The migration of Sandhill Cranes and other fall marketing opportunities
9/15/2016 4:57:01 AM
We have arrived in the middle of September and that means autumn is knocking on our door. Where I live, that means there are going to be cooler nights, falling leaves, and the opportunity to uniquely market your business in an outdoor venue before it gets too cold for people to come outside. Autumn is a great time to entertain clients, to reach out to your community and to make your brand a bit more memorable in the minds of your target market.
Let me give you an example from the tiny burg of Wheatfield, Indiana. Wheatfield has a population of 853 according to the last census. It is located in Jasper County in northwestern Indiana. Each year in mid-September, flocks of Sandhill Cranes begin to migrate from their northern breeding grounds to the southern coastal states. On their way, over 18,000 stop over in Jasper County and the surrounding areas. Now, if you don’t know, a Sandhill Crane is a very large bird. It stands 3.5 feet tall with a wingspan of 7 feet. They are pretty noisy when they get together, with a fluttered call that sounds much like a creaky door hinge getting caught in an electric fan. Listen for yourself. They hang around the wetlands of Jasper County until about mid-December and then complete their southern migration. This attracts a large number of bird watchers to the area. Since there are so many visitors in the area, the Wheatfield Chamber of Commerce decided to capitalize on the migration of these birds with an annual Sandhill Crane Festival and Car Show. This year’s festival happens on Saturday, September 17. The downtown area is replete with local businesses and vendors. Where there is a crowd of people, there is a marketing opportunity.
Think about the different venues that may be available to you this fall. You might not have a festival celebrating the migration of large birds, but there are all kinds of outdoor activities in the fall, each with its own marketing opportunities. Many local communities have festivals, arts and crafts fairs, special dance events, and unique food celebrations in the fall. There are also health events, like walks and runs that benefit local charities. Becoming more popular these days are physical events that have a unique twist to them, like color runs (where all the participants wear white clothes and are sprayed with different colors of paint as they run), swimming and biking events that are mini-triathlons, road races and the like. Look into these, especially if you are trying to attract young adults to your brand. These small community events are attracting the Millennials, especially when they are merging a fun activity with charitable giving and social media. This is where you can become a big marketing winner. Let’s say you typically give a gift of money to a certain charity each year. They send you a certificate you can hang in the office, and that is all the marketing you get out of it. Maybe a customer will wander into your office and read your certificate on the wall, but probably not. However, if you were to take that same amount of money and become a sponsor of an event that benefits the charity, and let’s say you create a hashtag that someone could use on social media (#ilovemycharity), you could announce that you will give a specified amount of money every time someone posts a photo using your hashtag. Now you have something to hang your marketing efforts on.
- You have attached your brand to an event where people had fun
- You have helped out a charity and let people know about it
- You have received free advertising every time someone posts a photo with your hashtag.
There are a lot of opportunities this fall. Don’t let them pass you by for their marketing appeal.
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Photo by Manjith Kainickara