Ca$hing In on The Next Big Thing
There seem to be a growing number of global occasions that are presenting themselves to the masses that you as a business, can possibly cash in on. In the Western world we have the stock standard Christmas and Easter with the added options of Valentines Day, St Patricks Day and Halloween up for grabs. But there are those ‘once off’ events or occasions that will engage your city, town or country that can also be possible marketing opportunities.
The (arguably) biggest and most recent anticipated event being flung around the media is the announcement that Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge have announced that Royal Baby #2 is on it’s way. No sooner than the announcement had been made you could hop on-line and place a bet as to the gender of the baby and possibly even see the viral campaigns from Nissan UK or WKD who are already jumping on the royal baby bandwagon.
The reason for this urgency to ‘news-jack’ this big royal announcement is the cash-spending precedent set by their first born, Prince George. Upon last count Prince George was responsible for a $400 million influx into the British economy through memorabilia items, baby wear, maternity wear, commemorative plates, the list goes on!
However you didn’t have to own a tabloid magazine or distribute collectable coffee mugs to cash in on Prince Georges pending and eventual arrival. Cafe’s around the world were hosting Royal Baby Shower Tea Parties, the Windsor Eaton Brewery released a limited edition ‘Windsor-Cot’ brew with a special “It’s a Boy!” pump clips supplied to open the bottles. Or you could even pick up a personalised “HRH” football jersey.
The potential for piggy-backing of an existing event for promotions, branding and just blatant extra exposure doesn’t all have to ride on the baby-making skills of William and Catherine. There are a myriad of opportunities that you can use as marketing milestones such as:
* Mothers Day and Fathers Day
* National Days (Australia Day, 4th of July, Canada Day)
* Big sporting events (FIFA World Cup, Rugby Grand Final, Olympic Games, etc.)
* Seasons (First day of Spring, last day of Summer, etc.)
* Novel Calendar Dates (April Fools, May the 4th, etc.)
The list goes on and is only limited to your imagination. There may be a big local event happening such as the Gold Coast Show that you can latch on to. Otherwise create your own marketable events. They may not be as well known to the public but you can still broaden your brand awareness by creating campaigns around important business milestones such as:
* Your business’s first birthday
* Your 100th customer
* Your new office
* Your new website
Keep in mind to use these opportunities to their full potential, you need to have a good marketing strategy, a goal in place and tools to determine the immediate success of your campaign. There’s no point riding on the coat-tails of an event if you’re not going to measure how successful the journey was.
If you need any assistance in developing a marketing campaign, give us a call.