by G.B. Oliver

Yesterday on Twitter, I saw that the hash tag “NationalHugYourCatDay” was trending and today I see the hash tag “NationalRunningDay” is trending. So what is the point of these special days of observance and how can your business take advantage?

You should know that marketers love holidays. Why wouldn’t we when it makes our jobs so much easier, as the majority of product sales occur at Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and so forth.

There was a recent article in Fast Company Magazine that stated that the best way for a national day of observance to really take off as a marketer’s dream is they need to have:

1. Original cultural authenticity (not a made up holiday)
2. Rituals you can commercialize
3. Culture that’s easy hyped
4. Communal opportunities (occasions to get people together)
5. Historical distance (happened awhile ago)

For that reason, they explained that Independence Day, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day have, obviously, all become a great marketing opportunities, whereas Groundhog Day, President’s Day and Cinco de Mayo are still in the infancy stage.

Now, if I was selling cat products, I have to say that I would have been all over that trending hash tag on Twitter yesterday, because I would imagine that every cat lover was clicking through those tweets, just as runners will be reading through today’s trending tweets.

So, here are some international days of observance that your business could benefit from, in terms of publicity:

• Earth Day – April 22nd – for anyone selling green or eco-friendly products, this is a huge publicity opportunity as newspapers and blogs are looking for interesting editorial
• International Literacy Day – September 8th – a great opportunity for independent book authors and publishers
• Universal Children’s Day – November 20th – a good opportunity for businesses selling baby and kids products

Here are just a few of the more whimsical, national days of observance (pretty much every type of food has their own day):

• National Send a Card to a Friend Day – February 7
• National Fragrance Day – March 21
• National Golfer’s Day – April 10
• National Ice Cream Day – July 15
• National Dog Day – August 26
• National Grandparent’s Day – September 9

FINAL WORD: Small businesses need to take advantage of every free publicity opportunity available in order to get in front their target market. Maybe some of these days of observance can be an opportunity for yours.

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© 2013 G.B. Oliver. All rights reserved.