How to use key dates to market your business

By Sammy Greener sammygreener

This week is Climate Week, one of the UK’s biggest environmental campaigns of the year. And as part of it, organisations across the country will host a variety of events and activities providing practical solutions and simple tips to help people live and work in a more sustainable fashion. However, if planned correctly, weeks like this can also be a positive marketing tool for businesses.

When planning a marketing strategy, the goal is to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time through the right channel – and one of the best ways to tick each of these boxes is through event-based marketing, or in other words, planning a strategy around key events in the customers calendar.

For our clients in the renewables industry, we’ll be using Climate Week to further build their image by hosting industry events and workshops and implementing the week into our social media strategies. By focusing on this date, we hope to increase awareness and build engagement with customers during a time, which is relatable to them.

To help you make the most using event-based marketing, here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when planning your strategy.

Identify what will work for you

There are hundreds of key dates and events that happen throughout the year, and it’s important to identify those that are relatable to your business. These could include national holidays like Christmas, big events like the Olympics, or national awareness days where you could integrate events into your local community. However, don’t choose a date simply on its popularity; it should always be applicable to your business.

[Editor’s note: This week is also Apprenticeship Week, and Shrove Tuesday, and International Women’s Day on Saturday.]

Be creative

Think about how you can utilise the event to promote your brand and message. This is a chance to let your creative juices flow and come up with some innovative campaigns to engage with your customer, some examples may be a Mother’s Day competition, a themed video to promote via social media or your own industry or community event to support a national cause.

Plan ahead

Like with all marketing campaigns you need to create a detailed plan, which highlights exactly what you will do and how you will do it. Indicate what you hope to achieve from each campaign, whether it is to reach new markets, or simply to build your relationship with existing customers.

Does your business get involved with event-based marketing? I’d love to know, tweet me at @sjgreener1

Sammy Greener is a PR Executive at Lava, an award-winning marketing communications agency based in Lincoln. Sammy plays an active role across both trade and consumer accounts, providing media relations, copywriting and administrational support. Sammy has a first class honours degree in Fashion Business from Glasgow Caledonian University, and has previously worked at Interflora and Bianca Jones Jewellery.