2012 Weird & Wacky Holiday Marketing Guide

By Ginger Marks

Events are one of the smartest prescriptions for slumping sales and for maintaining a healthy business. It’s not enough anymore to merely have goods on the shelf and open the doors on time every day. We all need to reinvent our businesses to keep them thriving and healthy. And that is just what this eBook is intended to help you achieve.

Filled with unusual holiday marketing ideas, templates to get you started and resources. This annual book will be your go-to guide for all your business marketing planning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Calomar, LLC
• Release date: Sep 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301768790

Ginger Marks

Having been a business owner for most of her adult life, operating a multi-million dollar surgical clinic and a local barbeque take-out to list just a couple, have given Ginger Marks the insight needed to assist business owners from all walks of life.Ginger is the owner of the DocUmeant family of companies. The various entities all work towards a common goal that just happens to be their tagline; “We Make YOU Look GOOD!” Her services include both publishing and digital design assistance. She is proud of the fact that she is able to give high quality, efficient service at a remarkably reasonable rate. It is for this reason she chose to list her publishing company in New York while residing in Florida with her husband.When Ginger decided to embark on a writing career it was of no surprise to her mother, who herself is a published author. Her love for the arts is what spurred her to hone her talents as a digital designer, offering services to business owners and authors alike.http://www.DocUmeant.net offers editing and writing services; http://www.DocUmeantDesigns.com, as you would guess, focus is on designs ranging from websites to book covers & layouts to buttons and business stationary needs; while http://www.DocUmeantPublishing.com’s focus was begun with the self-published author in mind.Ginger is a member of DesignFirms and SPAN (Small Publishers Association of North America) and IBPA (International Book Publishers Association).Additionally, Ginger in 2012 was named to Covington Who's Who.

Book preview

PRAISE FOR THE WEIRD & WACKY HOLIDAY MARKETING GUIDE

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"This is definitely a weird and wacky marketing guide packed full of funny, creative insights and suggestions that expand the reader’s world. My two favorites are: National Compliment Day and Inconvenience Yourself Day. Both of which speak to the power of random acts of kindness that have the ability to light up the world! A very catchy read; enjoy!"

Lauren E Miller, CEO Microwave Stress Solutions, Inc. Stress Relief Expert/Best Selling Author/International Speaker http://www.laurenemiller.com (2011 Edition)

"I just glancing at the content, I go WOW what a phenomenal marketing tool. Love the info presented and, because I am a SB Development Specialist, I see potential sharing this info with other small business owners throughout my community. Thank you for asking me to review the book. It is a Treasure Chest of marketing ideas. I love it. It is laid out so well and for me, a person who also is thinking of doing something different, I find the book a most excellent resource guide."

Sandra Lynch, The One Page Business Plan Consultant, bookkeeper, and tax preparer http://www.sandysgreatideas.com (2010 Edition)

"I’ve always believed that companies should use special holidays to drum up publicity monthly instead of just focusing on the BIG annual holidays. I was so excited when Ginger told me that she was writing a book that would help companies plan their 2009 PR & marketing campaigns using special business holidays.

I’ve read several books that provide information about special business holidays but none of them are as in-depth as the 2009 Weird & Wacky Holiday Marketing Guide when it comes to effectively utilizing the holidays. She has found the missing piece for a lot of people who are unsure about how to capitalize on special business holidays.

I plan to use the guide to help the women in my business consortium collaborate so they can keep their companies in the spotlight in 2009."

Jerrilynn B. Thomas, Founder WomenPartner International, Les femmes d’Influence

http://www.WomenPartner.com (2009 Edition)

CONTENTS

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PRAISE FOR THE WEIRD & WACKY HOLIDAY MARKETING GUIDE

FOREWORD

ANNUAL DATES OF NOTE

JANUARY

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for January

FEBRUARY

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for February

MARCH

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for March

APRIL

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for April

MAY

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for May

JUNE

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for June

JULY

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for July

AUGUST

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for August

SEPTEMBER

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for September

OCTOBER

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for October

NOVEMBER

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for November

DECEMBER

Month Long Holidays

Week-Long Holidays

Daily Holidays

Holiday Marketing Ideas for December

APPENDIX A: SAMPLES

Sample Press Release

Tele-Conference Organization Checklist

12 Ways to Cheer Up

Compliment Game

Offline

Online

Disaster Preparedness Guide

Tips on Having a Successful Meeting

Appendix

Community Disaster Council Neighborhood Disaster Committee

First Aid, Medical, Stress Management Team

Neighbors with Special Needs Team

Search and Rescue/Safety and Utilities

Shelter and Feeding

Communications

Animal Rescue

Suggestions for Slide Show

Organize a Food Drive!

Sample Food Drive Food List

Tips on Generating Publicity

Make a Flyer

Distribute the Flyer

Word Of Mouth Goes a Long Way

Reach the Largest Audience

How to Contact the Media

Publicizing the Food Drive–Before and After

Food Drive Flyer

SNAP Flyer

Door Hanger Template

Rules for Cats to Live By

How To: Master Awkward Situations

National Preschool Fitness Day Toolkit

Tropical Party Tips & Recipes

Tropical Invitation

Paper Leis

Tropical Treats

Hawaiian Beach Cake

Island Games

Island Entertainment

Hawaiian Party Pointers

How to Make Homemade Hula Skirts

Best Practices of the Community of Caring

Piggy Bank

Paper-Maché Piggy Bank

Crochet Pay-Up Jars

National Hairball Awareness Day Facts

National Hairball Awareness Day Poster

Top 10 Ways to Celebrate National Daylight Appreciation Day

15 Home Energy-Saving Tips for New Homeowners

Moving-In Tips for Homeowners

NEA Teacher Appreciation Press Release

NEA Teacher Appreciation Day Ideas and Activities

In the Community

In School

Local Education Association Activities

Media Outreach

Quotes about Teaching

Easy-to-Make Stilts

Coffee Can Stilts

Computer Security Day Activities

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin Carving Patterns

Wizard of Oz Crafts

Cowardly Lion Craft

Dorothy Toilet Paper Roll Craft

Glenda the Good Witch Craft

Scarecrow Toilet Paper Roll Craft

Scarecrow Song

Paper Plate Scarecrow

Handprint Rainbow Craft

Rainbow Name Tags

Family Friendly Volunteering Project Ideas

Opening Your Heart and Home

Helping Hands/Sprucing Up Your Community

Literacy/Reading

Music/Entertainment/Crafts

The Environment

Working with Animals

Seniors

APPENDIX B: LINKS

Article Marketing Sites

Auto Responder Services

Books

Greeting Card Companies

Podcast Directories

Promotional Product Supply Companies

Teleconference Companies

Virtual Assistant Companies

APPENDIX C: RESOURCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FOREWORD

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You now own one of the most unique marketing books available today. Within the covers of this Fourth Edition book are new for 2012 fun and easy marketing ideas. Now you can grow your business with strategies built around wacky holidays, observed throughout the world, for the entire 2012 calendar year. If you missed the premier 2009 issue or want to complete your collection all previous and unique yearly editions are available at http://www.HolidayMarketingGuide.com.

Events are one of the smartest prescriptions for slumping sales and for maintaining a healthy business. It’s not enough anymore to merely have goods on the shelf and open the doors on time every day. We all need to reinvent our businesses to keep them thriving and healthy. And that is just what this eBook intends to help you achieve.

To take advantage of the information provided, pick a date and discover the unusual holidays celebrated on that date. Then read the corresponding month’s Zany Holiday Marketing Ideas section to find a simple implementation or allow it to open your creative mind and think of some of your own.

Please note that the asterisk (*) in front of a holiday means that a specific holiday is celebrated on that numerical date each year. For example, Christmas Day is December 25 no matter what day that falls on during the calendar week.

New in this edition, you will notice names with dates in parenthesis. This indicates a person of celebrity’s birthday. Just for fun, see how many you know and send me your list with their accomplishment. The person who sends in the most correct answers will receive next year’s edition as their prize. Come on now, you have a whole year to think about it. No cheating though. If you have to look them up, they don’t count. But, to avoid staying in the dark, I highly recommend you do.

Here’s another exceptional marketing idea for you that I discovered while visiting http://www.BrownieLocks.com. Bonza Bottler’s Days—the day is the same as the month it is in. That equates to: 1/1, 2/2, 3/3 etc. There is one in every month, there you have it. Another extra fine excuse for an event to boost your notoriety and sales each and every month!

This is, by no means a comprehensive edition. I have made all attempts to ensure the accuracy of the contents. If you encounter errors, or know of a holiday that needs to be included, please let me know so they can be addressed in future editions.

Read on, have fun, initiate your own version of these holidays, and reap the benefit for your business.

Ginger Marks

ANNUAL DATES OF NOTE

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United Nations International Year of Cooperatives

United Nations International Year of Sustainable Energy for All

Alan Turing Year—A year of cultural and scientific inquiry, collaboration and celebration centered on the birth centennial of Alan Mathinson Turing (1912-54), British mathematician, logician and cryptographer. Turing is recognized as the father of modern computer science and Artificial Intelligence. Alan Turing Year is organized by the Turing Centenary Advisory Committee with events in the Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, U.K. and the U.S.A. most of them centered in Turing’s alma mater, Cambridge University. http://www.TuringCentenary.eu or http://www.Turning.org.uk.

Note: Since my husband, Philip, is an Artificial Intelligence Programmer, you know I couldn’t miss making note of this special celebration.

Chinese Year of the Water Dragon—Symbol of dominance and ambition (February 3, 2012–January 22, 2013)

JANUARY

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Month-Long Holidays

Be Kind to Food Servers Month, Book Blitz Month, California Dried Plum Digestive Health Month, Celebration of Life Month, Financial Wellness Month, Get Organized Month, International Creativity Month, International New Year’s Resolutions Month for Businesses, International Quality of Life Month, International Wayfinding Month, International Wealth Mentality Month, National Be On-Purpose® Month, National Child-Centered Divorce Awareness Month, National Clean Up Your Computer Month, National Glaucoma Awareness Month, National Hot Tea Month, National Mentoring Month, National Personal Self-Defense Awareness Month, National Poverty in America Awareness Month, National Radon Action Month, National Skating Month, National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, Oatmeal Month, Rising Star Month, Self-Help Group Awareness Month, Self-Love Month, Shape Up US Month

Week-Long Holidays

Jan 1-3 Japanese Era New Year

Jan 1-7 Diet Resolution Week, Silent Record Week

Jan 2-8 New Year’s Resolutions Week, Someday We’ll Laugh about This Week (35th Annual)

Jan 5-8 Elvis Presley Birthday Celebration

Jan 6-Feb 21 Carnival Season

Jan 8-14 Home Office Safety and Security Week

Jan 11-17 Cuckoo Dancing Week

Jan 14-15 Art Deco Weekend

Jan 16-22 Healthy Weight Week

Jan 17-23 National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week

Jan 18-25 Week of Christian Unity

Jan 21-22 Bald Eagle Appreciation Days

Jan 21 & 28 Gasparilla Extravaganza and Pirate Fest

Jan 21-22 KidFilm® Festival

Jan 22-28 National Nurse Anesthetists Week

Jan 23-27 Clean Out Your Inbox Week, National Nuclear Science Week

Jan 23-29 National Handwriting Analysis Week

Jan 29-Feb 2 Intimate Apparel Market Week

Jan 29-Feb 5 Catholic Schools Week, Meat Week

Jan 30-Feb 4 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Daily Holidays

1. Bonza Bottler Day™, *Copyright Revision Law Signed (1976), *Mummer’s Parade, *New Year’s Day, *New Year’s Dishonor List Day, *Z-Day, *Kid Inventor’s Day, *St Basil’s Day, *Mexico: Zapatista rebellion, *First Baby Boomer Born-Kathleen Casey Wilkens in Philadelphia, PA (1946), *Bad Hangover Day, *First Foot Day, *National Environmental Policy Act (1970), Cuba: Liberation Day & Anniversary of the Revolution, Czech-Slovak Divorce (1993; Anniversary of separation into two nations), Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Euro Introduced (1999)

2. *Happy Mew Year for Cats Day, 55 MPH Speed Limit Day, Japan: Kakizome, Hero’s Day, Ancestor’s Day, National Geographic Bee Day, National Thank God it’s Monday! Day, Switzerland: Berchtoldstag

3. *Drinking Straw Day, Memento Mori Day, Queen for a Day (1956), St. Geneviève

4. *Dimpled Chad Day, Earth at Perihelion, *Elizabeth Ann Bayley-Setton Day, *Pop Music Chart Day, *Tom Thumb Day, *Trivia Day, *World Braille Day, *World Hypnotism Day

5. *Alvin Ailey (1931), *Bird Day, *Bean Day, Five-dollar-a-Day Minimum Wage Day

6. Armenian Christmas, Epiphany or Twelfth Day, *Three Kings Day

7. *Harlem Globetrotter’s Day, *I’m Not Going To Take It Anymore Day, *International Programmers’ Day, Orthodox Christmas , Japan: Nanakusa, Japan: Usokae, Trans-Atlantic Phoning (1927)

8. Argyle Day, *Bubble Bath Day, *Elvis Presley Birth (1935), *Midwife’s Day or Women’s Day, *National Joygerm Day, *Show and Tell Day at Work, Switzerland: Meitlinsunntig, Stephen Foster Day, *National English Toffee Day, *War on Poverty Day

9. *Aviation In America Day (1793), *Balloon Ascension Day, *Panama’s Martyr Day, Plough Monday, Japan: Coming of Age Day, National Clean Off Your Desk, Wolf Moon

10. *National Cut Your Energy Costs Day, *United Nations Day

11. *Designated Hitter Rule Day, *Cigarettes Are Hazardous to Your Health Day

12. *Women Denied Vote (1915), Haiti Earthquake Day (2010)

13. Blame Someone Else Day, Friday the Thirteenth, *Public Radio Broadcasting Day, *Rubber Duckie Day,

14. Bald Eagle Appreciation Day, *Caesarean Section Day, Great Fruitcake Toss Day, *Ratification Day

15. Molière Day, World Religion Day

16. *Appreciate A Dragon Day, Japan: Haru-No-Yabuiri, *National Nothing Day, *Religious Freedom Day, Stock Exchange Holiday

17. *Cable Car Day, *Judgment Day, *Hot Heads Chili Days, Kid Inventors’ Day, St Anthony’s Day, Rid The World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day

18. *Winnie The Pooh Day

19. *Confederate Heroes Day, Get to Know Your Customers Day (third Thursday of each quarter is set aside to get to know your customers even better), Women’s Healthy Weight Day

20. Arbor Day, *Camcorder Day, Flake Out Day, International Fetish Day

21. *National Hugging Day, Gasparilla Pirate’s Day

22. *Answer Your Cats Questions Day, *Celebration of Life Day, *Roe vs. Wade Day

23. *Chinese New Year, *National Handwriting Day, National Pie Day, *Snowplow Mailbox Hockey Day

24. *Belly Laugh Day, *Beer Can Day, *National Compliment Day

25. *Macintosh Computer Day, *A Room of One’s Own Day

26. *Lotus 1¬2-3 Day, Cockroach Race Day, India: Republic Day

27. Fun at Work Day, National Preschool Fitness Day, *Thomas Crapper Day, *Viet Nam Peace Day

28. *Challenger Space Shuttle Explosion (1986), National Seed Swap Day

29. Curmudgeons Day, *Freethinkers Day, *National Puzzle Day, *Seeing Eye Dog Day, *Thomas Paine Day

30. Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, *Inane Answering Message Day

31. *Inspire Your Heart with Art Day

Holiday Marketing Ideas for January

7–Trans-Atlantic Phoning What can I say? Why not hold a teleconference in honor of this historical event? Don’t know where to begin? Check out the appendix for a how to to get a teleconference event started. Also, you will find a handy list of providers in the Resource Section.

8–Argyle Day Imagine the fun you’ll have celebrating this weird & wacky holiday. Facebook celebrations and Twitter tweets are just the beginning. Come on, dress up and show off your Argyle style. Why not host a contest? The odds are you’ll at least generate a giggle, if not a buzz.

12–Haiti Earthquake Day Disaster awareness should take the forefront on this date. Gather a group of like-minded business owners and organize a food drive or other event. Then let the press know about your efforts. More information on how to pull this together, and a handy Disaster Preparedness Guide, can be found in the appendix.

22–Answer Your Cat’s Question Day Who doesn’t wonder what their favorite feline friend is thinking when they give you that questioning look.