It’s that time of the month again where we take a look at coming events in May that can provide the focus for a promotion or marketing campaign to give your business a cash boost.

Before I get to that…

…I hope you’re enjoying a happy and peaceful Easter weekend.  Easter can be a big opportunity for a promotional event, of course.  I’ve mentioned before that for the bakery chain “Bakers Delight”, the day before Good Friday is their busiest day of the year as people buy hot cross buns in huge quantities.

As an aside, Bakers Delight introduced a new flavour of hot cross bun this year – “Mocha”.  Not a bad idea (adding to the traditional and choc-chip versions) but I suspect this line extension has probably reached the limit of it’s usefulness (line extension is a whole separate topic that I’ll return to in a separate post).

Back to the future!

In May we have the following events in Australia…

May 1 – May Day

May 4 – Labour Day (Queensland)

May 10 – Mother’s Day

Some more unusual events…

May 5 – “Cinco de Mayo” (celebrated in some Latin American communities, it’s the anniversary of a Mexican victory over the French in 1862)

May 12 – International Nurses Day

May 13 – Receptionist Day

May 18 – Victoria Day (celebrating Queen Victoria – it’s a holiday in Canada, wonder why not in Australia?)

In the USA, there’s also Memorial Day on May 25.

Remember, of course, that there may well be special events only relevant to your market or industry.

And, of course, current events can provide a great reason for a promotion.

I was recently reading some very old back issues of direct response marketing maven Dan Kennedy’s newsletter.

Way back in early 2005, one “big” item of news in our celebrity obsessed culture was that Paris Hilton had a new catchphrase, the very profound…

“It’s Hot!”

How about that?  But the smart marketer could piggy back on this “mini-event” like this…

Paris Hilton Has A New Catchphrase:

“It’s Hot!”

Imagine What She’d Say If She…

…and fill in the blanks with your product or service.

Then, for good measure, tie this in with a limited time promotion playing on the “Hot” theme.

There’s an almost endless source of ideas for promotions.  Just make sure your don’t stretch it too far and make sure the offer is relevant to your customers.

P.S. A couple of readers have asked “What would Paris say about Kev’s copy?”  Well, if she’d had the opportunity to take advantage of my free headline re-write offer, I’m sure she’d say “It’s Hot!” But don’t just take my word for it, try it yourself.  It’s FREE to readers of this blog and you’ll find the details up on the top left hand side of the blog.

UPDATE: Reading this month’s “Men’s Health” magazine, I note that May 9 is Buddah’s birthday.  The magazine suggests celebrating the event with 10 minutes of meditation.  Not a bad idea and if your product or service fits with the theme then you could also use this as the rationale for a direct response marketing promotion.