For more holiday marketing ideas, see my book, Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Zany and Non-traditional Holidays at www.QuirkyOffer.com.  Free updates for 2010 when you purchase the current edition

They all mark special ”celebrations” on the calendar. For instance September 13th is National Grandparent’s Day – acknowledge your favorite grandparents with flowers or volunteer for or create an adopt-a-grandparent association.  Honor those who honor children (of all ages) in a special way.  Have a grandparent’s day sale or special offering.  Visit a nursing home or assisted living facility and read to or just talk to some of the residents.

September 13th is also Bald is Beautiful Day – if you are a barber you could host a “bald is beautiful contest” and have prizes for the roundest head, the shiniest head, the most interesting head … – In May 2001 Harrisburg Senators partnered with the American Cancer Society (ACS) for a special fundraiser at Commerce Bank Park.   The Senators raised money for the ACS Hope Lodge in Hershey, a place where cancer patients and their families can stay free of charge while patients are receiving treatment at Hershey Medical Center. Bald is Beautiful Day consisted of players and employees offering to shave their heads if their fundraising goal is met.

September 13th is also Fortune Cookie Day – Give everyone a fortune cookie today – you can buy them at a Chinese restaurant or you can special order them online and include your own messages – go to http://www.fancyfortunecookies.com/ or www.goodfortunes.com to create yours or make your own with this recipe at http://www.redheadmarketingblog.com/fortune-cookie-recipe-for-business-success/. 

September 13th is also International Chocolate Day – another great day to do a chocolate promotion – carry around gold chocolate coins wherever you go and hand them out with your business card (I use those glue dots to attach the chocolate to my business card and use this as another way to spread the word about my company in a delectable way.  A chocolatiere in Florida makes chocolate coins and gives them to prospects wherever he goes, a great way to allow others to offer a sample and promote his business.   

For more Weird Holiday Marketing Ideas check out Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany & Non-traditional Holidays! 

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July 13-17 is World Who’s Who Week – Want to gain local media attention, exposure for your business and to become the Go-to person in networking? Do what the late Pamela M. Hutchinson of Davie Florida,  the creator of Who’s Who in Black South Florida – a directory of black professionals.  On several occasion, the local newspapers featured her directory and when she died wrote a glowing tribute to her and the service to the community her directory provided.

It was the impetus for my team creating the Who’s Who Among Women in Ecommerce Directory to promote women who do business on the web. You can check it out here: http://www.wecai.org/whoswho.htm  What kind of  Who’s Who Directory could you create featuring of a specific group of people or organizations in your community?  (BTW, I created this holiday because I could not find one that focused on this topic).

July 13th  is Embrace Your Geekness Day – “The future of advertising,” says Charlie Jones, chief marketing officer of RedPeg, an Alexandria, Virginia–based agency, “will be about creating unexpected connections to memorable, real-world experiences in ways that bring brands to life.” So how about electrical outlets in airport terminals? Bradley and Montgomery’s new campaign for Chase Commercial Banking includes ads just above 90 outlets around Indianapolis International Airport. When you plug in your laptop, you see the ad.

Source Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Grow Your Business Using Zany & Non-traditional Holidays!

June  1^st is Flip a Coin Day  - Heads or Tails? Julius Caesar is credited with starting the practice of flipping a coin to make decisions. His own head was on one side of every Roman coin, so “heads” determined the winner in each flip. People thought “heads” meant that Caesar agreed with the decision. The coin flip was used in serious litigation involving property, marriage and even criminal guilt.

Just think how many lawyers would be out of a job if we went back to flipping a coin as a form of justice. And while it’s an interesting concept, probably not a good way to make business decisions. Imagine if your clients used the flip a coin method to decide if they should do business with you or not? You’d either have twice as many customers or half.

However, you could flip a coin for other things such as deciding on which strategies to start with in the Quirky Marketing Calendar ~ after all, marketing is all about TESTING to see what works and what doesn’t.

Did you know when you purchase a copy of the Quirky Marketing Calendar, you receive updates for a full year!  That’s right, when you purchase the 2009 edition, you will automatically be sent the 2010 edition when it is released!  And Quirky Marketing is Your Marketing Calendar. The only holiday marketing guide you will EVER Need again! Check it out now at www.QuirkyOffer.com.

May 13^th is Receptionist’s Day – Otherwise known as make friends with the gatekeepers’ day. What kind of things can you think of for the Gatekeepers of the World?  How about dropping by and saying Hello!  If you have been trying to get past a gatekeeper, and doing so by phone, showing up in person can really be a bonus. Make sure you don’t arrive empty handed.  A small token of some sort can go a long way. Movie tickets, a box of cookies, a single flower…

May 12^th is Limerick Day – Host a limerick contest that showcases your company’s virtues.  A limerick is a five-line poem with a strict form, originally popularized in English by Edward Lear. Limericks are frequently witty or humorous, and sometimes obscene with humorous intent.  I hosted a contest on RYZE social networking site and received several entries. Here’s one of the winning entries by Marilyn Jenett of Feel Free to Prosper about Bea Kunz,  a member who sells Teas:

Another Ryze member named Bea
Will have you cravin’ her tea,
She’s witty and cool
And nobody’s fool,
And reigns as the “sage” of Tennessee

And one she wrote about her work with the Laws of Attraction:

There’s a Ryzer who teaches the “laws”
With posts that may give you pause,
Doesn’t mean to alarm ya,
Would rather disarm ya
With effects and their probable cause.

 Excerpt from the book “Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany & Non-traditional Holidays (the original holiday marketing guide) ~ www.QuirkyOffer.com

Create a tips booklet about your topic area and give it to your clients and patients.  Tips booklets are an excellent informational premium that people do not throw away.  Better yet, ask your clients and patients to give you names of their women friends and offer to send the booklet on their behalf.

Excerpt from the book “Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany & Non-traditional Holidays (the original holiday marketing guide) ~ www.QuirkyOffer.com

For more information on Marketing to Women, check out the Marketing 2 Women Audio Program created by Women in ECommerce at: http://www.wecai.org/marketing2women.htm (8 audios and workbook for only $27!)

May  9^th is World Fair Trade Day - “Fair Trade” promotes and empowers poor farmers in remote areas to participate meaningfully in the global economy and lead to a better life for all. Join the BIG BANG!! BEAT POVERTY BEAT CLIMATE CHANGE BEAT FINANCIAL CRISIS BEAT A DRUM 2009 by buying from companies that practice Fair Trade. 

Go to the Fair Trade Resource Network for a host of resources including where to buy, how to make a difference and how to promote World Fair Trade in your community.

Excerpt from the book “Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany & Non-traditional Holidays (the original holiday marketing guide) ~ www.QuirkyOffer.com

Be sure to get the list of prize winners to follow up with them. (Did you also know that May 15th is Nylon Stockings Day?)

May 3-9 is also National Postcard Week – An excellent time to redo your postcard marketing campaigns.  We use SendOutCards to send postcards to our customers, clients and people we meet. In fact, every time I attend a networking event, I upload the information of the people I met into the SendOutCards database and then create a simple,” nice to have met you” campaign. 

Every single person I send a card to has either called or emailed me a thank you. I do not sell them anything, just tell them it was nice to meet them and ask “what you can do for them.”  I might also offer a link to a special report or other free digital item I know would interest them.  Not only is this a great way to stay in touch with prospects, it also is a great way to keep track of where and when I meet someone.  You can make notes in the SOC database, create specific campaigns for each event, even customize the cards with a picture or logo (or both).

Excerpt from the book “Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany & Non-traditional Holidays (the original holiday marketing guide) ~ www.QuirkyOffer.com