By TE Cunningham
Is your company celebrating an upcoming milestone anniversary? It is a time to celebrate your accomplishments as an SMB owner, thank employees who have joined you for the ride and let your customers know you are here to stay! So how do you celebrate this? Below, we share a few ideas to get you brainstorming on a perfect plan for your company. Before you start, the first thing to consider is how long you want to celebrate. If it’s a smaller anniversary, say a five-year, you may want to celebrate for a matter of weeks, whereas a more significant time, say a 25-year anniversary, may be cause to celebrate for the entire year.
Either way, here are some things to mull over:
Rebranded Logo & Creative
If you are celebrating a larger anniversary (20th, 25th, 50th, 100th), you should consider rebranding the logo for the entire anniversary year. Use this logo and creative design to do a home page takeover the first day you break the event, and then position the anniversary logo on the website and social for the entire year. It’s probably not worth the investment to change physical signage, stationery and business cards, but look for ways to visually create inexpensive displays in retail areas to celebrate all year long.
Video Message from CEO/President
Have the company head/owner record a video message to all touched by the business, thanking them for their contribution and support.
Anniversary Event
Events are a perfect way to celebrate and have everyone who makes up your company present – employees, partners, clients, customers, and vendors. You can include a keynote address or speaker in this event, as well as give awards to long-standing employees. But the most important thing is to make it fun for all; it’s a celebration! And theme it up creatively. Go beyond banners and signs – think anniversary ice sculpture or grandiose cake design and more.
Tie the above into:
- Concert/band appearance with dancing
- BBQ
- Golf Tourney
- Dinner
- Formal event with charity tie-in
Social Media
Theme it around the anniversary and share photos of the life of the company.
- Create a special album on Facebook. A photo album of the company’s history on social media.
- Create video clips of 60-second or less videos of employees who have been there a significant time reminiscing about one of their favorite career moments or what they like best about the company
- Put out a timeline in post sequence
- Create a special hashtag for the anniversary
- Host a virtual event with a guest speaker/celeb; make sure your content will be engaging enough to warrant customers, vendors and others “tuning in”
Anniversary Gifts
Design and order custom gifts with the anniversary logo for distribution throughout the year. Change it up based on whom the gift is going to and the significance of their involvement in the company. Splurge a little – you have earned it! If you can’t swing the customized merchandise and gifts, consider an anniversary card that you would mail out to those listed below – perhaps adding a personal signature or note for all that you realistically can do.
Consider gifts for:
- Employees (and family members)
- Clients
- Customers
- Partners
Give Back to Your Community
If your business is in one core community, celebrate the anniversary with a day of giving back by you and your team of employees. Volunteer at the community pantry, improve a home with Habitat for Humanity or make a year-long financial commitment, e.g., You celebrated with us – now we celebrate you and our community. We are celebrating 100 years by giving away 100 dollars a day to deserving charities all year or month. Or fundraise through your client and business associates for one charity during the anniversary celebration period.
Commission a Commemorative Piece of Art
If you have a public lobby area, commission a piece of art to celebrate the anniversary. It could be a series of black and white photos themed with company history, a painting commissioned to tell that story or a statue. On a budget? You would be surprised what design enhancements you can add to your anniversary logo and make it into a fun print for $100!
These are just a few ideas to get the creative juices going; you want to personalize all aspects of this to a fit that is right for your company! Need a hand? We are here to help. Contact TLC Marketing Consultants today!