Celebrate Halloween October 31st

October

Halloween is one of the most popular days of celebration in the U.S. and in a number of other countries. The sights and sounds are at times skin-crawling and at other times whimsical. Halloween is tailored made for most small businesses to utilize in their marketing campaigns.

My suggestion for small business owners is to create a Halloween scavenger hunt with 4 or 5 other local businesses and invite kids of all ages to join in to win prizes and treats. And invite local P.D. , EMT or F.D. members to take part as a way to let parents know it’s a safe venture for all involved. The addition of local law enforcement and fire departments is good for all parties involved to build community relations.

Small businesses that cater more to adults can create their own scavenger hunt on the lines of a pub crawl. If you small business is not a pub or restaurant you can become the sponsor and organizer of the hunt, that way you’ll connect with other businesses as well as new customers.

The scavenger hunt might include a printed map or menu to lead each participant to the next clue or clues. You could try using postcard size maps that are traded in for updated ones at each stop. The beauty of this type of Halloween scavenger hunt is that it all occurs in the physical space and not the virtual space. For an hour or two everyone involved will have to interact with others face to face. Now there a revolutionary idea.

Get to together with a group of other small business owners and invite them to bring their families and friends for a brainstorming session. Once at the gathering decide the logistics of the event as well as things like ages and prizes. The more input and planning you put into it the more the participants will get out of it, and if done right you’ll be creating a new community Halloween tradition and annual marketing campaign all rolled into one.

National Chocolate Day Oct 28th

October

Unwrap National Chocolate Day

Most people agree that everyday is a good day for indulging in chocolate, and this sentiment makes National Chocolate Day one of the easiest days for small business owners to celebrate it with their customers. Sure there are other days each year that celebrate the rich texture and taste of specific chocolates but this day celebrates all kinds and all flavors of the sweet treat everyone knows as chocolate.

Chocolate has been cultivates and talked about in recorded history for nearly 3000 years. The main areas that cultivate the Cacao Tree that bears the fruit to make chocolate from are Mexico, Central America and Northern South America. The seeds from the Cacao tree are very bitter and need to be fermented before they become the chocolates base.

Like most days of celebration National Chocolate Day lends itself perfectly to join up with other businesses or nonprofits to hold a joint event in your communities. The join with others brings many benefits like less marketing costs, less labor costs and a significantly larger social advertising footprint. All this means is when you join in with others you reach more people for less cost.

National Chocolate Day was created by the National Confectioners Association click the link for more info on the association.

Below is a bit of info from Wikipedia with lots more info about this day of celebration can be found on Their Page

The U.S. National Confectioners Association lists four primary chocolate holidays on their calendar(Chocolate Day (July 7), two National Chocolate Days (October 28 and December 28), and International Chocolate Day (September 13)^[2]), in addition to variants such as National Milk Chocolate Day, National White Chocolate Day, and National Cocoa Day.

There is a 2nd National Chocolate Day falling on Dec 28th and National Chocolate Covered Anything Day occurring each Dec 16th, and many many more days have been set aside to celebrate the wonderfulness of chocolate.

Support Artists On International Artists Day Oct. 25th

October

If asked, most small business owners would not include Support Artists on their top five list for increasing business and bettering the overall well-being of their communities. Even in the 21st century the Artist is often perceived as outside the mainstream and more of a curiosity than a vital contributor to everyday society.

The above thinking persists even though in 2011 U.S. artists exported over 72 billion dollars to other nations while the U.S. only imported around 25 billion dollars of art related goods. The record export numbers led to a nearly a 50 billion dollar offset toward the ongoing trade imbalance with other countries. And those are just exports, the economic local impact around the country is multiples of that.

“It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough
—it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities,
that yields us the results that make our heart sing.”
–Steve Jobs

And while there can be no doubt Artists have a huge economic impact in today’s economy the psychological and spiritual impact is equally huge, and has the potential to further transform and expand culture, innovation and creativity. There are very few business that do not directly benefit from Art, and from the millions of Artists whose sweat and labor create visual, audio, neruo and tactile creations enriching our lives and our world. The call to Support Artists is a call everyone should listen to.

Here are a couple of figures from Americans For The Arts blog that highlight how some companies have decided to Support Artists. Click on Ten Businesses Supporting The Arts to read more.

Austin Energy, Austin, TX
Austin Energy supports the arts and culture of Austin by providing $9 million annually to the city’s Economic Development Department,
CopperPoint Insurance Companies, Phoenix, AZ
Since 2002, CopperPoint Insurance has sponsored Phoenix’s artistic community.
Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH
Proctor & Gamble has commissioned major pieces of public artwork, invested a quarter-million dollars annually into arts programs, and, in the last ten years alone, donated $20.9 million to ArtsWave, the Cincinnati region’s local arts agency.

“Art is fundamental, unique to each of us…
Even in difficult economic times –
especially in difficult economic times –
the arts are essential.”
–Maria Shriver,

Walk On The Cooperative Marketing Path

One of the most effective ways to engage with your customers is through a challenge or match to what they purchase. You could for example offer to donate 10% of their purchase price to an Arts Foundation or to something appealing to a younger crowd by donating to Patreon.com which supports over a million creatives with monthly payments.

The quick way to have your event challenge get noticed is to invite 3 or 4 other businesses to become part of it, in effect you’d be create a temporary coop marketing event.

A Coop Marketing event will pool your advertising dollars as well as giving your social media marketing added heft, this will get the word out to a broader audience faster than doing it alone.

Below is a short video entitled The health Benefits of Awe, Jason Silva waxes poetically as only he can about the transforming nature of technology we have now and technology coming our way in the future to break open our perceptions of our limited minds and our sense of reality. And while I agree with his overview there is something he’s left out of his three minute video.

Since the beginnings of time Artists have cracked opened the minds of those who are willing to “Look.” And the call to Support Artists is a call to continue transforming creativity itself from something dreamt about to something everyone can put to work for better lives, our own lives and the lives of all those around us.

“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
~ Pablo Picasso

The Economy Grows When You Support Local Artists

The more inviting our communities become the stronger the economy becomes which adds strength to our institutions and quality of life. When we support local artists we are adding helping to create a place full of amazing opportunities for ourselves and out children.

Individuals and businesses that support local artists are leading their communities into a rich and abundant future.

https://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/ARTS_FullInfographic_FINAL_0.pdf

2018 National Economic Findings on The Arts

• For all national findings, see this arts data profile.

The arts contributed $763.6 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015, 4.2 percent of GDP and counted 4.9 million workers, who earned $372 billion in total compensation.

• The arts added four times more to the U.S. economy than the agricultural sector and $200 billion more than transportation or warehousing.

• The arts saw a $20 billion trade surplus, leading with movies and TV programs and jewelry.

• The arts trended positively between 2012 and 2015 with an average growth rate of 2.6 percent, slightly higher than 2.4 percent for the nation’s overall economy. Between 2014 and 2015, the growth rate was 4.9 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars.

https://www.arts.gov/news/2018/arts-contribute-more-760-billion-us-economy

housing https://blog.americansforthearts.org/2017/06/09/8-ways-the-arts-can-boost-your-local-economy

housing 2 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/artists-cities-explore-affordable-housing

Education https://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2014/by_program/research__studies_and_publications/one_pagers/21.%20Arts%20Education%20Summary_2014.pdf

Eight ways art help communities https://blog.americansforthearts.org/2017/06/09/8-ways-the-arts-can-boost-your-local-economy

Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day

October

Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce

Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day is a great time for those many small businesses not belonging to their local Chamber of Commerce to find out more information about what goes on and the benefits of joining.

Get To Know Your Customers Day

Know Your Customers, October

On the 3rd Thursday of January, April, July and October of each year in the U.S., businesses of all shapes and styles are encouraged to take part in Get To Know Your Customers Day, a few days that should already be marked on the calendar of every business or put on the calendar if this is the first you’ve heard of it.

It’s certainly easy to forget the importance of your customers when you’re caught up in the myriad of daily inventory, employees, vendors, landlords, regulations and don’t forget, your life. But, it’s your customers that grease the wheel that turns everything else. Right? So if you haven’t already added these four day to your calendar take a moment and do it now. And circle October Get To Know Your Customers Day in red, it’s the most of important of the 4 days.

The forth Thursday of October is important because the holidays are just around the corner, and don’t forget the New Year will be ringing in a whole new set of opportunities and conundrums you probably haven’t even thought about, yet. This is the last time before the holiday rush you’ll have a small amount of time and energy to get to know your customers.

Get To Know Your Customers Day – 5 Ideas

You can send out an email inviting them to drop by one of your locations on Get To Know Your Customers Day, but you might try hand writing a postcard instead. The little extra effort won’t go unnoticed.
Run an ad in the local newspaper with an invitation to an open house that runs all week. Make sure you have plenty of coffee and snacks. And don’t forget to introduce yourself as you’re asking them who they are. Do ask for their email addresses.
My favorite is to do a cooperative event with 2 or 3 other business, this saves time and money, yet it will draw a bigger crowd over the week and allow for plenty of networking with new customers.
Run a Popup contest with no prior notice. Ask customers for their name and email address on a contest form before they checkout of before they leave your website.
Create a newsletter that actually gives your customers useful and upbeat tools and information. to get good traction you’ll want to send it out at a minimum of once a month and more often if you can fit into your time and budget.

If you do no other events during the coming year I urge you to take the plunge and do a little something for each of the 4 Get To Know Your Customers Day. Block out some time for the 3rd Thursday of January, April, July and October. The 3rd Thursday in January might be a Thank You for a great year event and the October event might be a Thank You and Hope for the Future theme.

The benefits of actually knowing your customers on a deeper level go far beyond ensuring future sales. Just think of the possibilities that new friends and acquaintances will mean to your life and the life of your family.

And here’s a link for more information about the Importance of Knowing Your Customers by Alan Hall at Forbes Magazine

#gettoknowyourcustomersday

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Know Your Customers

Train Your Brain Day – October 13th

October

Train Your Brain Day

There are many businesses touting the “amazing benefits” from their products or services that train your brain, but there is little hard science to back up most of the claims being made. So even with that in mind Train Your Brain Day is a topic that is interesting and topical to most of your customers, at least those customers who want to improve and get the most out of their brain and its abilities. I suspect that’s the majority of people.

The wall most of us run up against is daunting, and no small business wants to promote tools and ideas to help improve brain function if it’s not going to work. Imagine holding a Brain Fair for a couple of days jointly with a couple of other small businesses and your customers show up and then leave without the long term tools they’d hope to receive.

#TrainYourBrainDay