Valentine’s Day Trends & Marketing Tips (2024)

Valentine’s Day is a holiday you can work with to give your craft business’s sales a boost in the first quarter of the year.

This article shares tips for marketing your products, as well as product ideas you can sell at craft shows and online, and keywords you may want to use online to drive more Valentine’s Day shoppers to your store.

Valentine’s Day trends for 2024

Here are a few Valentine’s Day trends for 2024, based on Google Trends, my keyword research, and consumer trend reports.

Google Trends

The following are phrases that are labelled as “breakout” terms on Google Trends.

Valentine’s Day Stanley cup/tumbler – obviously, you can’t create a “Stanley” tumbler (as that would be copyright infringement). However, if you add your designs to tumblers and travel mugs, focusing on similar bright and bold pinks/reds, that would allow you to follow the Stanley Valentine’s Day tumbler trend without committing copyright infringement.
Valentine’s Day ornaments
Valentine’s Day pajamas (and “pjs” was also popular)
Valentine’s Day pregnancy announcement
Valentine’s Day gift for husband
Boys Valentine’s Day shirt
Valentine’s Day plates
Valentine’s Day baby announcement
Valentine’s Day sweater
Valentine’s Day home decor
Valentine’s Day door decor
Valentine’s day mug

Search Trends

These are a few popular, but not overly competitive, terms people type into search bars leading up to Valentine’s Day.

Consider using these keywords in your online listings (e.g. Etsy listing titles, descriptions, tags, etc.), creating products, and offering services that appeal to these search phrases, and keeping these popular search phrases in mind when marketing.

This list shares the main popular search terms, and any related search terms below it.

“Valentine’s Day gifts for her”
- “last minute valentine’s day gifts for her” (if you’re selling at a craft show at the beginning of February, implementing signage with these keywords may help generate more sales. If you’re selling online, consider offering express shipping and express order processing (for an added fee) to appeal to those last minute shoppers.)
- “non cheesy valentine’s day gifts for her”
“Valentine cards”
- “vintage valentine cards”
- “valentine cards printable”
- “valentine cards for school”
- “funny valentine cards”
“Valentine’s day gifts for him” (“for men” is also a popular search term)
“Valentine’s day wallpaper”
- “valentine wallpaper”
- “valentine wallpaper iphone”
“Valentine’s day box” (based on my research, this term applies to a few different products such as valentine’s day gift boxes that are already full of items, empty boxes that consumers can buy and fill with their product(s) of choice, and boxes to hold Valentine’s Day cards. The websites/listings that appear to have the most traffic are those showcasing fun boxes designed for kids to hold all their Valentine’s Day cards.)

Consumer trends

Below are a few interesting Valentine’s Day statistics gathered by Drive Research.

Consumers spend close to $192 to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Those aged 35 – 44 plan to spend around $335. If your target market is within that age range, consider offering a few higher priced items.

Consumers spend around $30 on Valentine’s presents for friends and family. Consider offering items around this price point to encourage gift giving outside or romantic relationships.

35% of consumers will shop online for their gifts, so be sure to set up your Etsy shop or website for these shoppers. Consider adding sections to your shop, adding keywords to listings, and make it easy for shoppers to find what they want and to receive the items before Valentine’s Day.

Men tend to spend approximately 2x as much as women do on Valentine’s Day gifts. Consider products that will appeal to male Valentine’s Day shoppers.

Roughly 6 billion people get engaged on Valentine’s Day. More people may be looking for engagement-related products before and shortly after Valentine’s Day. Such as candles and rose petals for the proposal, or photo props and items to announce and commemorate an engagement.

Valentine’s Day marketing tips

Once you have your Valentine’s Day products, you must market them to ensure consumers find them and are enticed to buy.

1 – Celebrate your love for your customers

Your business wouldn’t be what it is without its customers. So no doubt, you have love and appreciation for each of them. Consider sending a Valentine through email or snail mail (if your customers have given you permission to…i.e. they’ve signed up for your newsletter).

You might thank them for their business and share your exclusive Valentine’s Day product line or offer an exclusive promo code they can use in the month of February.

2 – Update your shop

You may not even need to design and create new products for Valentine’s Day.

Renaming products that are appropriate for Valentine’s Day, photographing or displaying them with Valentine’s Day themed props, and grouping them together online or at a craft show can encourage more pre-Valentine’s Day sales.

Online, you may want to update your home page with a Valentine’s Day themed photo to get people thinking about the holiday.

Updating listing names, descriptions, and tags for SEO and creating a shop section or page will also help shoppers find your items and make it easy for them to shop.

At a craft show, you may want to add a touch of Valentine’s Day to your display. Infusing reds and pinks or hearts and cupids into items such as your tablecloth, signage, fixtures, and props. It’s a quick and easy way to update your booth and get shoppers instantly thinking “Valentine’s Day”.

3 – Make it gift-worthy

Bundling items into a gift set or simply offering Valentine’s Day packaging can turn any product into the perfect Valentine’s Day gift.

Update packaging to red or pink, add heart or cupid shapes in some form (e.g. heart shaped box or heart-printed tissue paper), or consider offering gift wrapping and gift cards as free perk or an add-on.

4 – Make it exclusive

If you do have time to create a new product or product line for Valentine’s Day, make sure you create urgency by limiting the number of products available and the length of time they’re available for. The main reason Pumpkin Spice Lattes are so popular at Starbucks is because they’re only available once a year and for a limited time. Try this strategy in your business with a “limited time only” Valentine’s Day themed product.

5 – Think outside the box

Although Valentine’s Day is typically promoted as a day for couples, there are many other ways people experience and celebrate love. Products that are Valentine’s Day themed but aren’t romantic may be a fit for your business and target market.

Families

Think about how families might spend the day together and items they might want to give as gifts to each other, or what they might buy to have a “Valentine’s Day experience” together.

They might bake cookies or a meal together (product ideas: heart-shaped cookie cutters, meal, drink, or baking kits, or Valentine’s Day themed aprons), have a family photo shoot (product ideas: Valentine’s Day photo props or outfits), or lounge around and watch movies (product ideas: matching Valentine’s Day pajamas, cozy blankets, or Valentine’s Day themed snacks and drinks).

Pets

Pet owners want to show their furry friends love too! Product options might be Valentine’s Day themed: dog treats, cat toys, or pet outfits for a fun photo shoot.

Friends

“Galentine’s Day” is a term that’s gaining popularity each year and is all about celebrating female friends. Product ideas might be “Galentine’s Day” greeting cards, friendship-themed jewelry, or even games and activities (e.g. paint your own Valentine’s Day mug kit, facial kit, cocktail making kit) designed for friends on Valentine’s Day.

Self-love

Consider promoting items for Valentine’s Day that help people care for themselves and shower themselves with love. That might be bath items, journals, meditation products, skincare products, etc.

Anti-Valentine’s Day-ers

Many people dislike Valentine’s for a variety of reasons. Depending on your target market, it may be best NOT to promote the holiday. Or, there may be an opportunity to create products for the other side of Valentine’s Day (the less romantic side).

Explore the different reasons people dislike or don’t celebrate the holiday (e.g. religion, heartbreak, too commercialized, the origins of the holiday, etc.) and consider which direction is best for your business and its target market.

I hope these tips help your business have a successful Valentine’s Day!

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Erin (Creator of Made Urban)

Hey, I’m Erin 🙂 I write about small business and craft show techniques I’ve learned from being a small business owner for almost 2 decades, selling at dozens of craft shows, and earning a diploma in Visual Communication Design. I hope you find my advice helpful!