Business Monitor
Should you celebrate a milestone anniversary?
Printwear & Promotion celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Hooray for us! But it’s not just P&P. There are dozens of other businesses celebrating one anniversary or another. What commercial benefit do they gain? Marketing expert, Paul Clapham, reports.
A llow a story from my
experience. In the town where I used to live was a very long-established sports retailer. We all knew this because its date of establishment was boasted on the top of the building. When they were 98 years old, I asked the owner what plans he had to celebrate their centenary. “None”, came the answer. He wasn’t joking – not a hint was publicised. What a missed opportunity! Consider the potential for sales of cricket kit alone: ‘score a century and celebrate with us’.
Start planning now
So, if you have a big anniversary up and coming, start planning now. You are entitled to wonder why it matters. Put simply, people like birthdays. It means a party, fun, pleasure and enjoyment. From a purely commercial perspective it gives the customer a reason to choose you: ‘they’ve been in business for 30 years; they must be doing something right’. Essentially people trust well-established businesses. So, they should. They’ve seen your need or problem before. This is definitely a case for working all aspects of the marketing mix. Start by putting it on your letterhead and other corporate stationery. Tell the story on your website. Advertise the date and any special associated offers. Talk to your local newspaper – this is a success story and local papers love them. Produce a range of clothing (obviously!). Offer other businesses with an event a pistol hot promotional price.
The above-mentioned local paper ought to have a list of other businesses with anniversaries imminent. Those who are cash-strapped might share printwear with others. The basic message should be clear: printwear is an essential part of the marketing mix.
Significant occasion
Dave Wilson, MD of Preseli, has direct relevant experience as his company is planning to celebrate their 30th birthday in 2022. “It’s the first time we’ve done
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
Engage with customers “An anniversary is a great way for a business to engage with customers, staff and stakeholders” is the view of Kathryn Shuttleworth, MD at David Luke. “We have created a team of long-term and new employees to implement the opportunities presented by this milestone of 40 years in business. The founders David Burgess and Adrian Luke’s contribution will be celebrated in particular reflecting the family culture at David Luke.”
They are determined to keep their long-standing retail customers involved in the celebrations: “they have to feel part of the event”, says Kathryn. Communicating change can be difficult for a business but an anniversary is an opportunity to change that. In its very nature it involves looking back and then forwards.
David Luke is especially keen to tailor their celebrations to give the personal human touch, effectively reflecting how they like to do business at all times.
Give it a Google
it. I don’t know why we didn’t before. Somehow 30 years is a significant point,” he says. But their overall plan is to make the anniversary a central plank to 2022 marketing. That of course gives a great structure to a programme. Dave continues: “This has of course been a very difficult 18 months for everyone, not least our clients. So, we feel that it is appropriate to take a ra-ra attitude and have a party, talk us all up together. To date not much is concrete – it’s on our new catalogue and we have an ad in P&P. We’re contemplating a big event at nearby Chester races. “We’ve learned a lot from what our Chinese suppliers have done: they gave us a plaque or similar which we will never display because it’s all about them, nothing about us. Therefore, one of our activities is a product discount which will be aimed at customer demand rather than our wants. In short, we will keep our customer focus while banging our own drum.”
If you are looking seriously at an anniversary celebration, you will have doubtless done a Google search of the subject. Me too. Since most of Google’s traffic is American, you have to adapt – quite a lot in this case.
One important cultural divide between our two countries is being happy with blowing your own trumpet. Americans do it naturally – if I don’t, who will – we Brits are far more restrained. Two points apply: first if you’re going to make a major anniversary a marketing feature, you’d better be less restrained; second organise activity to your taste – if you hate ra-ra don’t do it, make a point out of being the understated guys. I’d also suggest this as a business builder, starting now. Note on letterheads and buildings those dates with potential. ‘Have you considered tee shirts or sweatshirts to publicise your 10th anniversary’? Great sales pitch when they may not have thought about it at all.
January 2022 | 43 |
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