledon taking place in the summer months its time to make the most of the summer sport season. You could decorate your store with themed products and even run special offers for people who come in wearing their team’s colours. There will also be screenings of the big games so think about whether your business could be at the events either advertising or selling.

Halloween (October 31st)

Halloween is one of the highest grossing annual celebrations outside of the traditional holidays. This makes it a great time to reach out to potential customers and doing something out of the ordinary to catch their attention. There are so many ideas businesses can implement for Halloween. You could hold a contest such as a ‘best scary photo’ competition on social media that customers could vote for. You could dress up your shop and have a special Halloween catalogue. It might work for some businesses to have a special Halloween edition of a product they sell. This is great time of year to express your creativity!

Black Friday (November 25th)

Black Friday is an American shopping phenomenon, which has now become hugely popular in the UK. It offers shoppers the chance to get discounts on a wide range of goods in the lead up to the festive period. Think about whether your business could have a Black Friday sale and how you could market this to your customers in advance.

National Days/Weeks

There is also a day or a week for everything now, so look out for the ones that might relate to your business such as National Ice-cream Flavours Day or National Gardening Week.

TV Programs

Television schedules have proven helpful for some businesses in planning promotions. For example, when the Great British Bake Off is on, there is usually an increased interest in baking related sales.