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Open your social media feed around any major holiday and you’ll see it immediately. Happy Fourth of July. Happy Labor Day. Happy Valentine’s Day. Add a stock photo, maybe a flag, maybe a heart, maybe a grill with suspiciously perfect hot dogs, and there it is: another holiday post nobody will remember five minutes from now.
I’m not judging too hard because we’ve all done it. You’re busy, you know you should post something, so you post something. Unfortunately, “something” is usually exactly what every other business posted too. We all saw it over 4th of July weekend from every business under the American sun, vomiting red, white, and blue AI photos all over our social feeds. Ugh.
Small businesses don’t win by copying the big companies, except with a smaller budget and more caffeine. We have to be more interesting than that.
The Secret Is National Workaholics Day (And Other Weird Holidays)
One of the easiest ways to do it is to use all those weird national holidays that show up on the calendar every year. There are random holidays every single day, and some of them are gold for small business marketing. National Workaholics Day. National Kitten Day. National Left-Handers Day. National Beach Day. Somebody, somewhere, decided these deserved a holiday, and honestly, thank you, Mysterious Calendar People.
The reason weird holidays work is simple: people don’t expect them. When something feels different from the usual sales pitch, customers are more likely to stop scrolling. That doesn’t mean every post has to be comedy gold or some giant campaign with matching shirts, confetti cannons, and one of those wind dancer things outside your front door. It just means you give people something more interesting than another discount.
Ask them a question. Invite them to vote on something random. Have them share a photo. Get them talking about themselves, their pets, their memories, their favorite beach, their hardest-working friend, or their ugly office chair if that’s the holiday you decide to invent. Honestly, I’d participate in Ugly Office Chair Day.
Turn the Spotlight Outward
Take National Workaholics Day. Instead of making it about your business, ask customers to nominate someone in the community who works ridiculously hard and rarely gets recognized. That could be a teacher, a nonprofit volunteer, a nurse, a parent, a small business owner, or the person who quietly fixes everything and somehow never gets thanked. Now your marketing isn’t just another “look at us” post. It shines the spotlight outward, which is usually more interesting, and definitely more scroll-stopping.
National Dog Month is another easy one, and yes, dogs get a whole month while kittens get one day (I don’t make the rules, but I fully support this particular injustice. #YayDogs). Ask customers to post pictures of their dogs, tell the story of their first dog, vote on favorite breeds, or share the weirdest thing their dog does. This works whether you’re a groomer, a realtor, a dentist, a CPA, or a gift shop. People like doing business with businesses that feel human, and very few things humanize a brand faster than a dog doing something ridiculous in the background. Trust me… it’s just not the same with cats, so don’t come at me.
You can also take traditional holidays and make them less boring. For the Fourth of July, instead of running the same predictable sale as everyone else, you could have asked employees or customers, “If you could have 250 of anything today, what would it be?” You could have grabbed one of those tiny microphones that cost about twenty bucks and record the answers. Somebody would have said tacos. Somebody would have said naps. Somebody would have said puppies (me). Somebody would have taken it way too seriously and given an answer involving compound interest. Either way, you just created something more watchable than another fireworks graphic with a coupon code slapped on top.
The Real Magic Is Participation
The real magic is participation. When customers vote, comment, post photos, answer funny questions, or nominate someone, they’re spending a little bit of attention on your business. That is a much stronger connection than another 10% off coupon they’ll forget by tomorrow. Discounts have their place, but if every holiday promotion depends on lowering your price, you’re training customers to wait for the next sale. That’s not marketing. That’s a slow walk into discount dependency, and nobody needs another dependency.
Please don’t give up after one post, either. A lot of small business owners try something once, get three comments, and decide it didn’t work. Meanwhile, customers are walking in two weeks later saying, “I loved that thing you posted about the dogs,” even though they never liked it, commented on it, shared it, or gave you one tiny crumb of visible encouragement. There are always lurkers. Always. They see more than you think, so give new ideas enough time before tossing them into the marketing trash pile.
Partner With Your Community
Weird holidays are also perfect for collaboration. August is National Dog Month. This is your spark of inspiration to partner with the local pet bakery, groomer, rescue organization, veterinarian, or pet boutique. You don’t need months to prep! Now you’re all sharing each other’s posts, introducing your audiences to one another, and creating something more useful than another lonely post floating around the internet. You can also pitch it to your local newspaper, chamber newsletter, or trade association. They’re often looking for community stories, and “local businesses team up for National Dog Month” is a lot more interesting than “business posts generic holiday graphic again.”
So pick one holiday each month and do something with it. It does not have to match your business. It just has to give your customers a reason to notice you, remember you, and maybe even join in. That’s the whole point. The best small business marketing usually isn’t louder. It’s more specific, more human, and a whole lot less boring than another “Happy Labor Day” post.
This topic goes even deeper on my podcast. Check out Episode 21 of Underestimated: The Small Business Advantage Podcast — Stop Boring Promotions.
