How to Manage Your Valentine’s Day LTO

Limited time offers, or LTOs, provide a great way to target holidays and events with slight modifications to your current marketing efforts. These campaigns are great ways to attract new customers and excite returning customers. However, they can be difficult if not managed properly. This is especially true for Valentine’s Day LTOs.

After Mother’s Day, Valentine's Day is the largest holiday for restaurants. WalletHub estimates Americans spend over $27 billion each year to celebrate the romance holiday. Because it is such a popular restaurant holiday, Valentine’s Day LTOs can get complicated. These campaigns warrant stellar LTO management.

Here are our tips for managing your Valentine’s Day LTO in 2021.

1. Start early.

Planning an LTO takes time, as does implementing your ideas. Start early to avoid feeling rushed or running into shipping problems, especially with COVID delays.

2. Look into LTO management companies.

Limited time offers managed by stores or even corporate are a lot of work. As such, they can quickly lead to your stores managing their marketing materials out of a storage closet. This is not ideal, and often results in misplaced materials and forgotten deadlines.

Instead, look into outsourcing your LTO management to a company with experience. Companies like Dot It will help you source, print, pack, and ship the necessary materials for a seamless LTO rollout.

Dot It's Holiday Limited Time Offer Process

An LTO Management Company helps by…

  • Eliminating missed deadlines
  • Sourcing materials for your rollout
  • Managing inventory
  • Distributing materials to your stores

3. Market your LTO.

Your Valentine’s Day LTO will do you no good if your potential customers don’t know it’s happening. Make sure you get the word out on your available mediums, whether it be socials, email, or direct mail.

Good Marketing Practices for LTOs include…

  • Posting on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
  • Creating email campaigns leading up to the event
  • Sending out mailers with information (this is a great coupon opportunity!)
  • Putting up local store marketing materials like flyers and banners

4. Take notes for next year.

Now it’s February 15th – but your work isn’t done! Look at your rollout holistically and determine what worked and what didn’t. Consider your reach in your marketing efforts and your customer response to the LTO. Use this information to make your next Valentine’s Day Limited Time Offer even better.

About Dot It

Whatever you choose to do for this year’s Valentine’s Day promotion, Dot It can help. We specialize in holiday LTOs and can ensure franchise locations have everything they need for a successful Valentine’s Day restaurant promotion. Call us at 800-642-3687 or email sales@dotit.com to learn more about our LTO management services.

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