Actionable Marketing Guide Newsletter

Published: Mon, 02/29/16

actionable marketing guide

Dear ,

Happy Leap Day!

What makes Leap Day so special?

It only occurs once every 1,461 days. There’s a 0.07% chance of being born on February 29^th.

There are a number of traditions allowing women to ask men to get married. In Ireland, February 29^th is called "Bachelor’s Day” and dates back to the 5^th century.

In the United States, February 29^th is mis-celebrated as Sadie Hawkins Day, a pseudo-holiday that originated in Al Capp's classic comic strip, Li'l Abner.

What does this mean for you as a marketer?

Leap Day is a natural hook.

It gives you a reason to contact your prospects, customers and colleagues.
It’s a reason to have a time limited sale.
It’s a good time to give something of value away for free. (Who doesn’t love free?)

Even better, do something special! Take advantage of the single woman asking a man for a relationship and brainstorm ways to use that to engage with your key audience.

It’s not going to work for every business. Heck, it’s not going to work for most businesses. And you’ll have to wait until 1,460 days until you can try again. But this doesn’t mean that you don’t have 307 days left this year to find reasons to reach out to your audience.

But follow the process:

Offer single women a discount on dating related items.
Throw a party in your location for everyone who’s single on February 29^th. Tiny Anthony, Texas has branded itself the “Leap Capital of the World” and host a festival every fours years. (A page right out of Andrew Davis’s Town INC.)
Write an article about 29 ways to FILL IN THE BLANK (like I did in 2012.)

This isn’t a complete list and it make not work for your business. What matters is that it shows you how to use the calendar to brainstorm content and marketing hooks that let you into your audience’s inbox and life.

Use Google to find lesser known holidays and special dates that you can use to engage with your audience. Add these ideas and hooks to your editorial calendar and start collecting relevant content that appeals to your audience.

Want some other ideas?

Here's a little help with Summer planning and Here's another 125 Free Titles.

Your goal should be engagement. Recent Forbes Insights research revealed that 80% of customers expected (not wanted) engagement.

This is one of the approaches that I use to build out my content so that it keeps going. I will be revealing other approaches to help you build your blog content at Social Media Marketing World on Sunday, April 17^th.

I’m teaching a workshop so that it’s going to be chock full of tactics, tips and worksheets.

Want to attend Social Media Marketing World but don’t have the budget?

Consider buying a virtual ticket. You’ll get all of the sessions without the transportation or hotel costs. Even better, you can watch them on your schedule! Prices go up on Friday, so buy your ticket today!

Recently we interviewed Andrew Davis, whose book Town INC explores the connection between businesses and the communities and cities they operate in and identify with.

We've randomly selected a subscriber to receive a free copy of Town INC explores the connection. Congratulations Lukas K, you'll be hearing from us soon.

Also consider giving Andrew's first book, Brandscaping, a look. It’s well worth your time.

Happy marketing,
Heidi

Heidi Cohen
Actionable Marketing Guide

P.S: If you enjoy reading this email newsletter, perhaps there’s a friend or colleague that you’d like to recommend us to? Please send them this link to our email signup page. http://heidicohen.com/subscribe-to-actionable-marketing-newsletter/

2016 CONFERENCES

Social Media Marketing World

Join me at Social Media Marketing World this coming Spring in sunny San Diego, California, where I'll be presenting a session on Blogging.

Conference dates are April 17-19, 2016.

Register Now And Save!

RECENT POSTS ON THE ACTIONABLE MARKETING GUIDE

Mobile App Ecosystem: Tap Into Audience Attention

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Heidi Cohen in Mobile

4 Marketing Options In The Mobile App Ecosystem

Americans spend almost a third of their waking hours on their smartphones! Of this 4.7 hours per day of smartphone time, 88% is spent in mobile apps and 12% is spent on the mobile web according to comScore.

For the astute marketer, this obsession isn’t a surprise. In a contextually relevant world, your marketing must be mobile first. Continue reading

HEIDI COHEN AROUND THE WEB

Heidi Cohen was referenced in the Marketing Insider’s Group blog post: Four Ways to Beat Out The Competition With Interactive Content.

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