Canada Day is fast approaching here, and your business will want to be a part of the festivities. Not only is July 1st a day when Canadians get together to celebrate the country, but it’s also an opportunity for businesses to reach out to their communities, give back perhaps and engage with people in a fun, meaningful way.
It is still possible to launch a successful Canada Day marketing campaign, but it’s going to take some quick planning and good ideas. This post will detail the quickest ways to throw together smart marketing campaigns, such as getting custom t shirt printing in Toronto for branded giveaways, and linking that to a broader social media campaign that utilizes hashtags to drive up exposure. The article will also discuss how to throw together an event on the fly.
The first thing your business has to do is figure out how to reach people who are outside, either celebrating or just enjoying their long weekend. Before any social media campaign, you need to take advantage of the fact that people are outside, and to do that you need some kind of physical marketing tool. In this regard, you really can’t beat branded apparel such as branded t-shirts or scarves.
Essentially, what you do is place a bulk order here in Toronto for screen printed shirts with your logo on it (as well as any pertinent information, like an email address or Twitter handle), and then give them out. You could do this as part of a social media contest (more on that below) or as part of a promotion for buying your product or service.
Not only will the giveaway be an immediate means of exposure, but it also carries the potential to be long-term exposure. Believe it or not, people do wear the apparel they are given through promotional campaigns, and when they wear those clothes they become de facto brand ambassadors, carrying your logo with them in public, driving up impressions.
If using social media, there are a couple ways you can integrate this physical marketing to good effect. One idea, as mentioned, would be to give t-shirts out as part of a social media contest or promotion: for instance, if a person takes a selfie in their Canadian colours and uses your hashtag, they get a free shirt. For this, you’ll want to consult Instagram or Twitter’s analytics reports to give you some insight into the most relevant hashtags.
Finally, while it might be too late to organize an event of your own, there are plenty of Canada Day events that you can still be a part of, such as festivals, parades, outdoor markets, etc. The great thing about taking out a table at an event, or organizing a float for a parade is that you can easily integrate both your physical and social media marketing campaigns in the process.
At the end of the day, exposure and community involvement are the names of the game when it comes to Canada Day marketing, so get out there and make impressions. It’s not too late!
