Your Next Print Customer is Already on the Calendar

Sometimes the best marketing ideas are the simplest.

Case in point: A World Cup tie-in from Tesco, a supermarket chain in the UK. By transforming iceberg lettuce into a soccer ball during one of the biggest sporting moments of the year, an ordinary grocery item became a social media sensation.

That’s the power of timely creativity. You get noticed by the audience already paying attention, and if it’s fun, the connection between the trend and the creative execution is memorable. Think Super Bowl commercials.

Jumping on a trend or something that is having a cultural moment is not reserved only for sporting events and national brands. You can apply the same thinking to moments that are much easier to access and creatively generate local print business.

A great place to start is the growing calendar of awareness days and unofficial celebrations that naturally connect with businesses in your area.

National Plant a Flower Day could become an opportunity to approach florists, nurseries, garden centers, or landscapers. National Pet Day could open the door to veterinary practices, groomers, pet stores, trainers, or boarding facilities. National Pizza Day could give you a reason to walk into every neighborhood pizzeria with a promotional concept that helps bring in customers or increase orders.

The same applies to National Donut Day, National Popcorn Day, and hundreds of other dates that most businesses are not building campaigns around, but could!

This new business plan is easy to develop. Search for appreciation days at least 2 months away. (I made a list you can download!) Identify any that could work for your current customers. Create a package that supports the appreciation day campaign, generates sales, and cultivates customer loyalty and retention.

If we use National Donut Day as an example, donut shops are the low-hanging fruit. You can offer in-store signage and loyalty punch cards to put in bags and boxes for customers to bring back on June 4 and redeem an offer. Create a fun background for customers to take photos and post on social media.

If you want to get a little more creative, speak with restaurants and coffee shops to give away a free donut with a purchase. Get a free donut with an oil change. Any place with a waiting area could work; think way outside the donut box for this.

By connecting the moment to the right business, you can generate measurable results for them, and perhaps a new customer for you. Either way, you are not walking through the door to ask whether they need anything printed. You are bringing them a timely opportunity to create traffic, increase sales, or encourage customers to buy more. Just make sure you have a way to track the results, or your great marketing idea could become a one-and-done instead of an annual promotion.

Having proof that your idea helped their business also opens the door to asking, “What else can we do around here?”

Maybe another upcoming awareness day creates a natural reason to bring people back through the door. Maybe the donut shop needs more customers on Mondays. Maybe the sales for extras and sides are slumping in the pizzeria. The idea is to get in the door and stay there by offering precision tools for sales, marketing, and customer communication via print.

These campaigns can become repeatable and self-serve. Promote the appreciation days on your site. When customers click in, they see a menu of items they can customize and purchase.

That is the real lesson behind the soccer-ball lettuce: One creative, timely idea can strengthen your customer relationships, create new customers, generate new business for everyone, and become a sustainable opportunity you can revisit year after year.

GOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.