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Pick A Day To Call Your Own
Did you know that the second week of January every year marks National Home
Office Safety & Security Week - and "America's Safest Home Office Contest"?
Or that the Friday before Father's Day is National Work@Home Father's Day and
the "Why I Work@Home: A Dad's View Contest"?
Before 2001, none of these existed. But in each case, I realized how ignored
- and potentially lucrative - the two respective markets (home office security and work-at-home dads) were. So I created the dates and market the heck out of them. It's really as simple as that.
For consultants, experts and speakers, creating events to wrap around
ourselves is an ideal way to gain positive exposure - and attract sponsors.
With sponsors come additional fees, prizes to give away, and exposure through
their promotional machines.
Here's how to create a date and contest of your own:
Find a niche. What expertise do you have that consumers and marketers
would find interesting? Work@Home Father's Day and Home Office Safety Week
are unique takes on emerging trends in the home office arena. Both provide
companies looking to hit these audiences compelling and newsworthy topics to
which to attach their names and brands. Be sure to give your event or contest
a catchy name so it grabs journalists' - and readers' - attention.
Pick a date. Peruse Chase's Calendar of Events at your library's
reference desk, and register your date for free. The book lists more than
14,000 local, regional and national milestones or annual events. Entries
range from the birth (or death) dates of celebrities and historical
luminaries, to such obscure events as Sinkie Day (annually the day after
Thanksgiving), which was created by the Association of People Who Dine Over
the Kitchen Sink to celebrate people who do so. Obscure? Sure. Interesting to
the news media? You bet. Just make sure your date is a logical fit (since
January begins the year, I figured it was a good time to put a safety bug in
people's minds), and that it doesn't conflict with a larger event that could
overshadow your own.
Create your rules. Protect your sponsors and yourself. Some rules you'll
set ("Open to U.S. residents 21 and older who work from home. Family of
organizers ineligible to enter…"). Other rules are required by law for all
sweepstakes or contests ("No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by
law…"). To learn more, read some of the rules on sweepstakes you frequently
see around you (like with package goods or fliers in the paper), or visit
contest-planning site Ithlon.com.
Write a proposal, set your fee and sign up sponsors. What are the key
promotional and marketing benefits of your event? Why should a marketer
participate? Tell them what it will cost and what they'll get from their
involvement.
Promote it. Creating an event doesn't create news coverage. Using my Web
site, my electronic magazine, my ability to write press releases, and all my
contacts in the news media, P.R. and work-at-home community, I have
distributed word of my contest to scores of people, who, in turn, hopefully
will tell thousands.
What has been the result of my two contests? As is often the case with
marketing efforts, it's hard to measure. At the very least, I've gotten media
exposure, and built marketer relationships. I've created two projects that
have established my role as an expert in the home-office community.
Optimally, the exposure will result in greater sales of my products, bookings
for speaking engagements, and other additional revenues.
Besides, contests are fun to create - even if as a relative of myself I'm
prohibited from entering.
© 2003 Jeffery D. Zbar Inc.
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