Give Your Small Biz the Luck o’ the Irish - St. Patty's Day Marketing!

image source: flickr.com

Green costumes. Lucky shamrocks. Colorful parades. Overflowing beer. Mischievous leprechauns with their pots o’ gold. All things from the Emerald Isle. Ah yes, St. Patrick’s day- and all the related St. Patty’s Day marketing, naturally - is just around the corner!

For the Irish, this day commemorates one of the most recognized patron saints of their home country. For most others, it’s a day to wear green, celebrate, attend parades, drink beer, and have fun. But for entrepreneurs, St. Patty’s day (like most holidays) is a great way to increase brand awareness, boost their business, get customers back in the door, and earn more profit!

image source: flickr.com

Interested in getting that pot o’ gold for your business? Here are a few marketing strategies to draw people in and turn them into happy customers.

Sponsor Contests

This is fun. Since St. Patty’s day is associated with alcoholic drinks, why not sponsor a drinking contest? This is a great idea for restaurateurs. Make sure to use green beer or better yet, Irish beer – Guinness. The winner gets freebies from your business and a chance of free booze.

Another contest idea is trivia night. Prepare rounds of questions on Irish trivia and see how much your customers know about the history of St. Patrick and Ireland itself. Each table can participate. Winners get a discounted price or a complimentary meal. If you don’t own a bar or a restaurant, partner with a local bar and hold the contests there.

Hold a St. Patrick’s Day Raffle

Customers who purchased a certain amount of your items or services during the week of the feast or the first few customers who came in wearing green are entitled to one raffle ticket. For an Irish touch, design your raffle tickets with shamrocks or the color green. On the day of the draw, lucky winners will receive a pot o’ gold (or a prize that you can afford to give).

Give Special Discounts

Everyone loves to get their favorite items for less. This St. Patrick’s day, offer special deals that people can’t resist. For instance, those who are wearing something green receive 20% off, or all items that are colored green are at 20% discount. You can also go for the shamrock sale – every 3 identical items purchased (as the leaves of the shamrock) gives you the 4th one free.

Another good idea is by distributing coupons meant for St. Patrick’s day. Invest in printing brochures with coupons attached to it. Design and word them within an Irish spirit. Pass them out and offer them exclusively for people attending the St. Patrick’s day parade.

Offer a Limited-Edition Product

On this festive occasion, prepare a St. Patrick’s day dish for your customers. Whether you’d want it to be an Irish specialty, or simply something green – that’s entirely up to you. Make this new addition the highlight of the day. If the sales are high, you may want to add the item to your main menu.

If you own an apparel line, design T-shirts related to the feast or display clothes that are green.

Giveaways

As a token of appreciation to your patrons, give them St. Patrick’s giveaways! Mugs, coasters, pens, shirts, balloons, and many others can go a long way in showing how much you value their patronage. You can also go for bumper stickers, bookmarks, door hangers, refrigerator magnets, and other miscellaneous doodads.

For your new customers, fill a fish bowl of chocolate golden coins and put it near the cash register. Everyone who buys gets a coin. If you have limited chocolate coins to give away, only those who get the lucky shamrock out of the bowl gets a chocolate coin.

Provide Entertainment

Waiters, waitresses and receptionists in leprechaun costumes is definitely something people would want to see. Tell your biz crew to go Irish and dress up in green outfits. Throw in a beard and a hat and you’ve got a leprechaun costume!

image source: flickr.com

There you have it folks! May these marketing strategies bring miles and miles of Irish smiles to your customers and shamrocks of luck to your doorway! Do you have any marketing ideas for St. Patrick’s day? Feel free to share them with us.