Awareness Days. Love them or hate them?
Always amazes me that some people can be quite agitated by them, almongst angry at their very existence. I get it. Some of them are ridiculous and a complete marketing gimmick. The description of Zombie Awareness Month for example claims,
"The zombies are hungry and they’re coming for your brains, or at least they will be during May. This is the time of the year when Zombie Awareness Month is celebrated, with special events held from May 1st all the way through to May 31st.
People who want to get in on the action can show their support for the cause by wearing a grey ribbon
However, Zombie Awareness Month is primarily held to raise awareness about zombies and the potential future zombie apocalypse."
Tongue in a badly decomposed cheek? Possibly. But then also see National Houseplant Month, the incredibly non-pc National Men Make Dinner Day, Walk Your Dog Month (why would you need an awareness campaign to remind you to walk your dog?) and one of my favourites...National Kazoo Day. Why?
They can be easy to dismiss but as social media managers or small business owners, they offer some structure and guidance when it comes to the overwhelm of what to post and when. I'm a big fan of getting businesses to tell their story and National Share A Story Month gives them that opportunity. The whole idea is to raise awareness of getting children to read, so seemingly not related but if nothing else it gives that business owner something to work towards, planning a biographical style video, recording a podcast or writing a blog about why they went self employed or what the ethos of the business is.
This doesn't mean that they have to blatantly piggy back the event (is there a National Piggyback day - probably not due to Health & Safety reasons) and state in their Facebook post...'As it's Share A Story Month - here's ours', instead it gives direction in their marketing.
For other organisations, some of these months or days are fundamental to their existence whether it be from a fund raising perspective (Macmillian's Biggest Coffee Morning is one example) or in bringing key issues to our attention, issues that may fall off our radar at times. Specialists in health and wellbeing will quite rightly argue that we shouldn't need a day, week or month to remind us of people living with cancer or our mental health crisis but these dates offer the opportunity to firmly put such things back on the agenda.
Other 'events' may have a personal resonance and therefore play a key part in why a business was set up or was the reason why a founder established their project in the first place and is key to the ethos of their organisation's existence.
Or it may just be the chance to have a bit of fun, lighten up our marketing and take away some of the pressure of trying to continously strive for sales and new clients.
No matter where you stand on Awareness Days, turn on the radio every day and they will be reminding us that it is the start of 'National Donkey Week' or 'National Peanut Butter Day' (no really!) and if that day holds some significance for your customers or potential audience you need to be getting involved and others will expect you to be saying something.
So what do you think?
Love them
Hate them
What are Awareness Days?
Couldn't care less
Love them or hate them - in marketing, we can't escape them!
Awareness Days are just one of the many things I discuss in 1-2-1s and workshops. If you need a consultation for your business or need a workshop for your team get in touch