Wow, March is a busy month for Awareness Days or for some companies, it’s the month of jumping on ‘XYZ awareness day’ marketing bandwagon. So, in advance, Happy Mardi Gras, International Womens Day, St Patricks Day, first day of spring, clocks forward day, Pi day and my new favourite, Awkward Moment Day.
Awareness Days can provide great marketing opportunities but there are some definite do’s and don’ts.
Don’t highlight an awareness day just for the sake of it. Make sure the day is in-line with your overall strategy and will resonate with your target audience. Do ask yourself the following two questions:
- Is XYZ Day relevant to my audience?
- Is there a link between my company and XYZ Day?
If the answers yes to both, then it’s worth including in your strategy.
Do plan ahead. If you are going to embrace various Awareness Days, then they should be included in your overall marketing plan. Scheduling tools and Awareness Day calendars are great resources and means you can plan and create your content well ahead of time.
Do be aware of social media backlash if you do decide to ‘celebrate’ a day that your company isn’t fully aligned to. For all those companies embracing International Women Day this month, you might want to consider addressing your Gender Pay Gap first or run the risk of finding yourself on Twitter’s Gender Pay Gap Bot.
Finally, be careful …. don’t be the next Burger King. I’m sure they’re still ruing the day when they thought it was a good idea to tweet “Women belong in the kitchen”. Although the goal was meant to highlight inequality in the hospitality industry, the tweet was a major marketing fail!