When working with entrepreneurs to identify media opportunities, we begin by researching the key days to tie your business content into. There’s a national awareness day for everything! From the recently trending ‘bring your dog to work day’ (we loved a visit from a pup called Ripley to celebrate this occasion) to Pension Awareness Day, there really is a day for every business to capitalise on. This is important to place yourselves as the expert in what you do and provide the media and your key influences with apt information relating to what you do best.
It’s mid July, and as a Leeds-based PR agency passionate about promoting all that is good about Yorkshire, there isn’t a better time to promote your proud Yorkshire firm than upcoming Yorkshire Day on 1st August.
Here are five innovative ways you can use Yorkshire Day to communicate with target audiences and ultimately extend your reach during our region’s flagship day:
1. Launch a new product, idea, or Yorkshire-based business. Are you due to launch something new and exciting? Yorkshire Day is the perfect opportunity to launch your new Yorkshire-based product or business idea. Take advantage of all the excitement around the day and use it to extend your reach locally and create a reet Yorkshire buzz.
We have been working with the fabulous Cooper King Distillery for a little over a year now and given the time of year to get to work to begin promoting them, we did just this. We officially launched the co-founder’s fledgling business ahead of Yorkshire Day, gained lots of press coverage and built excitement and momentum around their Founders’ Club. Our partnership has since gone from strength-to-strength and we’ll shortly be announcing some exciting Yorkshire partnerships they’ve formed to celebrate another Yorkshire Day for the proud Yorkshire business.
2. Engage the media with samples of your Yorkshire products. Journalists will be looking for content around this time and offering samples of your products will give them something interesting to talk about. Do your research and identify key bloggers, vloggers, editors and reporters that will be keen to cover your products or services. Sending them samples or delicious locally-baked cupcakes, along with information about your business (and you – see my first Founders’ Thoughts) is a good way to engage with them and potentially secure yourself some valuable news coverage, features and profile interviews.
3. Make use of social media and use the #YorkshireDay hashtag. We can guarantee the media, local businesses, your customers and potential customers will be tweeting about #YorkshireDay and therefore so should you! Create a conversation about how your local business fits in with this special day and perhaps what you’re doing to celebrate…. Just remember to engage with your audience and don’t just broadcast posts and talk at people.
4. Attend a key Yorkshire Day networking event. There are lots of events going on across the region in the lead up to Yorkshire Day and on the 1st August itself. Networking is essential for building key contacts, extending your network and nurturing potential business opportunities. Any events company worth its salt will be marking the occasion with a top-notch Yorkshire-style event.
5. Do something! Hold your own event / take part in office fancy-dress. Got a flatcap and a pair of wellies? Fancy holding a Yorkshire pudding making contest? The more innovative your idea the better. This will also create great social media content for the day so don’t forget to snap lots of pics and the Re-Tweet’s should come flooding in!
If you think you might need further assistance with PR or marketing communications, get in touch with the team for a good ol’ chinwag and a brew.
