Did you know there is an Elephant Appreciation Day? How about American Business Woman’s Day? Or, my own personal favorite, Be Kind to Editors & Writers Month. You see, we get a whole month…In searching about for new and interesting promotional ideas, I came across this little tidbit recently and thought it might prove useful to some of you. Why not create you own holiday, related to your business of course, and then promote the life out of your celebration? Many of the holidays we celebrate by rote now, were once thought up as promotional ideas by some enterprising business. Think Mother’s Day and Administrative Assistants Day… big with greeting card companies and not so bad for florists either.
So why can’t you do that same thing for your own business?
It doesn’t need to be a birthday (the businesses or your own) or an anniversary… those are fine as far as they go. But the spirit behind this suggestion calls for something a bit more… quirky. A bit more unique.
Think a bit about your business, and then see if you can’t create a holiday‚ the date is up to you‚ that somehow ties to what you do or what you sell. A jeweler might have a “Show Me Your Bling Day” or a pest control service might have a “Be Rid Of Multi Legged Pests Month”.
You might also look for inspiration from the holidays already established and see if you can’t tie one of them into the products you sell or the business you’re in. A local restaurant, for example, could celebrate National Waffle Week (it’s September 1 – 5th) by offering discounts on waffle breakfasts. Chase’s Calendar of Events is a well known source of all the established holidays from January to December, but you do have to pay for the list. You might also want to check out On-This-Day, a handy little site that puts famous birthdays, historical events and musical history at your fingertips.
Another web source, run by Brownlocks and the Three Bears, claims to have the most up to date listing of holidays, all validated with sponsors or organizations. Choose a month, then see holidays listed for the month, weekly observances and daily observances. You can even find the phases of the moon and other handy little details you never knew you needed to know.
Sure the idea seems a bit… wacky, a tad “out there”… but is that really so bad? Maybe if you’re in certain fields… attorneys or accountants are good examples, an unusual promo like this might not be the right fit. But for the less serious minded professionals reading this, creating your own holiday could be just the thing you need to get your business noticed.
You never can tell when something bizarre and unexpected like this can catch on. And then again, it will give your business a reason to make some noise, make some news, and get people talking!
