Using your Business Anniversary as PR
You say it’s your birthday?!
If you are reading this blog, you might be nearing an anniversary for your business. Whether it is one year (like us— I’ll get into that in a bit) or 50 years, any milestone is worth celebrating. If done right, your anniversary can boost your company’s PR through media coverage, word-of-mouth, and more.
A business anniversary is not just about getting a cake with the company logo across it, but who doesn’t love cake?! Still get the cake, duh. But, The Society for Marketing Professional Services really gets it. They state that business anniversaries can be used to really build up a lot of goodwill and brand recognition, and they describe it perfectly:
“Think of the milestone as a year-long celebration of the company’s longevity, and plan an anniversary campaign that strengthens the brand and promotes the firm and its mission. The target audience for the anniversary campaign could include employees, clients, prospects, potential hires, partners, and media influencers in the company’s target sectors. There are many marketing and PR activities that lend themselves nicely to anniversary promotion. Your goals, budget, and target audience will determine which activities best fit your company.”
Since we are only a year old, we are still learning and growing. We haven’t mastered any of these tips yet, but we found some really cool ways to build PR around our anniversary and we hope that we can all learn together.
It all starts with the planning. Think about what makes up your brand and what you want to highlight about yourselves. Planning should be done well in advance to make sure that this anniversary campaign can reach as many people as possible.
Social media is a great way to build your brand all year-round, but can truly be utilized during a business anniversary. We are using throwback photos from when Ment first took shape all the way until now. These types of photos can spark some nostalgia in some of your brand’s most loyal followers. This month on Instagram, we have been posting pictures of the construction of our space with a side-by-side of its current state. Events that celebrate the anniversary can also be posted and marketed in this way. Be consistent about posts and make sure they speak to your target audience.
Storytelling can also be used to generate brand involvement—people love that stuff. Detail how your business started with the idea and share how it grew and grew to where it is today. Highlight those people who helped along the way such as the owner all the way down the chain of command and thank them for their contributions. This week in particular, we are thanking those who have been with Ment since the beginning. Interview people who currently work in the space. Testimonies like these reach followers on a different level than just a normal ad.
Run a special on your product or service to commemorate this occasion. For instance, Ment is having a free coworking day and beergarden on June 14 to celebrate our one year anniversary. This is a great way to get people into the space and involved in what we do here, and hopefully keep them coming back again and again.
While it is important to focus on the past during an anniversary and dwell upon how you got to where you are, it is equally important to take a look into the future. Take note on what you as a business have done in the past and decide on how you can be better in the future.
June 13 marks the one year anniversary of Ment Cowork. We are so excited to have reached this milestone. It has been wonderful to serve Bowling Green in this way and cannot wait for what is to come!
Happy birthday to us and to you as well! ?
