Marketing Ideas for April

Here are a few February marketing ideas for next month to inspire you (aside from the obvious Valentine’s Day of course!).

1st – April Fools Day
Businesses of all sizes have used this day as an opportunity to raise their profile. A favourite April Fools’ hoax was when Taco Bell placed ads in major newspapers announcing it had purchased the Liberty Bell to help reduce the federal deficit, and was planning to move it to Irvine, California. Americans were furious! There were more than 400 TV mentions and thousands of newspaper and radio mentions worth millions in media coverage, though Taco Bell sent out a news release announcing the hoax just a few hours later. The smart promotional gambit resulted in a $500,000 sales increase for the company on April 1, and a $600,000 increase on April 2.

28th March to 3rd April – World Autism Acceptance Week
Great to raise awareness and funds if you can or get involved in their  Super 60 Challenge to celebrate their 60th anniversary.

2nd – International Children’s Book Day

3rd – National Tweed Day

7th World Health Day
The WHO is calling on us all to help build a fairer, healthier world. As COVID-19 has highlighted, some people are able to live healthier lives and have better access to health services than others – entirely due to the conditions in which they are born, grow, live, work and age.

This is not only unfair: it is preventable. That’s why the WHO are calling on leaders to ensure that everyone has living and working conditions that are conducive to good health.  Show your support or do something to make a difference.

7th – No Housework Day
A great one to celebrate!

9th – National Unicorn Day

15th – Good Friday

17th and 18th – Easter Sunday and Easter Monday
A great chance to celebrate all things chocolate related and puns galore (#HappyYeaster – Marmite Marketing or Choctails in a bar!). As a local business, you could organise an Easter Egg hunt – with social distancing this may be harder but you could do a virtual one around your website – or do an online egg hunt where you upload pictures of eggs around the local community on social and asking people to guess where they are. If you have the budget or the in-house expertise, why not create an egg-related game?

20th to 30th – Rio De Janeiro Carnival

22nd – Earth Day
First celebrated in 1970, and now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, it’s celebrated in some 193 countries, with events to demonstrate support for environmental protection. A great opportunity for environmentally-friendly businesses to raise their awareness. You don’t have to be a green company to take on an environmentally friendly promotion, such as planting trees and letting your customers know about it. Or use it as an opportunity to move some administrative tasks online.

23rd – St George’s Day

23rd – National Shakespeare Day

24th – Oxford Cambridge Boat Race
An affluent crowd follow The Boat Race so it’s a good event to tap into.  Look to get involved with the hashtag on social media with a well-crafted offer to gain some serious eyeballs on your brand? If you know someone who went to either University then you have a side to pick. Otherwise, you can share facts about the race, created themed posts and products or recreate your own race if you’re feeling daring!

29th International Dance Day
The perfect day to run a dance competition (Facebook Live anyone!) or just a free day of dance if you have the location. Get together with other local businesses and have a danceathon for charity. Get staff and customers to show off their signature moves. Let people know the benefits of dance or share your favourite songs to boogie too! Maybe organise a flash mob, giving young and old alike a chance to indulge in dance and music whilst creating some fab PR as well.

And of course if you’d like more marketing ideas and inspiration, make sure you are getting my newsletter (free guide to psychology in marketing when you sign up!) or get in touch about an Inspiration Injection!