Are you an industrial, IT or electronics company that has a milestone anniversary coming up? It doesn’t matter if you’re about to celebrate your 5th or 50th year in business: every anniversary has the potential to be a platform for marketing and PR campaigns. If this, on the surface, seems a little ‘fluffy’ or ‘lightweight’ when compared to your usual PR output of technical stories intended to raise awareness amongst engineers then don’t fret – engineers like cake just as much as the next person!
Corporate anniversaries represent a perfect opportunity to communicate with a wide cross section of your audience or stakeholders – clients, prospects, employees, shareholders, local communities, suppliers etc. – and a perfect time to tell and share your story. It is a chance to talk about why you started your business in the first place, the journey you have been on, what you do, and what makes you different. And it’s an opportunity to thank employees, shareholders, suppliers and clients who have helped you reach this milestone.
Anniversaries are also significant because they remind employees that they work with a company that is not only successful, but also stable and dependable — one that has stood the test of time and will continue to be there for its clients.
So, it pays to pay attention to your anniversary and to explore all the extra benefits that can come from such an event with a marketing agency partner who has experience of hosting these types of events for a business such as yours.
Having to work with a technical marketing agency on such a project might seem counter-intuitive as surely any event planning or PR agency can organise a party? The devil, as so often in life, is in the detail. An agency that understands your technology, market sector and your clients will save you time and money in sourcing an appropriate venue, booking relevant guest speakers (if required) and ensuring the journalists you wish to make part of the event not only turn up but get something positive out of it.
In order to make sure you are spending your time and money on the right things that will deliver maximum impact we have compiled ten ‘top tips’ to consider when you start on the planning process:
- Talk about the idea in advance with the right agency. They will have experience of these types of events and be able to guide you through the process (and probably help you clean up afterwards!)
- Set a budget. Determine how much your company will spend on anniversary activities and marketing before you get into the detailed planning.
- Set objectives. Think about your company’s goals and what you want to achieve. How do these anniversary goals tie into your overall business objectives? Make sure your goals and plans support your allotted budget before moving forward with the details.
- Plan, plan, plan. Be sure to allow plenty of time to develop your strategy and start the planning process as early as possible so that the timing for all anniversary-related marketing tactics and events can be aligned throughout the anniversary year.
- Involve your employees. Create a successful ‘team’ environment to spur your employees’ feelings of company pride and loyalty.
- Share your stories. Gather memories from past and current clients and employees that illustrate your company’s core values. Share those stories and other major achievements (eg. special innovations or breakthroughs within the industry) internally and externally through all available channels – your newsletter, social media, a video, and on an anniversary page on your website.
- Create a call-to-action. To engage your employees and target audiences (clients and prospects included), create a specific call-to-action so they can be involved in your anniversary celebration. For example, invite your clients and prospects to celebrate by getting involved with a competition connected to your anniversary. Or have them to vote for a specific charity that the firm should donate to each year.
- Create a special anniversary logo (and tagline). Add it to your website, your stationery, your email signature, and signage in your office or store locations. If you are planning to send out commemorative gifts to your clients and prospects, business partners and others, make sure they are branded with your company name and anniversary logo.
- Make it media-worthy. Create newsworthy storylines around the event and issue a press release with an impactful photo. If appropriate invite the media to attend anniversary-related events to get as much PR value from the event as possible.
- Celebration: Host a party for your clients. Order a cake to share with your employees. Create meaningful anniversary traditions – and then make a point of repeating them every year (or at a set interval).
If you would like help creating your corporate anniversary communications (or eating the cake!) get in touch!
Here’s an example of some anniversary type events we have organised.
