Your local business’ anniversary is a powerful marketing opportunity don’t waste it

Local Business Spotlight: If you have struggled to promote your local business or have a small budget, take advantage of an easy way to share your story about how your business is connected to your community. Anniversaries are great subject matter events to both promote your business but also squeeze the value out of the effort. With optimizing and tweaking, anniversary events can server many purposes and in the moment needs. They are great subject matter to heap on momentum your business has had. For instance… has your business completed it's first year in business? Or has your latest expansion location hit a milestone? Have an employee or leader on your team that deserves a shout out for sticking with the local business for so long? That's great! That says so much about a local business, and possibly never more so in poor economic conditions like inflationary pressures. These milestones can say a lot about your leadership, your team's effectiveness, as well as your customers' acceptance and patronage.

Why Local Business Anniversary Celebrations Are Multipurpose Events

Your customers' loyalty and successes with your services or products in your local area are probably a big reason why your business has been around for so long. Pay extra attention to your customers to shape the messaging of how you will mark the event. Remember, all things considered, your potential customers will more believe what your customers say about you than you saying the same thing about yourself. You can use customer stories and testimonials about how the company or technology has changed over time, customer testimonials about why they like working with your team, or customer photos or case studies about how they use your product as part of celebration themes. These things get you more positive support and third-party validation and credibility for the progress you've made so far. A thriving local business will have many good reviews on sites like Google and Yelp as visible proof of delivering products and services well in the area. Anniversary events are a terrific catalyst to substantively express some gratitude in their direction.

A business anniversary is more than just a way to mark the passage of time. It's a great chance to thank employees for their hard work, recognize loyal customers and attract new ones, get media attention for the milestone, or even raise money for charity on behalf of your company. Some companies use the anniversary of their office to talk about how long-term employees have been there. Still not convinced? Here are four easy reasons to celebrate the anniversary of your business: You and your employees have earned it. Building a business and making it grow is hard work. Celebrating an important anniversary can boost employee morale and keep everyone motivated to keep working until the next anniversary. An anniversary is a chance to get potential customers and the media interested in your business. Customers also like things to be happy about.

Customers may come to your business on your anniversary if you have promotions or events that are fun and creative. It's an easy way to get a better name. Only 44% of businesses make it through their first five years. When your business hits a big anniversary, like 10, 20, or 50 years, it shows customers that you have a strong foothold in the industry and in the community. You're not going away.

When your small business turns one, it's a great time to start something new. You can look back to see how far you've come, but it's also important to look forward. Remind your customers that you're an innovative company that will be around for a long time. If you've been meaning to launch a new product or service for years, your anniversary is the perfect time to do it. As part of your anniversary marketing ideas, you could even hold a contest or offer a special discount.

THE Event Your Local Business Should Schedule Ahead Of Time To Promote

The other advantage of Anniversary Event promotion is that it doesn't come as a surprise.  You can plan ahead for it.  Give it some thought and intention.  This article can help you here.  Planning an event is a great way to mark a special occasion like a local business' anniversary. Many companies choose to celebrate the event with a party or an all-hands event, which brings together the people who matter most. It also gives you a date to look back on your success and think about how you've grown in the future (see the below advice about press releases).

But keep in mind, that increases the costs and many tight small effective group businesses and consultancies don't have the broader social circles or on tighter budget limitations to create a draw to an event.  Fortunately, there are many ways to effectively promote this important milestone moment in your local business without a Silicon Valley budget and extravagance.

Social Media Is A Natural Fit For Any Local Business' Anniversary Campaign

If you add a video to your mix of channels to get the message out about the anniversary, you've made your effort that much more effective. Video is the PRIMARY format that works across all channels for engagement. Video no longer has to be a budget busting filming production to be valuable to a local business' marketing goals. A brief sixty second video of the announcement, done in multiple video formats to go out to the various social media platforms will both optimize and maximize the benefits.

Press Release And The Anniversary?


Yes, a classic press release is still always good move if your company has something original, fun, and newsworthy to say. Announcing new expansions and locations like this plumbing company did are great events for Press Releases.  For many of the same reasons, Anniversary celebrations are also valuable to cement the moment in history in the digital record that is the internet. And they can get you additional audience with the exposure they can bring to your brand and it's publicly viewed and promoted content. Don't pass up on this opportunity to always be selling. And remember, Anniversary content does not come with the additional cost of the expansions.  You might even look at it as a way to help recoup those costs.

Think about hiring a PR or marketing firm with local area marketing experience to help you craft and handle the follow through on these small but crucial details to get this word out about your business's anniversary in a way that maximizes the peculiar benefits of press releases, and your whole endeavor.

Creating Multimedia Content From Your Local Business' Upcoming Anniversary

This is one of the best work anniversary ideas for employees: get the whole team together for a company photo to freeze the moment in time. You don't have to hire a professional photographer, but you could if you wanted to. All you need is a smartphone with a tripod. Make sure to frame a print for the office and share a digital copy on the social media channels your company uses.

Employees want to know that their bosses see and care about them, and they are especially proud when the CEO notices. Have the CEO of your company record a short but heartfelt message to the team to mark a big milestone for your company. If it's the company's anniversary, this video could also be used as an interesting social media post. Customers like to be able to put a face to the businesses they use often, so seeing the CEO celebrate an anniversary with his or her team can be a great way to market the business.

An anniversary is a great time to do some creative branding, so why not make a special landing page for your anniversary? This landing page can be linked to from all of your social media posts and can include your unique anniversary logo, company history, and branding that is specific to your anniversary. Think of a unique slogan, like “30 years of excellence” or “A decade of fun,” and build your campaign around it.

If you don't have a social media manager on staff, hiring one, even for a short time, can have a big effect on how many people know about your business' anniversary. A social media manager can help you create branded social media posts for your company's anniversary. These posts can be shared on all social media channels during the week, month, or year of your anniversary. A social media manager can also help you plan ahead and do some PR after your anniversary to further stretch out the content visibility. Even though this company birthday marketing idea isn't as flashy as a brand truck or public event, social media management makes sure you have the best brand anniversary campaigns on all possible platforms smoothly, with no hiccups or stalls in deployment.

Don't Leave Out Video Media For Your Local Business Anniversary

Have a YouTube channel?  Rarely upload a video in it?  Freshen up the activity and visibility of the channel with a new video about the anniversary.  Snapping it with hand held mobile device is fine.  YouTube is littered with channels by local businesses that started a YouTube plan, and quit.  If you just plan ahead every year to generate quick and easy video content from predictable Anniversary promotions, would you not be a step ahead of the competition in your area?  In many digital channels, the old axiom that “80 percent of winning is just showing up” rings true.

Tip: Use an infographic to show how the company has grown over time and take a trip down memory lane.

Whether you started with one product, location or service locally and turned it into a portfolio of offerings or you started with a small group of beta users and now have customers all over the city, a visual representation of growth gets people's attention. Share this infographic on social media and with editors to help them understand what your articles are about.

Tip: Think about making a special logo with your company's slogan and the number of years it has been in business.

Do Something Meaningful With Your Local Business' Anniversary

Time willing, reach out to professionals in your area who are involved with the charity. For example, many people on the boards of nonprofits also run successful businesses in the area. Offer your current and potential clients a charitable donation tied to your anniversary (for example, $100 for 100 years, $10 for ten years) for new business brought in under a limited run. You can also celebrate your anniversary with special events and invite your partner organization to one or all of them. Think workshops, symposiums or even starting that B2B industry podcast. But at the very least, keep the option open on any of your anniversary plans to generate digital content that can promote a cause dear to you.   You are after all paying to hold the megaphone in the digital street corner.  For only a couple of mentions, a lot of good can be possible.  Don't forget to take mobile pics for sharing on social media with those whom share your passion. Make these efforts extensions of your values and priorities. As a local business owner, isn't multi-tasking and consolidating efforts a daily thing for you? Use that same mindset here for a great experience for everyone who touches your brand.

Tips: One of the easiest and most obvious ways to market an anniversary is to just say so in the channels you already use daily to connect with customers.

Conclusion

People will intuit that you are reliable, trustworthy, and know what you are doing if your business has been around for X number of years. Include the anniversary of your small business in all of your editable and digital marketing materials to help build this sense of credibility. For instance: Add a time line to the “About” page of your website. Use a tagline in your email signature. Use social media to share pictures and mobile phone video of your business. Make a new logo for the anniversary. Volunteer for something in the local area and snap pics. As people keep seeing these reminders of how old your company is, they will subconsciously link it to success and trustworthiness. Longevity is a marker of success!  Congratulations.  May this article help you bring in new clients or customers who are looking for a business they can trust that has been around for a while.

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