Holidays and special monthly events are always a great time to have fun with your marketing and get your customers excited about special related promos. St. Patrick’s day especially can be a fun time to experiment with different marketing tactics to increase engagement from customers and also add some personality into your campaigns.
Digital marketing and SEO expert Alex Holliman is the managing director of Climbing Trees and he suggests getting creative but also really playing into the theme. “Everyone loves a good theme when it comes to marketing. It allows customers to interact with you much more as these types of campaigns often allow you to be more playful and creative with how you decide to incorporate the customer into your efforts.” Holliman gives some great tips on how to do this effectively for your own business.
Host a lucky giveaway
“Giveaways always elicit excitement and interaction from your customers, and encourage new consumers to join in as well. You can play on the lucky aspect of St. Patrick’s day to host a random draw which can be advertised on all social media platforms. These giveaways usually involve the participant to share your post, tag someone in it and also follow your business page.
This is really helpful for brand awareness while still playing to the theme. This is the perfect time to host a giveaway and then announce the winner via social media during a live video. This will bring people back to watch the live reel to see if they won.”
Something else to consider is that there are multiple things you can give away, but it’s beneficial for you to look into teaming up with other local businesses and to give away some of their items in the form of a basket. These other businesses can then also share this giveaway on their own platforms, again reaching an even bigger audience.
Go green and encourage others to as well
Green is the most prominent color for this March event, so taking advantage of this in multiple ways is encouraged. Holliman says, “Being as sustainable as possible is something businesses should be doing regardless of what holiday it might be. However, if you are looking for a good time to start, St. Patrick’s Day can help to encourage you to do so. Share your journey and efforts with your audience, and continue this even after the day is over. Avoid “greenwashing” and actually pledge on your website and social media the efforts you plan on pursuing.”
It also helps to encourage others to do the same. “Get your customers involved and ask them to share on their social media how they are going more green. Ask them to tag your business with a picture of them being more sustainable. You can then share their posts to show your appreciation for their efforts.”
Find the 4-leaf clover
Something a little more unique to incorporate into your St. Patrick’s Day marketing efforts are to hide a four leaf clover on your website and get your customers to try and find it. Those who do can be rewarded with an online discount which is a great incentive for them to buy your product or service, especially if it’s their first time.
Change up the look of your online channels
The look of your page is something that can either help or hinder the success of your marketing campaign. Holliman suggests that you change things up, but keep it congruent between all platforms. “Change up the look of your website and social media until the end of your campaign. This will really help to make your online platforms more appealing and it helps to make your business feel more real. Just make sure to do so for all your social media channels and to not let it go on longer than necessary!”
Try changing your logo or social media pictures and add in some fun design elements that can be interactive to engage your customers.