Making Use of National Days
Happy National Bubble Wrap Day? Happy Hug a Plumber Day? Happy Kevin Day!
That’s right, there seems to be a national day for everything nowadays. Among those that aim to raise awareness around healthcare, safety and charities, there are several days that have emerged that most of us can easily latch on to. But what can a business, new to PR, do with these seemingly endless days, to help raise their profile?
Well, firstly these days alone will not be enough to raise your profile, they need to be the cherry on top of a thoroughly thought through marketing strategy and PR plan. They can, however, provide more light-hearted opportunities to engage with potential clients, stakeholders and your own staff, predominantly on social media.
But how do you choose which ones are for you?
First things first; you’ll need to decide, based on your business and your ethos, which days might suit you better. For example, a pet rescue centre might want to get involved in National Dog Day (26th August) or Love Your Pet Day (20th February) or National Pet Month (April). Meanwhile, a manufacturing specialist might prefer to get involved in National Apprentice Week (early March), British Science Week (middle of March) and Enterprise Week (early November).
Find a handful of days that work especially well for your business and plot them into your digital activity plan for the year. Then start to plan what you’ll do in the run up to and on the day itself. April Fools plans for example can take time and resources to plan and put into motion, especially if you’re trying to trick a large group of people. But other days call for much less preparation after you’ve decided what you want to get out of them.
What’s the call to action?
As with all planned marketing activities, you should aim to raise awareness of your organisation, product or service and boost engagement with your key audiences. You could use national healthcare days like the recent National Stress Awareness Day to highlight what you do to support your team in the workplace. Or invite your staff to bring their (well-behaved) dogs into the office during National Bring your Dog to Work Day.
National charity awareness days are a great opportunity for some fundraising, so if you don’t have a direct link to a charity through your work but want to fundraise for the cause then these days can work wonders.Gather the team together, encourage everyone to wear the charity t-shirt and bring in homemade cakes to sell or take part in a challenging fundraising activity. Whatever you get up to, take a couple of photos or a video and add it to social media.
Don’t forget to tag in the charity (if necessary) and use the hashtag. This will hopefully help your content be seen by more people, who are using and searching the hashtag. You might also get a retweet from the lead organisation – opening your account up to a wider audience, driving page views and winning you some new followers.
What’s coming up?
Fancy giving it a go? Check out what national days are coming up and get involved; it’s as easy as that. Once you’ve settled on your day, have fun brainstorming sessions as a team to come up with ideas for an Instagram story, a Facebook Live, and images and updates on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Need some inspiration? Take a look at the Shooting Star accounts on social media; we like getting involved. Next up for us is Children in Need on Friday 15th November. Keep an eye out for dress-down antics, and a first look at our home-made goodies up for sale.
KS.
