February Newsletter: 5 February Promo Ideas | $50 off Video & Motion Graphics | Olympic Spirit

5 Ready-to-Use February Promo Ideas

From the Olympics and the Super Bowl to Valentine's Day, the Chinese New Year and Black History Month, this February is like a tasty box of promotions to try out. By tapping into the zeitgeist of what's current in world events, you can create an emotional connection to your existing audience, attract new people and generate beneficial engagement - all while associating your brand with events that have a built-in audience. Whether you want to capture the excitement of sports, invoke the rich traditions of black history or even harness the power of love, February is a great time to run a fun promotion. Here are five ready-to-use ideas for making your mark online this month. 

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Begin by thinking up a cool promo idea:
Depending on your business or nonprofit a promo can be anything from a buy-one, get-one coupon to an eye-catching ad with your branding to something more advanced like a social media contest. See my previous posts and classes for inspiration.  

Now tie it in conceptually to a current event:

• Olympics: choose a bright, high-emotion photo and create a tagline like "Stay Warm watching the Olympics with Acme Plumbing and Heating". Obviously you'll swap in your own organization's name ... take a minute to think of a clever way to tie your company to a winter sport, the cold weather, the spirit of competition, etc. Here are some cool ways that brands hopped on the Olympic bandwagon. 
• Super Bowl: pick out a good quality image of a football field, a game, a player or just people having a party and use a headline like "At Acme Janitorial we treat every job like it's 4th and goal!". Again, is there a fun way to connect your company to the big game? Here's a brilliant example from Oreos. 
• Valentine's Day: get a nice image of hearts, a sunset, flowers or something similar and tag it with "Fall in love with your car again this Valentine's Day at Acme Auto Repairs". Just be careful to not get too risqué. 
• Chinese New Year: find a fun dog photos and use a headline like "Acme Dog Walking sends you Best Wishes for a Happy Year of the Dog". If you don't know about this holiday celebrated by millions, here are some great ad examples. 
• ​Black History Month: invoke the powerful history of our nation with a vibrant image of a famous black leader and create a headline like "Celebrates Black History Month with us at Acme Deli". Here's some inspiration for great campaign. 

Put it all together:

1. Type up a short paragraph - just one or two sentences with your headline, offer and any necessary details for redeeming it.
2. Get a great photo (you can find nice free images at sites like Pixabay.com or purchase images for less than $3 each sites like BigStockPhoto.com. Keep in mind that it is not legal to use images you find randomly online).
3. With your photo and text you now have a promo. Post it on your blog, home page, social media feeds, etc. and be sure that everyone on your team knows about it. Be sure to include an end date to generate a sense of urgency and excitement around it. 
4. Sit back and monitor your responses! Maybe it's a slam dunk and you get a bunch of new sales. Maybe you don't get many sales but it boosts the number of followers on your social feeds. Either way you'll enjoy the benefits of boosting your website's SEO (search engine ranking) and freshening up your social media. 

While it's easy to use free apps to create fancy photos with overlaid text you don't have to. Keeping it simple is a great way to begin. The main thing is to get creative and have fun with it. If you need help creating a spiffy, effective promo give me a call, I can whip up a great promo for you in an hour or two. 

​And along the way, enjoy the Olympics, Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, Black History Month and Happy Chinese New Year!

Reminders
Freebies: if you didn't catch it last month you can still download a free 3-Month Marketing Planner.
Rates: to keep up with the industry I am raising my hourly rates to $80/$75 starting 3/1/18.

Special: $50 off Video & Motion Graphics  
Oh video, how do we love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. You're great at catching people's attention and boosting SEO.
2. You create a memorable emotional connection for a company.
3. You can be made with stills and graphics - no need to film people.

I'm now offering simple videos myself and next month I'll be adding even more capabilities. If you've been thinking about making a little promo video, check out my video packages. Offer expires 2/28/18.

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In Dog We Trust
As many of you know, I love dogs - especially my little chihuahua Mochi. So naturally I'm excited about 2018 being the Year of the Dog. Regardless of whether you believe in Chinese astrology, the Year of the Dog symbolism holds great appeal. Loyal, trustworthy and dedicated to fairness, dog years also harken (barken?) an inclination towards peace. With politics as they are right now, that's certainly enough to get our tails wagging so Happy Chinese New Year on February 16th from me and Mochi! ~ Ame

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! To help you get into the Olympic spirit, here's your special treat.

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