15 Creative Easter Marketing Ideas

Given its status as a $15 billion industry, it's no wonder thousands of businesses compete for consumer dollars during the holiday's season. Americans annually spend nearly $226 each for Easter-related merchandise; yet these figures are just the tip of the iceberg as many non-Easter-related companies use the holiday as a springboard for other promotions: rebrands, special spring sales, and more. That is to say, you don't have to sell chocolate bunnies to cash in on Easter. What you do need, however, is a powerful Easter marketing strategy that helps you get noticed and motivates customers to take the next step in the purchasing process. For your inspiration, here are some creative Easter marketing ideas you can use to promote your company this spring. 1. Send an 'Easter egg' direct-mail postcard Postcards are perfect for reaching a well-targeted audience with a special offer that audience is likely to respond to. You can print die-cut postcards in the shape of Easter eggs to promote your offer. If you want to drive foot traffic to your location, include a special code on each Easter egg postcard; when customers visit your brick and mortar site, they can enter their code to see if they've won a prize. 2. Host an adult Easter egg hunt There are plenty of egg hunts to go around for the kids; you can host an adult egg hunt instead. Place plastic Easter eggs throughout your store, each containing a special prize, discount percentage, or funny tip. Place posters or flyers throughout your store reminding customers to keep an eye out for Easter eggs and to bring them to the register to redeem their prizes – and make them only redeemable with a qualifying purchase. Such an event can bring throngs of customers to your retail store in a single afternoon. 3. Sponsor a kids' Easter egg hunt See what opportunities exist to sponsor a popular local Easter egg hunt for kids. You can offer to buy the eggs and candy in return for placing your banner in a prominent area as well as getting billing on all promotional materials the egg hunt sends out. You can even set up smaller banners or a trade booth station where you can discuss the benefits of your products and services with parents while their children hunt for eggs. 4. Send Easter greetings Send Easter greeting cards to your best customers, and include a personal hand-written note in each. Doing so will help customers feel special and appreciated, which leads to long-term customer loyalty. You might even consider placing a special Easter gift or discount in your greeting cards to reward your best customers on Easter. 5. Easter basket bundles Customers love convenience, and you can make easy sales by bundling several stand-alone items into special Easter gift baskets for kids, parents, spouses, and others. Make shopping easy for your customers and find a way to sell items that don't move as quickly in one fell swoop. 6. Give away Easter celebration host booklets Many of your customers will be hosting Easter celebrations for friends and family this year. You can print a booklet that offers tips, tricks, advice, and inspiration for hosting the perfect Easter celebration. Make the content accurate and valuable, and customers will view you as an authority resource for party planning. You can even pepper the content with your own products and services to help customers understand why buying from you will help make their Easter celebrations even better. 7. Give away Easter cookbooks In the same vein, you can print Easter cookbooks featuring popular and traditional Easter recipes. Print recipe booklets to give away to your customers, and don't forget to promote your own products and services within. Since you're giving cookbooks away on Easter, you might even want to add some spring, summer, or BBQ grilling recipes to make your cookbooks relevant longer and earn more exposure for your cookbook product page promotions. 8. Give away Easter egg stickers Print a few batches of fun stickers meant to be placed on Easter eggs and give them away to customers this Easter. Your stickers should feature fun Easter themes – chicks, bunnies, pastel colors, and more – as well as your logo. This is a great way to demonstrate customer appreciation while simultaneously increasing brand awareness. 9. Facebook Easter photo contest Invite your Facebook fans to submit their favorite Easter photos, then promise a prize to the winning entry. Ask your other fans to vote for the best photo, then give away something really cool to keep fans happy and interested. You'll also get to promote your products and services along the way. 10. Charity food trade-in You can ask customers to bring in non-perishable food items to donate to your local food pantry. In return, you can offer a discount coupon. For many, Easter is a time to be thankful for the sacrifices made by others; asking your customers to donate food gives them a way to appreciate abundance and help those in need, all the while earning a coupon. Of course, you'll be able to collect customer data for future marketing and have an opportunity to land instant sales. 11. Easter bunny handouts Club card flyers are a great way to get patrons into your restaurant or night club. Outfit your street team in bunny costumes to attract attention, then hand out club card flyers to bring customers to your door. Include a time-limited discount coupon as an added incentive to visit your establishment as soon as possible. 12. Hop to the sale stickers Print large stickers that look like bunny tracks, and affix them the floor of your retail store to lead customers to your Easter sales rack (or anywhere else you'd like). Make sure you indicate the destination and your brand on each sticker. This is a cheap, fun way to promote your products that will bring out the kids in your customers. 13. Discount leap contest Give customers a fun way to determine their own Easter discount rates by printing a large format sticker (or series of stickers) to measure long jump distance. Affix it to the floor in an open area of your store. Right before checkout, have customers see how far they can jump and give a discount based on distance. It's another fun way to interact with customers and have a bit of Easter fun while making sales. 14. Easter grab bags Do you have a lot of small products that don't seem to be moving as well as you'd like? Easter represents a great opportunity to sell them. Bundle three or four smaller items in grab bags, staple them shut, then sell them for a low price – just enough to make a profit. Also include an entry form for the chance to win a big prize. When customer purchase a grab bag, they get an entry; after the bags are all sold, you draw the winner. 15. Free 'Easter basketing' Give your customers a cool way to dress up Easter gifts by offering free “Easter basketing” at your retail location. When customers purchase items, offer them the opportunity to purchase an accompanying basket. If they do, add in some Easter grass, a ribbon and a bow, and they'll be ready to present their gifts right away – no wrapping required! Take the work out of Easter gift-giving with free “Easter basketing.” As you can see, there are many creative ways you can give your Easter marketing efforts a creative and attention-getting spin. When you're creative with your Easter marketing, you won't only command customer attention, you can also generate tons of positive PR for your company. You can even ask local newspapers, radio stations, television stations, and bloggers to come out and get photos and footage from your most creative Easter promotions – essentially doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling your exposure for free. Getting customers to your store isn't always about price or even selection; and even if it is, you have to get the word out about your Easter promotions if you want to attract customers – and, of course, generate excellent response rate that leads to sales and the ultimate goal: profits. If you can promise customers a unique experience and a great time while you're at it, you're sure to be a hit this Easter.