What All Businesses Should Know About St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day – that wonderful time of year where we throw on our something green and hit the town to become proud spectators of the dancing leprechauns, floating shamrocks and stumbling natives that sweep the streets of our Emerald Isle.
It’s hard to believe that just over 40 years ago, pubs in Ireland were actually prohibited from opening to mark St. Patrick’s Day as a religious day. Today, there’s no other day in the year that amplifies the drunken Irish stereotype, and it’s difficult not to take part in the merriment and festivities that today seem to bare as much relevance to the coming of Christianity as St. Patrick does to Mother’s Day.
Paddy’s Day is undoubtedly becoming an increasingly popular holiday year on year all over the world; even the world’s most prestigious landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and the Empire State Building turning green to mark the celebration.
True, the holiday isn’t a traditional gift-giving day like Easter or Christmas, but it’s still a huge day for businesses and can certainly be capitalised on by businesses even outside of the usual Paddy’s Day scope of traditional bars and restaurants. If your business is outside the centre of the action, don’t call it quits and leave it to the main players. St. Patrick’s Day presents opportunities for most business sectors to attract customers and boost revenue on what is typically one of the slowest months of the year in terms of consumer spending.
Can your business capitalise on the biggest Irish celebration of the year?
Knowing the numbers behind Paddy’s Day may be just the motivation you need to get in the game.
St. Patrick’s Day Facts & Figures
Whether you’re based in Ireland, the U.S, Australia or wherever else us Irish have immigrated to lately, start brainstorming ideas to take advantage of the extra tourism St. Patrick’s Day is sure to bring. With 137% increase in consumer spend last year and over 37 Million Americans celebrating in a bar or restaurant in the U.S, customers are sure to come wobbling your way at some stage, it’s all about Marketing the goods.
St. Patrick’s Day’s Golden Goods
Fundivo published a report on how American’s celebrated St. Patrick’s Day 2015 giving us useful insight into what consumers actually buy for the celebrations.
Provided by: Fundivo
Green
It comes as no surprise that wearing green is the most popular choice for those celebrating the holiday, most likely to avoid the traditional Paddy’s Day pinches that follow for breaking Irish law.
Consumers are like magpies for green coming up to Paddy’s day so naturally businesses that stock green apparel will reap the profits. Remember to move all your green stock to the window and store-front to attract potential customers. If you’re a retailer but lack the Paddy’s Day apparel, it can be a good idea to invest in stocking low-cost festive merchandise as almost a quarter of celebrators will decorate their home or office (23%), as well as themselves. Merchandise such as hats, scarves, t-shirts, token flags, glasses, badges and token decorations are low-cost and sell extremely well, making them a reliable investment for those hoping to cash in on the holiday but lacking the festive goods.
Food and Drink
Any business that sells food and drink has massive potential to boost revenue on St. Patrick’s Day. Whether you run a supermarket chain, a hotel, restaurant, butchers or off-licence, you’re more than likely well equipped to provide for the masses of celebrators who are partying at bar or restaurant (29%), at a private bash (19%) or making their own Paddy’s Day feast (30%).
The crowds will go crazy for traditional Bacon & Cabbage, Irish Stew, full Irish Breakfasts, Guinness, whiskey and more Guinness so having these or any typically Irish food or drink on offer will fly out the door; if you market them well of course.
Marketing St. Patrick’s Day
The holiday in itself is a huge marketing opportunity for businesses as it gives retailers a fun and creative way to reach out to customers, promote products and differentiate themselves from competition. If you don’t already have a few themed marketing tricks up your sleeve, here are a couple of ideas to get the creative juices flowing.
1. Themed Promotions
Paddy’s Day discounts and promotions work well for businesses who struggle to associate their brand with the holiday; typically businesses outside of food, drink and hospitality sector. Very popular with e-commerce sites, special themed discount codes give customers motivation to buy as they’re time-specific and create urgency. Remember that a lot of customers can be too busy celebrating on the day itself to buy from you if you’re outside the F & B sector, so for best results run promotions to last an extra day or two or even over the entire Paddy’s weekend.
2. St. Patrick’s Day Competitions
As Luck is a BIG St. Patrick’s Day theme, running a high-value competition should yield good results and generate an exciting buzz around your brand. It’s also an effective tactic for expanding your customer database and building brand awareness. The prize doesn’t have to be as big as a Paddy’s week trip to New York that retail giants appear to put up for grabs every year, but you should offer a high-value prize or the competition could be a flop and a waste of money; cash-prizes, vouchers or the latest tech gadgets tend to generate the best results. Time to get milking the whole ‘luck o’the Irish’ thing!
3. Social Media
For customer engagement, social media is now the front-line channel for retailers so it only makes sense to reach customers on the channels they spend time most. Leverage the power of social media to showcase your Paddy’s Day products, promotions and celebrations, obviously not forgetting the trending hashtags #PaddysDay and #StPatricksDay if you plan on becoming a viral sensation…
Best o’luck with your Paddy’s Day Marketing and from all the team at ZinMobi – enjoy the celebrations!
