Want to show company strengths? Need a competitive advantage? At a loss for social content? Look to your next company anniversary to showcase your attributes! With just a little bit of forethought and some careful planning, you can turn decades of industry performance and visibility into a clear marketing differentiator. It doesn’t matter if you have been in business for 5 years or 95 years – an anniversary campaign on your website, in social media, and across all of your marketing channels can have a positive impact, featuring many of your company’s key strengths. Your campaign can be as simple as a logo or mark – or as complex as a year-long celebration — it can also help boost employee morale and give clients a sense of stability.
How to get started: suggestions for planning
Put your thoughts on paper! What are your goals for the program? Make sure they are SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.) Decide when your anniversary celebration will begin, and the overall duration of the program. Who is your target market? What audiences do you want to reach and why? How will you get the word out?
At this early point, it is often good to collect input from your senior officers or your board of directors. Make sure you have a budget, the support of the management team, and a strategic plan for success. Keep everyone on your team posted on the latest developments.
Develop an anniversary logo and a theme
The best anniversary programs drive the point home with both a theme and a logo design. Like all good branding, you should get creative. The design, color palette, and font should work with your existing image and tone as part of the same “family.” Consistency is key. Is the anniversary mark and the theme memorable? Relevant? Is the logo scalable? Does it work well using different sizes and colors? Your logo and your theme will set a foundational stage for success.
Pictured are examples of a logo, gift basket giveaway, and magazine advertisements using the theme design.
Scope of the celebration
There are many directions your anniversary celebration can take. Perhaps you explore a different avenue each month or each quarter. Here are some solid ideas to get your brain moving:
- Historical timeline on your website with old photos
- Create a history room in your facility
- Feature article on your website
- Video review of your history
- Client celebration and gifts
- Testimonial tributes from clients and employees
- Recognition for employees with multiple years of service
- Banners, flags or signage in your store or lobby
- Press Release and well-placed news articles
- Buttons worn by your employees
- Golf outing
- Commemorative pin or cuff links
- Community open house
- Educational or “how to” event
- Social media posts
- Digital and print ads
- Commemorative glass or mug
- Historical art contest or essay contest with local schools
- Commemorative recognition letter from local politicians
- Scholarships
- Sculptures “in memory of” a founder or contributor
Evaluating your success
This is perhaps the most important step of your anniversary campaign. Measure your results against the actual goal you developed at the onset of the anniversary campaign:
- Were you able to reach more potential clients?
- Did you get more visits to your website?
- Did you increase your client count?
- Did you get more business from your existing clients?
- Did you increase your visibility with vendors and employees?
- How much visibility did you get on social media?
- What worked well? What did not?
Keep this information on file and available for review into the future. If this anniversary event worked well – perhaps this event can be repeated every ten years or at other hallmark years.