We may only be 20 days in, but 2014 already looks set to be the year everyone goes crazy for obscure national days.
Sometimes you need a PR ‘hook’ to help get your message out to a wider audience and a national day with a trending hashtag can be a very effective way of securing some column inches or new social media followers – even if your link to the topic is tenuous at best!
For example, some marketers are capitalising on ‘Blue Monday’ today – apparently the most depressing day of the year – using #BlueMonday:
#BlueMonday promotional tweets
Other marketers, meanwhile, opted to promote their #BlueMonday offers on 6th January. Confusing? You bet. But this random usage doesn’t seem to put consumers off as they use the hashtags themselves and cash in on the associated promotions.
So, do some desk research and find yourself some national ‘events’ that you can hook a story or message onto. My personal favourites are National Yorkshire Pudding Day (2nd February) and National Picnic Week (w/c 16th June) – yes, there’s a clear food theme. Let me know if you find any that are even better than those – and have fun trying to link your own messages to them!
Marketing and PR blog by Rebecca Hills 