Start the year off right with a curated list of marketing holidays to get you inspired and start planning 2021. We’ve put together a comprehensive list of international holidays you may want to base your marketing campaigns around. Make 2021 a year to celebrate.

January

January 1 – New Year’s Day

It’s definitely worth ringing in the new year with well wishes and blessings to your subscribers. This could be a New Year Sale or even a sneak peek at what you are planning for the year ahead.

February

February 12 – Chinese New Year

2021 will see the year of the Ox being celebrated as the start of the Chinese New Year. If you’re unfamiliar with the Chinese New Year celebration, it’s a month-long celebration where factories across the country close and where millions of people travel back to their hometowns to spend time with their families. If you want to go beyond the traditional promotion or sales email, you could encourage your subscribers to share their celebrations with you on your social channels, spreading your brand message far and wide. According to Chinese myths the year of the Ox is meant to be lucky for all. If you choose to make it part of your marketing calendar it could be lucky for you too.

February 14 – Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a firm favourite for those within the gifting or ecommerce space. You can set yourself apart by creating a Valentine’s Day campaign that will encourage your subscribers to buy your products or put together a great gift guide to get your audience inspired.

March

March 27 – Earth Hour Day

Earth Hour was established by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) to unite people to take action on environmental issues. One of the hallmarks of this event is that people turn their lights off for one hour as a symbol of commitment towards nature and our planet. If your organisation has an environmental angle to it, you can remind your subscribers about Earth hour and tell them about your commitment to making the planet a better place.

April

April 1 – April Fool’s Day

If your brand has got a humorous tone you can add April Fools to your marketing calendar. Some brands use this day to create a buzz by creating fake products that they promote (see Google Nose as an example). Other brands offer “silly” promotions at discounted prices like t-shirts at a discounted price for people with a certain name. Whatever you decide to do, remember to keep your celebration campaign lighthearted to take advantage of this day.

April 04 – Easter Sunday

According to the National Retail Foundation, Easter holiday in 2017 raked in an estimated $18 billion in sales. Although this holiday might not appeal to everyone as it’s a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ, Easter-themed campaigns can appeal to a larger demographic. If you’d like to capitalise on this event, you could do a campaign that celebrates the “good eggs” in your life by highlighting charitable events, or top-selling products with your email campaign.

May

May 5 – Cinco De Mayo

Ever heard of Cinco De Mayo? This popular day has become somewhat like St Patricks Day but is meant to celebrate and honour the plight of Mexican Americans. This event is a great opportunity to theme your campaign with bright colours and add a bit of fun, especially if you are in the food and beverage industry.

May 7 – World Password Day

World Password Day was created to create awareness around cybersecurity and remind people about good web practices. If you’re in the tech space this is a good opportunity for you to increase your brand’s credibility and trust while still adding value to your audience.

May 9 – Mother’s Day

Celebrate the special ladies in your life by creating a Mother’s Day campaign. If you’re not sure where to start, you can have a look at our free Mother’s Day templates named Sharing is Caring and Momma Magic to get started.

June

June 5 – World Environment Day

World Environment day is the perfect event to add to your marketing calendar, no matter what industry you are in. If you’re doing your part to help the environment why not tell your subscribers about it. Encourage your audience to join your cause and highlight how you’re making a difference.

June 8 – National Best Friends Day

National Best Friends Day is a fun day you can create an email campaign around. You could highlight products that pair well together (showing them as “besties”) or even just spread a bit of kindness. We don’t recommend this event for more serious brands.

June 20 – Father’s Day

Father’s deserve a shout out too. Don’t forget to add Father’s Day to your event calendar to pay homage to all the most important men in your subscribers’ lives. You could offer special discounts to all the dads out there to show them that you care. If your list has more female subscribers, you could opt to rather create a Father’s Day gift guide campaign.

July

5 July - National Bikini Day

Did you know the bikini was invented on the 5th of July, 1946? If you’re in e-commerce and sell bikinis you may want to diarise National Bikini Day or use the national day as an ode to this iconic clothing item to celebrate summer. This national day marks the anniversary of the invention of the iconic two-piece bathing suit.

17 July - World Emoji Day

Emojis are everywhere. Whether you love them or hate them, you may want to celebrate the rise of the emoji with a custom campaign. With thousands of emojis available to choose from, you can use World Emoji Day as an excuse to incorporate emojis into your marketing campaigns to increase your customer engagement. If you’re not sure whether they suit your brand, read more about whether emojis should be used in your campaign or not.

21 July - National Junk Food Day

We’ll admit it, we love to indulge in junk food every now and then here at Mail Blaze. If you’re a fan of junk food or have a business that ties to food in some way, you could create a campaign around this national holiday. If you’re not directly in the junk food space, “treat yourself” as a campaign may be the way to go.

30 July - National Day of Friendship

Muhammed Ali famously said “Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” Celebrating National Friendship day is a great way to build your community and is also the perfect excuse to run a refer-a-friend campaign to grow your list.

August

9 August - National Book Lover’s Day

If you’re in the book industry or run an educational business with how-to guides, celebrating National Book Lover’s day is a great way to engage with your audience. You can also plan an email campaign around distributing content that your audience loves and values. Created an e-book recently? Tell people about it and get them to engage.

12 August - International Youth Day

We know our Youth represents the future and International Youth day is the perfect day to celebrate this demographic. A great way to engage here is to create a campaign focussed on the youth.

19 August - World Humanitarian Day

Although it’s quite common to want to always sell something to your audience, you may want to take a break from hard-selling every once in a while. You can capitalise on World Humanitarian Day by highlighting any social mission statements you have or promoting your organisation’s values on World Humanitarian Day.

September

8 September - Grandparents Day

Celebrate special family members with Grandparents day, you can use lifestyle images with an older demographic to link this holiday to any promotional offering you want to run.

26 September - National Pancake Day

Although National Pancake Day is definitely not one of the most serious events around, it could be a cute holiday to use to offer a flash sale.

29 September - National Coffee Day

National Coffee day doesn’t just have to be exclusively reserved for those who sell coffee. You can create a coffee themed campaign, by grouping coffee coloured products you may have or nod to your favourite drink subtly in a coffee themed campaign.

October

1 October - World Vegetarian Day

If you are in the wellness space, food or lifestyle business doing a campaign about World Vegetarian Day is a great way to show your audience you know and understand them well. You could consider offering up special coupon codes or even markdown a category of products to celebrate this demographic. Another fun tie-in would be to give your audience a chance to refer your business or service to their veggie friends which would help you grow your audience.

16 October - National Boss’s Day

They say “Everyone has a boss” and it’s so true. National Boss’s day is a great way for gift-centred brands to offer their audience a sale or even a gift guide. Creating a campaign around this theme will help you change up your sales emails in a fun and creative way.

20 October - World Mental Health Day

The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely shone a light on mental health and taking care of this aspect of your life. Creating a campaign around World Mental Health day can be a great way to engage and show your audience you care about their mental health.

31 October - Halloween

We love a good theme and Halloween is definitely no exception. Halloween is a fun event you can dress up in whichever way you choose, if a scary theme doesn’t suit your business, you could dress up your Halloween campaign with something that suits your brand. Make it cute or go full spooktacular on your campaign. The options are endless.

November

13 November - World Kindness Day

The world needs some more kindness and World Kindness Day gives you the opportunity to create a campaign to spread kindness around. You could focus on grouping products with a wellness element together or package your campaign with gift ideas to make people smile.

17 November - International Students Day

In the educational industry? Celebrate continued learning through a campaign focused on students.

19 November - International Men’s Day

Although most people are familiar with international women’s day, not a lot of people may know that there is an international men’s day too. The day aims to celebrate boys’ and men’s contributions to society. Craft a campaign to celebrate trailblazing individuals in your organisation or even products they may enjoy.

27 November - Black Friday

Black Friday has gained widespread popularity worldwide since it’s origins in America. Marked on calendars by consumers across the globe, you’ll want to make sure you get in on the action by creating exciting promotional offers for this day. You can also choose to run promotional offers leading up to Black Friday to increase engagement and build up excitement for what’s to come.

28 November - Small Business Saturday

Small businesses are the backbone to economic growth and prosperity and now you can celebrate them too. If you’ve partnered with small businesses in your space, you may want to do a business spotlight campaign to increase awareness and show your support on small business Saturday. Small business Saturday is celebrated on the last Saturday of November annually.

30 November - Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is traditionally the Monday that follows Black Friday. Known for it’s deals in the online space, a campaign for Cyber Monday would suit online e-commerce products or businesses best.

December

25 December - Christmas Day

Creating a Christmas campaign may seem like a no-brainer when you’re thinking of a campaign to run, but not everyone in your audience may celebrate this holiday. You can consider changing your Christmas Day campaign to a Xmas day campaign or alternatively look at just keeping the campaign to a festive theme to ensure you don’t alienate any of your subscribers. Doing something different over the festive season may make you stand out from the crowd.

31 December - New Year’s Eve

Ring in the new year with a New Year’s Eve campaign. You’ll be able to finish off the year and hint to exciting future developments for the year ahead.

There you have it. Our mid-year list of holidays to get you inspired and firing off campaigns. Which of these are you going to incorporate into your marketing calendar?