Your store’s anniversary isn’t just an important date, it’s a marketing opportunity to attract more customers. If planned well, an anniversary event can re-engage loyal customers and increase foot traffic overall. To remind your community why your brand matters, these events need to be planned strategically and successfully.
In this blog post, we’ll list 7 strategies that can help in the promotion of your anniversary event. With a clear plan, mindful promotion, and attention-grabbing visuals, you can plan out a successful retail store event in no time.
- Setting a Clear Goal
Starting promotional work haphazardly and with no specific plan can lead to unexpected hiccups. To avoid that, you need to define what success looks like early on. It’s always wiser to lead with purpose, so ask yourself the following questions before designing any flyers or putting up posts:
- Is the end goal to increase foot traffic?
- Do you want to collect emails for future launches and campaigns?
- Do you need to clear inventory or launch a new product?
Your goal should guide everything else that comes after. For example, if customer acquisition is a goal for you, you should be focusing on exclusive and time-sensitive perks rather than relying on seasonal sales.
- Setting Up An Event Page
Creating an event page is an important step in building an actionable promotional campaign. If customers don’t know the details, they won’t show up. To create a simple event listing, include the following points:
- Date and time of the event
- Location and parking information if needed
- Key attractions
- Any RSVP or registration details
Make sure that these details are easy to find and scannable at first glance, regardless of whether your promotional material is on print or on digital sources.
- Using Themed Visuals
Make your content feel intentional and important by choosing a theme and tagline that best describes your event. For example, you can use something similar to the following:
- “Celebrating 10 Years With You”
- “Customer Appreciation Day!”
- “Store Birthday Bash Sale”
Once you’ve settled on a particular theme and tagline, it’s time to make it the focal point in any promotional visual you post. If you’re short on time or don’t have much experience with designing, worry not. By using ready-made grand opening flyer templates, you’ll have a structure for a post or a flyer that can be personalized with just a few clicks.
- Promoting Your Event Early
One post isn’t enough. You need to start posting at least 5-10 days before the event to create buzz around it and increase visibility for your social media posts. Mentioned below is a simple promotional timeline that you can use to structure your event posting:
- Announcement post or email: 2-3 weeks before
- Reminder with offers: 1 week before
- Countdown post: 3 days before
- Event day: Final reminder and Instagram Stories of the event itself
If you’re looking to promote your event across multiple channels, you can use an all-in-one marketing platform like PosterMyWall which offers content planning and content designing tools.
- Offering Exclusive Incentives
One of the most effective ways to get customers to show up is to offer them something that they can’t have any other day of the year. By creating a sense of scarcity, you drive potential customers to take immediate action. Below is a list of anniversary incentives you can include:
- Limited-time offers and discounts on products
- Free gifts for the first 20 customers
- Spin-the-wheel prizes
- Bonuses based off of loyalty points
By making the incentive a touchpoint in your promotional visuals, you remind customers why they should care for your event.
- Bringing An Experience
To make an event memorable for the customers, make sure you’re offering them an experience. Customers prefer it if they have interactive and interesting opportunities at a store anniversary. You can consider strategies like:
- Branded photo spots or a photobooth
- Live product demos
- Staff wearing event-themed merchandise
- QR codes which give access to future offers
Simple and small touches such as these can make an event feel bigger and more thought-out. The more the customers remember, the more likely they are to share footage from the event as well.
- Following Up Post-Event
Promotion doesn’t end when the event does. It’s important to collect information and reviews regarding the event so you can post positive ones and learn what to tweak in future events from constructive criticism. Here are some post-event techniques you can use:
- Sending a thank-you email for attendance
- Sharing event photos on social media
- Offering a ‘missed it?’ follow-up deal on social media
- Inviting attendees to future events
- Teasing future discounts
This makes sure your brand doesn’t lose its momentum once the campaign ends.
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