Awareness Days, everyone knows them. Pride Day is today (28th June! Also my birthday, a double whammy!) Christmas Jumper Day is on the 8th December this year, Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!) – yes, they’re Awareness Days, and they’re a great opportunity to take advantage of raising awareness of things, and using it to raise awareness of your brand alongside it. SO, if you’re not using them as a part of your digital marketing strategy, you’re definitely missing out.

Some days have been made to raise awareness of things of course, whilst others are fun little days, but both are worth incorporating into your marketing strategy, that’s if your brand and company fit the purpose of the day. Whilst they can be a great way of raising your brand awareness, if you’re capitalising on all of them regardless of whether they fit your brand image or not, you could come across as ingenuine and damage your brand as opposed to helping it along. So, where’s the line?

Here are some tips on how to add awareness days to your brand calendar and ensure you’re using them to their best!

Be Selective

The first thing you need to think about is which awareness days you want to be a part of. It’s not a good idea to join every awareness day for the sake of it, so ensure you’re joining in with awareness days that align with your business’ values and goals. For example, it wouldn’t make much sense for a credit union to join in on May the Fourth for example, but it might make sense for them to join in on Debt Awareness Week. They don’t have to be that clear cut either – perhaps in the office you’re all raising money for Red Nose Day by doing something fun, that then would be relevant to your business, and also show some behind the scenes of what goes on with you and your staff! The perfect storm. The point here is, look for awareness days with a genuine connection to your audience, product, or service, and go from there! We’ve all heard of greenwashing and all those companies making their icons into the LGBTQ+ flag on the first day of June every year, without doing much else the rest of the time (yawn) – don’t be that company.

Hashtags

What is the point of taking part in an Awareness Day if you don’t benefit from being seen? If you don’t use the hashtags associated with it, this is what will happen! Most Awareness Days will have an associated hashtag for that day – if it’s a big campaign being run by a company, the likelihood is they will have social media packs to download, with graphics, post ideas and of course, the all-important associated hashtag. Do some research before the day, and when making your calendar, note down the hashtags for the days. Doing this will ensure you’re seen by that wider audience and that you truly benefit from taking part.

Plan Ahead

Awareness Days are typically made well known months ahead, maybe even years, so take the time at the beginning of the year to note down all the ones that are relevant to you. Make a calendar and write them down so you’re not caught off guard a day before or, even worse, a week after. This way you can also plan your content ahead of time too, to make it as effective as possible. A lot also repeat every year too – some of the ones I’ve mentioned are the same days every year, therefore there’s no excuse to forget them!

Create Your Own!

Got an Awareness Day you think doesn’t exist? Why not create your own like many companies before? Step Change has Debt Awareness Week, Money Helper has Talk Money Week! If it’s a cause you really care about and feel that isn’t covered appropriately by a day, making your own could be an amazing way of getting your brand out there. And, if it gains traction, every year on that day or week, people will be drawn to your brand and reminded of it. We’ll be amazed if you can’t find one (there seems to be a day for everything these days.)

Awareness Days are a simple way to get yourself out there to a wider relevant audience and boost your reputation, if used properly. So, why not take a look and find some that are relevant to your company, you may be surprised at what’s out there!