AMiable Solution #66: The Hazards of Summer

Summer brings unique joys and opportunities, but it also brings season-specific hazards and dangers.  Heat stroke.  Heat exhaustion.  Ultraviolet radiation.  Pesticides.  Natural hazards like lightning and flooding.  Biological hazards like mosquito and tick bites. 

                              

Your members, donors, or customers--the runners, construction workers, farmers, office workers, first responders, professors, stay-at-home parents, and more--will spend more time outside than usual these next few months, facing potentially harmful summer situations. 

Show your concern for their health and welfare by integrating a summer-safety theme into your next campaign.  Even if your organization doesn’t offer applicable products or services, you can still offer industry- or situation-specific summer safety solutions as part of a customer safety announcement.

Integrating audience-focused--not sales-focused--copy adds value to your mailpiece, email, newsletter, etc., and helps create a connection between you and your audience.

And that’s something you’ll both appreciate year round.

AMiable Solution #65: The Funshine of Marketing

Summer marketing, like summer itself, tends to take itself less seriously than marketing in other months.  After all, the days are longer, the weather is warmer, and the action is happening outside.  Who doesn’t want to get through the daily requirements and enjoy all the perks of summer?

The good news: you have more opportunities to have fun with your marketing.  The bad news: you may have even less time than usual to capture your audience’s eye and get your mailpiece opened.

To keep your marketing light while also drawing attention to your offer, try incorporating a little play on words.  For example, you could

• Have a summer “pull” party, encouraging donors to band together for your cause
• Celebrate the stars in your catalog and detour customers around common problems with “roadblock busters”
• Invite members and clients to a feast on a “bookout” or “pick”nic, offering the season’s best books, journals, or other essentials

Some word play will require more visual backup than others, but all graphics should support your text and your offer.

Regardless of your approach, be sure to have fun.

AMiable Solution #64: Give Substance to “Hot” Offers

This time of year, marketers often turn to traditional summer terms in their marketing.  The advantage of this is familiarity: recipients know exactly what they’ll find in a mailer dressed with a “Hot Sale,” “Sizzling Savings,” or “Scorching Discounts” teaser.

                                   

Although there is instant recognition with such an approach, it sometimes falls flat when your summer reference is just that: a reference made on the envelope or mailing panel.  To really make the summer theme relevant in your campaign, and to make your campaign stand out among other summer-based mailers, turn your seasonal reference into an emotional hook.

How?  Think about your offer.  What benefits do your products or services provide?  Can your “hot” sale literally help someone beat the heat of summer or take the heat off someone at work?  Will your “cool” fundraiser make it possible for a family to pay its electric bill or find relief from the summer temperatures? Can your campaign “block party” benefit a community somewhere?

By giving your summer teaser substance, you’ll not only make a time-relevant reference, but you’ll also create a connection that generates the results you’re looking for.

AMiable Solution #62: Where to Go When You’re Not at Your Desk, Option 3

Looking at the same four walls day after day can make coming up with fresh ideas difficult.  Why not take a break from the office and clear your mind with something wild.  Wild animals, that is.   

Whether you choose a large facility like the National Zoo in D.C., an indoor facility like the National Aquarium in Baltimore, or an off-the-beaten-path facility like Green Meadows Farms in Frederick, MD, or the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in Thurmont, MD, you’ll experience life without office politics and deadlines.  Days ruled by basic goals.  Fresh air that blows out all the cobwebs.

Trading in one set of animals for another for a day will not only help you reset your internal clock and recharge your energy, but it will also allow you to pick up a trick or two from the animals:

• Those who hide never stand out
• Color gets attention
• Personal experiences rule
• Basic communication gets the job done

And if the animals don’t inspire you, don’t give up.  People watching can be pretty eye-opening, too.

AMiable Solution #61: Where to Go When You’re Not at Your Desk, Option 2

If you have a vacation day to use and want a low-cost, local option for spending it, you could run errands or catch up on household chores.  Or, if you’re a marketer in need of a “fresh” perspective, you could visit your local farmers’ market. 

                               

What can you gain from an otherwise ordinary-sounding exercise?  More than just a necessity like doing laundry or paying bills, shopping for groceries at a local farmers’ market may just provide you with a little physical and psychological respite from the daily work grind.  By shopping at a farmers’ market, you

• Support local businesses and entrepreneurs. 
• Remind yourself that no matter how much your organization or industry struggles, few businesses are as dependent on factors and influences beyond their control as farming.
• Maximize the flavor and nutrients you intake from your produce (nothing lost in travel time), protecting your body against the effects of stress.
• Get outside and moving, even if it is a leisurely pace.

To find your nearest farmers’ market, check your local newspaper for listings or search online by county for locations and dates.  For a comprehensive look at the available farmers’ markets in the D.C. and surrounding area, see The Washington Post’s interactive map at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/lifestyle/dc-farmers-markets-interactive-map/.