The Value of Marketing an Anniversary

Is it worth marketing an anniversary? As Oprah Winfrey once said, “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.“

We, the awesome Arkside Marketing team, are celebrating our five year anniversary in 2015. Each anniversary of your company’s beginning represents the end of a chapter and the simultaneous start of another. But that is a generalized observation with arguable meaning. Of strategic importance is the marketing value of that anniversary and how it can be used with employees, vendors, investors, customers, and potential customers.

What is an Important Business Anniversary?

Let’s jump into a couple you may not have considered:

1 year – Your first year in business. You made it!
5 years – Most businesses fail in their first five years. If you’re still around, its time celebrate.

Always commemorate the traditional increments of 10 (10, 20, 30, etc.) and half-10 (15, 25, 35, etc.) anniversaries.

Also consider numbers that are relevant to your particular industry or company:

• Investment companies could celebrate their 11th birthday since the New York Stock Exchange is located at 11 Wall Street in New York City
• Law firms can celebrate 1 year (Supreme Court is at 1 First Street, Washington D.C.) or 9 years (9 Supreme Court Justices)
• Casinos and any entity with the word “lucky” in its name should celebrate 7 years
• Masonic lodge may want to celebrate their 3rd and 33rd anniversary
• Auto shop could do something with their 5(years)W30 anniversary
• Dentists should celebrate their 32nd anniversary (number of teeth in the adult mouth)
• Baseball teams have 9 players on the field
• IT companies can have fun with their 1-0 (10) year anniversary as a nod to binary code
• If a company is Christian-focused, or there is a triangle in your logo, or perhaps you have three core elements to your mission statement, the number three gives you an anniversary to promote.

How to Excite Your Customers About Your Anniversary

These milestones give you an opportunity to reconnect with your customers using a completely non-sales touch point. You are suddenly empowered with a new way to stay top-of-mind, offer a unique incentives, and provide an experience unmatched by your competition. (Assuming they aren’t celebrating an anniversary at the same time).

The key is to share your excitement with your customers. Tell your story. Your employees may be your best source of material, especially if they have been around for multiple milestones or even from Day 1. Share trivia and experiences from the company’s history: how did the company begin? What was the last milestone like? How has your city or cities changed over time? Do you offer new products or services?

Here are ways for getting customers excited about an anniversary:

• Create a special version of your logo just for the occasion
  • Add the logo to all sales or other collateral throughout the year
• Host an open house or other party event to celebrate. All employes, family, clients, vendors, local dignitaries, and partners should be invited.
• Create a new page on your website with the stories and trivia mentioned above
  • Include the new logo
  • Share the page across social media
  • Make sure it is linked in your main navigation
  • Add a link to email signatures
• Create sales incentives such as “10% off” (for a 10 year anniversary) or “save $20” (for a 20 year anniversary) or “first 50 customers” (for a 50 year anniversary). Be creative and think of your customer first. What would have value to them?
• Invest in specialty promotional products for the occasion
• Share company trivia on a regular basis on your social media channels
• Create contests or giveaways centered around the anniversary in which your employees can participate

These are just a few ideas to help cultivate ideas for your particular situation. Your customers will enjoy knowing about your success, longevity, and whatever may be in store for them. Most importantly, each of these steps humanize a business. The management, the staff, and the brand as a whole become more “relateable”. In other words: great marketing. Few things can help a company grow like a positive relationship with a customer. They turn into referrals. Those referrals will be around for the next anniversary and so will your business.