Tag: community

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creatively giving

For 12 years, a young lady in our town hosted “Lauren’s Treat Stand” – an annual bake sale held on the first Saturday in June. It benefits the BackPack Food Program, which is a local non-profit that sends meals home with elementary students on Fridays so they don’t go hungry over the weekend. Through the treat stand, Lauren has donated almost $20,000 to help fill hungry tummies! That is amazing! Lauren is now graduating from high school, so she is passing the torch (or more literally, the rainbow umbrella) to another aspiring leader.

Jade’s Treat Stand debuts on June 1, 2019, and her mom reached out to ask me to help with the marketing. Let’s walk through the process of building the event marketing from the ground up!

it starts with a logo

While we wanted to create Jade’s own “brand”, carrying forward the tradition and history of the fundraiser are important – not only to make sure that Lauren’s incredible contributions are recognized, but also to capitalize on customer recognition of the event. So the rainbow umbrella stays, and the name “Generous-organizer‘s Treat Stand” stays – not just with Jade, but also when she passes the event on to someone else in a few years. But how can we make this JADE’S Treat Stand for now?

I drew the the rainbow umbrella and “treat stand” image to keep tradition, incorporated a light teal/mint color and drew Jade’s pup Bailey, then left plenty of space to grow and modify as the event continues to change hands. We created a logo that nods to the past but also looks ahead to the future!

building for the future

From there, we created business cards. We decided to leave the date off and really dial in on “The First Saturday in June” so customers would know when to expect this event – not just in 2019, but EVERY year. Also, printing a larger run of cards that can be used in future years decreases the per-card cost, and allows us to maximize the donation to BackPack by minimizing expenses.

The plan is to continue to use the poster design each year as well, with just the modifications to the date, sponsors, and new photo of the event host. This will continue the visual identity of the event from year to year.

The event banner is just basic information with no date – it will be used as a sign for customers to identify the actual treat stand location. Keeping specifics off means the banner can be used for a few years.

relying on social influence

From there, we created a Facebook page and named it Jade’s Treat Stand, but intentionally gave it the more generic link/address www.facebook.com/MankatoTreatStand for a seamless hand-off in a few years. A Facebook page will collect her fans in one place, and they will get notified when the event is coming each year.

Of course, we created the Facebook Event as well. Facebook now allows you to add Event Sponsors, which is a great tool. We can add the businesses that are sponsoring her event, and by doing so, it adds the Event to those businesses’ Facebook pages. So not only are we giving them recognition for their contribution and connecting Jade’s customers with them, but it’s expanding the event’s reach to those businesses’ customers too!

The Page Profile Photo, Page Cover Photo, and Event Cover Photo all contain the same imagery; again, for consistency and to build that recognition with her customers.

Side note: We didn’t create an Instagram page because we are being mindful of the amount of time/energy that is going in to this marketing plan, but I did size some images for Instagram so Jade and her mom can share the event information on their own Instagram pages.

wrapping up

The goal here was to create fun, simple marketing that catches the eye and lays groundwork for the years ahead. We put in a lot of work this year creating the logo, document layouts, and social media; but, because of the way we set it all up, the workload will be significantly reduced in future years. (Work smarter, not harder, as they say!)

And of course, we want it to lead to the big dollars needed to fill those hungry tummies!

Interested in helping? Here’s how:

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What do you think of the process? Of the designs? What would you suggest we consider for future years?
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cover image credit: user “silviarita” on Pixabay.com

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5 marketing ideas to make winter feel shorter

Whew! We made it through the holidays, and all that remains is the scattering of pine needles in the carpet. Can we all take a collective deep, cleansing breath together? On three: one… two… three!

In Minnesota, the months of January, February, and March are loooong. They’re typically our coldest months, our snowiest months, and our darkest months. There are no cheery holidays to pull us out of hibernation. It’s mostly grey and slushy and miserable, so we hunker down and wait for spring.

But wait! As business owners, couldn’t we find a way to bring sunshine to those dreary months? I decided to think of some ideas to build community, get people out and spending time together, and get them into your store. Of course, the details will depend on what kind of business/store you have, but here we go!

Ladies’ night

A lot of businesses do sales and events for ladies encouraging them to spend money leading up to the holidays. What about after the holidays? Try hosting some kind of make-and-take hosted at your store. Even if you don’t typically have handmade items in your store, or even if you’re not typically open in the evenings, you could hire a local person to do a wine & painting (or craft & draught for us beer people). That gets groups of ladies out of their homes and into your business with smiles on their faces.

Community over competition

Can you partner with other businesses to do a cool event? Back in November, a local car dealership hosted a “Heels and Wheels” event. Women bought inexpensive tickets (I think they were $20?), and came to the dealership first for appetizers and drinks. Then the dealership staff drove them to various boutiques and shops that had partnered with the event. There were drinks, appetizers, and light desserts at each shop, and the groups had an allotted amount of time to shop at each store. Women loved going out for an evening with their friends, and it got them into shops maybe they wouldn’t have visited without the event. Many of the shops stayed open later than normal just for the event. It was a creative way to get businesses to collaborate and think about community rather than competition!

Or try partnering with a local restaurant or brewery for an event? Is there an aspect of your business you could highlight while offering unique foods? This is great if there’s a new restaurant or bakery that is trying to build their reputation too!

Reward kindness

Dogs at the local animal shelter need to be walked, and when the weather is bad, they have a hard time getting volunteers. Homeless shelters and soup kitchens are also busy and full this time of year. How about offering a reward to people who volunteer? You could partner with the organization of your choice, have some kind of coupon* that the staff stamp or initial to verify, and the volunteer gets a reward for donating their time! Or, do a food drive for your local food pantry or backpack food program and offer a discount in exchange for a donation. (Many organizations prefer cash donations because they can stretch the dollar further, so keep in mind that customers who didn’t bring in a food item can still contribute!)

I recently wrote about a local shop that started a “Kindness Campaign”. Read about that here, then think about how you can do something like it to bring sunshine to your community during the grey months!

Celebrate the cold and snow!

Could you do some kind of promotion with the temp/inches of snow to make the weather a little less painful? Try something like, “If it stays below zero for 3 days, take 30% off…” Or give a free gift with purchase the first time it snows over 6 inches (of course, make sure that gift has your branding on it)!

Family time

What can you do to get families out and spending time together? Kids love crafts, and moms love crafts that happen outside of their house, so could you use your business to get kids doing something hands-on? Build something, create something, DO something! Make sure to put an age range in your marketing, and get some extra helpers for the day too. (Teenagers are a good option here!)

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What ideas do you have? I’d love to hear them! Let’s get through these next couple of months together!

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*I’m going to talk about coupons in an upcoming post… stay tuned!

 photo credit: pixabay.com user MabelAmber