February Holidays: How You Can Help Your Audience

Dear Reader,

It’s a week of celebrations!

Which of these February holidays did you celebrate?

• Valentine’s Day (Do You Heart Your Customers? ❤️),
• President’s Day, and/or
• Mardi Gras (“How Carnival Improves Your Results”).

So what do these February holidays mean for your marketing?
Each has its own lessons.

Valentine’s Day: Show Your Customers A Little Love

As a marketer, use Valentine’s Day to show love for your audience.

According to Drew Davis:
Regardless of whether you’re B2B or B2C, your business needs to be P2P or person-to-person.

Further:
You do NOT need fancy technology! Instead find more ways to include your customer in your process. Instead of fancypants technology, use Plain Jane email or an old fashioned phone call!

Actionable Marketing Lessons From February Holidays: How To Show Customers You Care:

To improve your customer experience (aka:CX), Drew defines 3 steps:

• Keep your customer involved in every step of your order fulfillment. Show your customer how you’re handling their order.Recently, I ordered yarn from Jimmy Beans, an online merchant. In addition to emails to monitor my order, The person who packaged the order initialed each item on the invoice.
• Expand the customer relationship beyond the salesperson. Get more of your team involved with your customer through email or phone. It shows your customer that you care about them.
• Show customers behind the curtain of your internal processes. Let your customer know how you’re handling their order. It’s as easy as sending the customer a photo or email to let them know what’s happening to their order.

 

How Presidents Use Content Marketing

Established in 1968, President’s Day commemorates the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Both Washington and Lincoln understood the power of content marketing.

George Washington’s Approach to Content Marketing

To announce his decision not to run for a third term, Washington hand wrote his Farewell Address. It went through multiple drafts
and had help from Alexander Hamilton. It was printed in Philadelphia’s American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796.

Your audience would find Washington’s editorial conventions difficult to follow. Here are two examples:

Washington said:

“… I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.”

But, today, you’d say:

I’ve decided not to run for another term as President.

Further, Washington stated:

“Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.”

Instead, you’d say:

I know that you love liberty with every fiber of your being. So you don’t need me to encourage you to act.

 

Lincoln’s Use of Content Marketing

During President Abraham Lincoln’s lifetime, speeches were critical to political success according to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Like a good content marketer, Lincoln jotted down ideas when he had them. And he continued to edit his speeches even after he gave them but before they were published!

Delivered on November 19, 1863, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address consists of ten sentences expressed in 272 words. It underscores the need for your content to get to the point quickly. So like Lincoln, edit your first ugly draft more than once!

In one sentence referring to the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln stated words the remain true today:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

And, in another sentence, Lincoln recognized the challenges the US faced then and still faces today due to its commitment to liberty and equality.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.”

 

John F. Kennedy Writes a Book to Position Him for the Presidency

While he was a Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles In Courage

This great piece of content marketing positioned JFK politically to become president. Although his speechwriter Ted Sorensen later admitted to writing most of the book.

Profiles In Courage focused on 8 senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents. Instead these politicians chose to follow their conscience to do what they felt was right. Even if it meant suffering severe criticism and lost popularity.

They included:

• John Quincy Adams who broke from the Federalist Party.
• Daniel Webster who spoke in favor of the Compromise of 1850.
• Thomas Hart Benton, from Missouri, who remained in the Democratic Party despite opposing extending slavery to US territories.
• Sam Houston who favored the Missouri Compromise and spoke out against the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. This act would have allowed these two states to decide the slavery question.
• Edmund G. Ross who voted to acquit Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial.
• Lucius Lamar, from Mississippi, made efforts to mend ties between the North and South during the Reconstructionist period.
• George Norris who opposed Joseph Gurney Cannon’s autocratic power as Speaker of the House.
• Robert A. Taft who criticized the Nuremberg Trials for trying Nazi war criminals under ex post facto laws.

Actionable Marketing Lessons From February Holidays: Presidential Style

• Get help to craft your message. This extends beyond copyediting. Like Washington and Kennedy, listen to other points of view from your own.
• Make your point quickly. Remember people have short attention spans. Also you may need to repeat your key point to ensure people get and remember it!
• Offer useful advice. Where appropriate use examples, case studies and/or tips to help your audience.

  RECOMMENDED READING:

  • How To Create A Content Marketing Strategy That Stands Out

 

Mardi Gras: When Music and Masks Are The Message For February Holidays

Also known as Carnival, Mardi Gras is the perfect COVID holiday because masks are the must-have holiday accessory!

Due to COVID, the usual crowd-attracting Mardi Gras parades and other festivities have been cancelled. Instead the city of New Orleans, the heart of Mardi Gras tradition in the US, recommends decorating your home to show your holiday spirit

To get inspired, watch this video:

https://youtu.be/tVMWwnrVpfw

Or, take an audio approach to your holiday marketing by tapping into the jazz traditions of New Orleans, the birthplace of this musical format (Source: National Geographic.)

To get in the holiday mood, listen to this popular Mardi Gras song via YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUPkvv4H0V0

Actionable Marketing Lessons From February Holidays:

• Tap into local traditions where your brand is located. But—don’t force the holiday association.
• Add audio and/or voice to your marketing mix. Audio branding and content marketing add another dimension to your marketing mix.

 

Meet Project Voice CEO Bradley Metrock in your home city during Project Voice’s Coast-to-Coast event. He’ll be in these cities next week:

• Monday, February 22 in Boston, MA at Hamilton Restaurant and Bar,
• Tuesday, February 23 in New York, NY at Royale,
• Wednesday, February 24 in Newark, NJ at The Fox and Falcon,
• Thursday, February 25 in Philadelphia, PA at Frankford Hall, andl
• Friday, February 26 in Washington, DC at The Royal.

How Instagram Social Media Improves Your Marketing Results

Want to improve your Instagram marketing results?
Then sign up for AgoraPulse’s Social Media Pulse Summit: Instagram Edition.

The live event takes place on February, 24th and sessions will be available on demand through March 24th.

The Social Pulse Summit is free. All you have to do is sign up!

 

I hope you, your family and friends, and your community stay healthy and safe.

As always feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or other input that can help our broader community.

Welcome new subscribers: Ana, Berne, Sandriz, Phil, Lamia, Courtney, Matt, Kanwarbir, Raja, Sharon, Prithviraj, Samuel, Vitalina, Jude, Vicky, Bex and Josiah.

If you enjoy reading the AMG Newsletter, I would appreciate it if you forwarded it to your friends and colleagues.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi

P.S.: Want Heidi Cohen to contribute a quote or other commentary to your next article, presentation, video, research and/or book? Then hit reply to this email and ask.

P.P.S: Did you miss last week’s AMG Newsletter?
Previous newsletters can be found in the AMG Newsletter Archive.

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FEATURED ARTICLE: Content Marketing Pivot: 3 Tactics You Can Use To Improve Your Results

Has your content marketing changed since COVID started?

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• Lead with thought leadership.
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• Respond quickly with limited financial and human resources.

 

FEATURED ARTICLE: 2021 Marketing Trends

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Heidi Cohen Around The Internet

► Big tip of my hat to Aaron Orendorff for spotlighting me in his Content Marketing Institute article 50 of the Best Social Media Tools Selected by Top Marketers. This article provides you with a list of the top social media tools you need to help you improve your social media marketing results.

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The fine print: