How is Meteor Watch Day on June 30 good for business?

Seems like something that may pass you by (pun intended), but if you did marketing for a company that manufactures telescopes, binoculars or photography supplies, these are some stellar (ha!) marketing opportunities. Even Pluto Demoted Day (Aug.24) could be marketing-maximized by apps that help consumers view the night sky, or by travel destinations that are in regions known for night-sky viewing. (I’m looking at you, Death Valley!)

Did you know that June 6 is “Drive in Movie Day?”

Random, right? But if you manufacture or market popcorn or popcorn makers, or screens for backyard movie nights, or picnic supplies, or even outdoor seating and firepit gear, this is a great marketing opportunity.

As marketers we often follow the holidays if/when they are relevant to our business. In fact, this article is being written on heels of Mother’s Day, when Facebook feeds – or at least, my own – are exploding with “gift ideas for Mom” (though they clearly haven’t met mine.). It is too easy for product messaging to get buried in the deluge of other promoters and brands taking advantage of the same opportunity.

You might see these funny and fringe-y awareness days and consider them irrelevant to your business or organization. But with a little ingenuity, you can use these to spice up a marketing calendar and engage audiences in different ways.

This is not a bunch of baloney, just like Bologna Day on October 24 isn’t just for sandwich meat makers. Bread sellers can seed a story about sandwich trends. Plant-based foodies can grow a story about your most satisfying bologna replacement. Condiment makers can spread information about flavoring trends. Toaster and microwave makers can turn up the heat on easy at home recipes. Heck, beer makers can whet the appetite of consumers with advice about beverage-bologna pairings. The opportunities are endless, and this is just one day. And one food.

At NewsUSA, we’ve run stories tied to American Heart Month, Arthritis Awareness Month, National Nutrition Month, National Prescription Take Back Day, UV Safety Month, There are numerous health months and health weeks, creating the opportunity for education and info-sharing around many health conditions. We’ve run stories tied to Car Care Month, Home Safety Month, Financial Literacy Month, National Pet Week, and many more. We haven’t yet run a story for National Ice Cream Month, National Waffle Week of National Barbeque Day, but we really really want to and hope that some of our marketing brethren may be inspired by this unique food awareness day list.

There is a day, week or month out there that can be directly – or at least, creatively – tied to your products or your organization. Here are some tips to maximize these awareness opportunities:

#1. Match Them to Your Audience

Knowing your audience is essential when creating a marketing calendar. You can identify common traits of your customers such as age, gender, interest, struggles, hobbies, occupation, buying habits, and social-economic status. When you know your audience, you can find awareness events that they would naturally resonate with them.

#2: Be Creative

Every marketing campaign must have a theme. Take a unique angle to make the awareness events relevant to your industry. For instance, if it is UV Safety Month, you can get creative with how you present this concept. If you’re a skincare company, you can talk about skin damage and the best ways to protect your ski. If you are in sunglasses, you can talk about the latest fashion trends to keep your eyes safe in the summer sun. If you are a pool products company, you can tie in pool safety stories to UV safety. If you’re a furniture company, you can talk about fading, peeling or warping depending on the type of furniture being sold. We mentioned National Barbeque Day above, but that could be tied in with everything to grills, to food products, to appliances for the ultimate backyard setup, to cleaning supplies (like how the heck do I get BBQ sauce out of my sofa cushions?).

#3. Be Broad

A narrowly focused day can be a springboard to talk about larger issues. National Sleep Awareness Week can be a jumping off point for vitamin and supplement manufacturers who make products that promote better sleep, for mattress manufacturers, for furniture makers to tell home improvement stories around maximizing your bedroom space, for yoga and meditation apps and more. National Pet Travel Safety Day, for example, can be optimized not only by pet-focused companies, but by hotels that are dog-friendly. See this smile-invoking list of 100s of different pet days for additional inspiration.

#4. Prepare Content Before the Awareness Day (or Week or Month) Arrives
Best practices are to start preparing content three months or more prior to the event. This way you can work out unforeseen snags without a critical deadline looming over your head. (Although at NewsUSA, we’ve been known to turn around content and distribute it to the 2,400+ news outlets in our syndicate in under 48 hours. So if you stumble upon on awareness day you want to take advantage of last minute, reach out!) The early theme selection and timely preparation for the promotion will give you greater chances to hit a home run with it.

Taking advantage of awareness days/weeks/months – especially the more unusual ones – can make you stand out and give you lots of material to work with to expand and bolster your content marketing calendar. How will you take advantage of them?

Learn more about: NewsUSA syndicated feature stories and mat releases.

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