Did you know that today is the one month countdown to National Zucchini Bread Day? According to Foodimentary.com  April 25 is the day we are all encouraged to make and eat zucchini bread. This is not to be confused with National Zucchini Day, which is celebrated on August 8. This is the day that growers of zucchini are encouraged to leave a bag of them on your neighbor’s front porch! (I am not kidding, take a look for yourself). I would guess that you have neither celebrated either of these holidays, nor have you heard of them prior to reading it here. It is not like you are anti-holiday - you have heard of others, and possibly celebrated them, such as St. Patrick’s Day that came about last week. Why would you hear and know about St. Patrick’s Day and not know about Zucchini Bread Day? The answer is marketing.

Effective marketing does more than place an ad. It also does more than build a website. Effective marketing helps you get key reactions from consumers before and after making a purchase. Before the purchase, it makes them aware of your brand. It defines what you are selling and how you want the market to remember your brand. Before a consumer in your target market decides to make a purchase from you, they have to understand your brand. A good portion of marketing, especially with new products, is spent making consumers aware of it. Creating a buzz around your brand is essential to people recognizing it. You know you are successful at brand awareness when you hear people ask for your product or service by name. If you get really good at it, your brand becomes synonymous with all products or services related to it. You do a Google Search (not a Yahoo or Bing Search) or blow your nose on a Kleenex (not a Puffs or a Scotties).

After the purchase, the key reaction is getting someone to buy your brand again and again. But more than that, you want them to be so sold on your brand that they swear by it. We call this retention marketing. We want to make sure customers are lifers. Brands that make this transition in the minds of their customers will see them gladly wear the brand logo on apparel, come up with nicknames for the brand (think about Harley Davidson motorcycles being called "hogs” or McDonalds being called "Mickey D’s”), and recommend the brand to others. They create the buzz for you.

So why aren’t you making plans to bake zucchini bread one month from today? In the first place, you never heard of National Zucchini Bread Day. Even if you did, no one invited you to attend parties wearing green vine-patterned pants or hats shaped like squash to celebrate the special day. You will have a hard time finding zucchini decorations or zucchini wrapping paper to put your zucchini bread gifts in. Why? It is all in the marketing before and after the sale.