Marketing St Patricks Day in Lockdown
Our top 5 tips and ideas
St Patricks day was traditionally the start of the busy tourist season in Ireland. Thousands of international travellers would visit our Island to celebrate one of the biggest festivals of the year. In fact, St Patricks Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival. We were all devastated when St Patricks Day was effectively cancelled in 2020 and the 2021 festival will be held virtually in Ireland this year.
So how can we still leverage cash flow without actually opening our doors to the public? Here are our top 5 ideas for marketing St Patricks Day in Lockdown.
- Go Green.
Probably one of the most inexpensive ways to get people talking about your business. Get your building or premises lit up, offer take away green cocktails. Make sure any of your staff are wearing green on the day itself and get creative with packaging etc.
- Have a virtual St Patricks Day Parade.
The people over in St Patricks Festival have been busy organising a virtual St Patricks Day Parade. So why not create your own? Get a local musician to record a song for you to play on social media, get a member of staff or local celebrity to tell and Irish story or tale, get one of your chefs to record a how to for an Irish recipe. The publish all of these videos in one big video, in lots of videos over the week or go live with some of your online events. Check out St Patricks day festival teaser video below for some inspiration. Read our blog on the importance of video in Marketing your business here.
- Organise an event for your customers to take part in virtually.
How about a St Patricks Day Quiz? A quiz for the kids and then one for the adults? Have lots of spot prizes and games for the kids also. You could organise this on zoom, charge a fee for the quiz and donate this to a local charity, or have it completely free and offer a discount for take away for anyone who wants to take part? There is lots of virtual quiz software out there for you to use.
- Hold a competition
The best way to get people engaging on your social media pages and a great way to let people know you are still here! Create a competition that involves your customers interacting with you- not just like and share competitions. For example- a best dressed competition for a free takeaway or voucher.
- Collaborate with local businesses for a St Patricks Day Hamper.
If you are a food business then collaborate with the local cheesemaker, brewery, chocolate maker etc and put together a St Patricks Day Hamper that everyone will be mad for. Include St Patricks Day decorations, branded merchandise and anything else that your customers might like. Families are not going to be going out this year so give them a great value hamper that they can enjoy at home.
The most important thing is to make sure your customers know that you are thinking of them and creating packages for you to enjoy. If they aren’t hearing from you then they won’t think of you when restrictions lift.
For more information on how we can help you with all aspects of your marketing just contact Helen on info@backofficems.ie
