Using Anniversaries To Generate PR

Fortunately, he didn't have to close his business (a testament to having a nice savings account...) and now, on the third anniversary of 9/11, Crew Tags is not only alive, but thriving. In January of this year, sales finally reached their pre-9/11 level, and August was a record month.

Plus, Crew Tags is just days away from serving its 10,000th customer, a major milestone in the life of a small business.

What does a business do in this situation? Promote it, of course!

(See a sample of Mike's media release then go and buy one of his tags. I have a couple and they're really cool!)

This story has several nice hooks attached. First, it hits on a memorable (though poignant) anniversary for Americans and many other countries. Second, it's associated with a milestone (their 10,000th customer). Third, this is an easy story for a reporter to use as a bridge between Crew Tag's success to the travel industry picking back up again. It's got the markings of a winner.

So now, I, as a reporting observer, have to make a choice - which direction do I take this article? :<)

Let's talk about the power of anniversaries.

Anniversaries can be powerful tools in the hands of publicity seekers for several reasons:

1. They evoke emotional response, sometimes powerfully.

For example, in Russia, young children attending their first day of their equivalent of Kindergarten (on September 1st each year) dress to the nines. Then as they graduate on the last day of 10th grade, they wear replicas of the outfit they wore on that first day they entered school.

Now that would create some powerful emotions! (One more insight, by the way, into the significance of the Russian school hostage takeover on September 1st of this year...)

2. The media is oftentimes looking for stories to tie into anniversaries, giving you a chance to get a stories run which don't have any other newsworthy hook.

Of course, it's important to use caution around certain negative anniversaries, like 9/11, the start of the Iraq war, D-Day, etc. The last thing you would want to do is to create negative publicity at the time you are trying to create positive PR.

Let's look at some anniversaries that could be used as story hooks.

National/Worldwide/Community:

- Any holiday
- Preparation for a holiday (Christmas shopping season)
- Election day
- Stock market highs and lows
- End of school / start of school
- New Year's
- Start of seasons
- Wars, battles, and end of wars
- Olympics
- Major storms, earthquakes, natural disasters
- Well known historical events (ride of Paul Revere, circumnavigation of the world, landing on the moon)
- Birthdays and death dates of major figures

Plus, of course, there is the opportunity to create your own holiday (National Anchovie Pizza Day) or to hook into another pre-existing little-known holiday. For more information on how to create and celebrate your own holiday (it's very easy!) see our special report How to Generate National Publicity From Your Own Holiday

Company Specific:

- Founding
- Major product launches
- Expansions
- Latest president's hiring
- Bankruptcy date (just 3 years since being forced to declare bankruptcy, XYZ Corp. announced...)
- Entry into new geographies
- New factory / building
- Key hires
- Disaster within company

There are literally hundreds of ways to tie into an anniversary. Two of my favorites include:

- How your company promotes your products around x holiday
(Yes, this makes a great story. It adds human interest and tells a story not usually told. So if your 10th great grandfather was on the Nina so your restaurant always has a huge celebration on Columbus day, you've got a story there. If you have to triple staff for the 6 weeks prior to Christmas, but have an ongoing party going in the back room, there's a story there...)

- Coming back from disaster.
This is a great way to tie into otherwise negative events. Anyone in the travel industry can use this right now. But there are other ways too. If several of your key employees got called up to serve in Iraq, yet you found ways to work around the issue, there's a story there. If your company declared bankruptcy but has now come back, you were sold to another company who ran you into the ground, so you've now purchased it back, or if your marketplace disappeared so you had to get another one, there are stories there.

For more information and ideas about how to tie your story into these events, see our special report How to Piggyback Your Story Ideas onto Holidays and Anniversaries

What anniversary in the next 6 months is a logical hook for your story?

Tags: Anniversaries