Important Dates for your March Marketing Calendar (+ Content Ideas!)
Your March Marketing Calendar
It’s almost the end of February, which means it’s time to make sure all your March marketing plans are ready to go. But it may be that you need some last minute inspiration before setting things in stone.
A great way to come up with marketing and PR content ideas is by capitalising on key dates throughout the month. Whether it’s National Cheesecake Day or Mother’s Day, there’s usually always something to be celebrated.
Incorporating these days into your content calendar can do the world of good for your business, with benefits like boosting audience engagement, exhibiting brand personality, and building a positive reputation if you choose to raise awareness for a specific cause or event.
So, without further ado, here are the dates you might want to keep in mind for your March marketing calendar:
1st March – Pancake Day
Does your business serve food? Why not create a limited edition pancake dish to serve for one day only, or across the weekend as well.
This doesn’t have to be the typical Nutella-covered dessert you can find everywhere. Take this opportunity to create something that’s unique and aligns with your branding.
For example, our client Ritu Seasons of India is celebrating Shrove Tuesday by serving up Fluffy Chocolate and Pistachio Pancakes with Gulab Jamun and Rose Petal Maple. Is your mouth watering yet?
3rd March – World Book Day
Does your business sell books? Or items that can be book-themed? Boost your brand awareness by doing something related to World Book Day.
Maybe your target audience consists of parents that stress over their kids’ costumes every year. Can your brand’s products make it easier for them this year? Better yet, does your business sell costumes, and can you create an offer that increases sales just before World Book Day?
4th March – Employee Appreciation Day
Show the more human side of your company by posting about your team on social media. These could be appreciation posts, or you can shoot content of your team doing team-bonding activities.
Perhaps share your company’s efforts to support the wellbeing of your staff, such as posting content of a guided meditation or wellbeing talk.
8th March – International Women’s Day
Take this opportunity to celebrate the women in your team by sharing content of them on social media.
Or why not fundraise for a women’s charity? Have customers donate to a charity by purchasing a limited edition item, or have a percentage of your day’s profits go towards the charity.
You could also create a women-only event, like a girls’ bottomless brunch, with proceeds going to a women’s charity.
11th March – International School Meals Day
Is your business in the food/drink sector? Similarly, you can fundraise for International School Meals Day by donating to a particular children’s charity.
You could even begin a partnership with a charity, and help to raise awareness and proceeds for them on a long-term basis.
13th March – The BAFTAs
This is one your business can be reactive towards. Ask your audience who they’re voting for through an Instagram poll.
Or if you’re active on Twitter, live Tweet during the show and let your brand’s personality shine by sharing opinions about the awards.
Why not come up with a PR angle surrounding this? How can your business relate to the BAFTAs? Or if you’re situated near the event, can your business offer anything to guests attending the show?
14th March – Pi Day (3.14)
Have a bit of fun with this one. Share a pie chart on social media that relates to your brand.
Does your business sell anything circular, like pizzas? Or better, pies? Take this as an opportunity to highlight them! Promote special offers on these items for the day by sharing images of them on social media.
There’s also the option to discount items by 3.14% or even sell them for the price of £3.14.
17th March – St Patrick’s Day
Ask all your staff to dress in green! Or perhaps set up an event where all your customers have to wear green, creating a green wave in your venue, perfect for social media content.
Can you give a freebie to everyone named Patrick (if they can prove it, of course)? If your business is a bar or pub, why not offer a free pint of beer to any Patricks in the venue?
As St Patrick’s Day is so drinking-focused, create special offers on drinks, like 2 for 1 cocktails, for the day. Or create a limited edition green cocktail to be sold from Thursday to Sunday.
On the other hand, stand out from the crowd and reach out to customers who don’t drink, by creating special mocktails or acknowledging them via Instagram Stories.
24th March – National Cheesecake Day
Do you sell cheesecake? Promote a special offer on cheesecake for the day and share on social media.
Perhaps create a poll on Instagram about your audience’s favourite types of cheesecake. Not only will this boost engagement, but it might also give you menu inspiration!
Not in the food sector? Ask your staff to bake their best (or worst!) cheesecakes and ask your audience to vote for the best on social media. You can make this as amusing as you’d like!
25th March – Bridgerton Season 2 Release
Like the BAFTAs, be reactive! We all know how much this trended last year, so take the chance to jump on the bandwagon earlier this year. Whether you’re a brand or not, if you’re relating to your audience’s interests, they’ll engage.
Share Instagram stories related to the series’ release, like polls that ask your audience for their opinions on certain characters or storylines.
Or do some newsjacking (reactive PR)! Can your brand relate in any way to Bridgerton? Think outside the box.
Maybe you’re a clothing brand that can create a concept dress similar to one in the series. Or perhaps you’re an organisation that can provide expert comments on what the Regency Era was really like compared to the series.
25th March – International Waffle Day
Much like National Cheesecake Day, take this opportunity to promote your waffle dishes with a special offer. Or create a limited edition waffle dish for the day.
Perhaps set up a competition for your followers to come up with their ideal waffle toppings – design-your-own-waffle – and offer a voucher or free dessert as a prize.
Remember to think outside the box! ‘Waffle’ doesn’t just have to be food. Maybe you’re a throat soother brand that can help your chatty audience when they ‘waffle’ too much, or a telephone brand keen to encourage more ‘waffle’.
27th March – Mother’s Day
Perhaps the most important day to prepare for this month. Think about your target audience – does it consist of mums? Find a way that you can flip your services to give back to mums.
Why not offer freebies to any mums at your venue? You can offer a free glass of prosecco, or even a voucher for your brand – not only will your customer feel appreciated, but they’ll also have incentive to return.
Perhaps create special offers on possible gift items that you sell, like beauty products or champagne.
Are you a hospitality brand? Try setting up an event dedicated to mums – like a Mother’s Day brunch or a special Mothering Sunday carvery, like our client Hamlet Hotels.
Make sure you’re also engaging with the rest of your audience. Most people have a mum they’d like to celebrate on Mother’s Day. Ask your audience what they love most about their mum to help boost engagement.
Still need more content ideas for your March marketing calendar? Get in touch with Posh Cockney today.
5 Ways to Boost Instagram Engagement
There are many benefits to social media marketing for your business. Using Instagram, for example, is a free way to grow your audience and increase brand awareness. With over one billion monthly active users, Instagram is also a great platform to entice new customers with exciting images and graphics. However, maintaining and improving your Instagram engagement is another matter.
The platform regularly changes its algorithm to favour certain content over others, so it can be hard to keep track of what’s engaging and what isn’t. If you’ve not looked at your Instagram strategy for a while you may notice your engagement starting to drop.
So, how can you boost your engagement on Instagram? In this blog, we take a look at five ways you can boost your Instagram engagement, from understanding your audience to making the most of all of Instagram’s features.
1. Get to know your audience
You can’t create engaging and compelling content for Instagram without first knowing who your audience is.
Hopefully, you’ll have done your market research and know your brand voice and its audience. Now you need to find out what your audience likes to see. Do they prefer Instagram carousel posts to single-image posts? Do they prefer reels (short-form video) to Instagram TV (long-form video)? You can work this out by looking at Instagram analytics under your account. Here you can examine engagement rates and the reach of each post.
From these insights, you can continue creating the posts that work well, and stop wasting time on posts your audience doesn’t like. By getting to know your audience and their needs, you’ll be sure to keep them engaged with relevant and timely content.
2. Create relevant and saveable content
Now that you know who your audience is and what they like to see on Instagram, you can now channel your content even further.
You may understand Instagram as a photo-sharing platform, but users now use it for more than just looking at aesthetic images. You need to create content that is educational, entertaining or a combination of both. The rise of ‘edutainment’ has prompted content creators to produce more than just a pretty image, and give their followers something they can learn from. Don’t be afraid to use more words in your graphics. If the content is helpful or informative, users will like and save it to return to later.
The more users that save your posts, the higher your engagement will be. Creating saveable content will thrust you into the spotlight as a useful resource and a thought-leader within your industry. It’s a win-win!
3. Write strong captions
Every one of your Instagram posts should have a compelling caption with a strong call-to-action.
The caption space is a great opportunity to tell your audience more about your brand, product or service. Use this space to share more of your brand voice, and add a call-to-action at the end to encourage followers to engage with your account. These might look like “visit the link in our bio to find out more” or “drop your favourite meal in the comments below”. This helps to open up a conversation between you and your followers, showing them that you care about what they have to say.
If you’re struggling for content ideas, a great tip is to ask your followers what they’d like to see! Your caption is the perfect place for that. Hearing from your followers will inspire content ideas and boost engagement later down the line.
4. Post short-form videos
Short-form video is set to be one of the biggest marketing trends of 2022. They’re quick and easy to make, and can boost your engagement ten-fold. We’ve seen a sharp drop in the average attention span when consuming social media (now only eight seconds). This means it’s important to create content that grabs viewers in the first few seconds.
Since Instagram added the reels feature in 2020, they have continued to grow in popularity as an alternative to TikTok. The Instagram algorithm also favours creators who make use of all Instagram’s features, including reels. This means that if you’re creating relevant and entertaining videos for reels, you’re likely to appear on more users’ feeds than if you stick to static posts only.
Showing your face on camera may sound a little daunting, but trust us, everyone is doing it! For content ideas, keep an eye on Instagram’s creators page, as they share trending topics, reels and tutorials.
5. Best way to boost Instagram engagement: Be yourself
Last but not least, be yourself. A trend that is here to stay is being authentic online. Authenticity and honesty are two values that social media users have come to appreciate and expect from their favourite brands.
This is a good way to stand out on Instagram, which has previously favoured aesthetic images and perfectly curated content. Now, Instagram users want to see the people behind the brand. This might mean sharing behind-the-scenes footage in an Instagram story, or a ‘meet the team’ carousel showcasing your staff.
Having a cheeky sense of humour, or an interesting backstory to your brand can help you come across more personable and boost your engagement. Genuine ideas and messaging help build that emotional connection. It also has the added benefit of making your brand more memorable, as followers can assign a face to a brand. A little less perfection and more authenticity will go a long way to boost your engagement on Instagram.
These are just a few ways to boost Instagram engagement for your brand. We recommend trying a variety of these methods to see which resonates the most with your audience. The most important aspect of boosting engagement is creating relevant content consistently. That way you become a trusted brand with quality content that your audience will come to expect.
To find out more about how to boost your social media presence, get in touch with Posh Cockney today.
The highs and lows of controversial marketing illustrated by Kanye West
Everyone is talking about Kanye
If you haven’t heard of him, you’ve got to be living under a rock. If you have, however, you likely have a strong opinion on him.
American rapper Kanye West, also known as ‘Ye’, is currently one of the most controversial figures in the spotlight. Best known for his music, relationship with Kim Kardashian and questionable behaviour, Kanye frequently dominates news headlines.
This past week has been a prime example of this – once again, everyone is talking about Kanye.
The rapper, who is soon to be divorced from wife Kim Kardashian West, has returned to Instagram after a four-year break, but for a less conventional use of the app. In a number of posts that have since been swiftly deleted, Kanye has not held back from criticising his soon to be ex-wife’s parenting, sharing private messages between the two of them, and attacking Kim’s new boyfriend Pete Davidson.
But with his new album Donda 2 soon to be released, along with the autobiographical documentary ‘Jeen-Yuhs’ having just gone live on Netflix, many have wondered whether Kanye’s recent behaviour has all occurred in the name of marketing.
Kanye West: A marketing ‘Jeen-Yuhs’
West has previously been dubbed as a “marketing genius” for many of his actions surrounding music or product launches. A big part of his marketing strategy is that he remains completely unfiltered in everything he does. This means that people either love him or hate him, but either way, everyone has got their eye on him. Whether he’s sharing controversial opinions on social media or disrupting others on stage, Kanye always manages to make his way into the news.
Not only this, but his unpredictable behaviour constantly keeps everyone on their toes. In the recent Instagram feud, the interesting variety of Kanye’s outbursts has kept everyone wondering what he’ll do next. This has led to more people following his social media accounts and sharing his posts with others, ultimately gaining him more engagement.
No matter how controversial, however, Kanye’s popularity continues to skyrocket, with sales surrounding his past albums and current work proving this. With such successful marketing strategies, brands may be tempted to take inspiration from Kanye. But is this a good idea?
What we can learn from Kanye
A very common phrase thrown around the showbiz industry is ‘all publicity is good publicity’. Looking at Kanye’s sales statistics, this seems to be the case for him. But why isn’t this recommended for brands?
While controversial behaviour appears to pay off for Kanye, there’s no guarantee this will work for your brand. In fact, it’s more likely that controversial marketing will simply backfire on your business, without having the same self-branding that Kanye already has in place.
But what can we learn from Kanye?
- Be unpredictable – While sharing controversial opinions online isn’t always the best idea for your brand, you can still take inspiration from Kanye’s unpredictable behaviour. Keep your audience on their toes. Do something they’ll never expect from you. This is what will get people looking at and sharing your brand. Just make sure it’s something positive!
- Be authentic – One huge part of Kanye’s self-branding is his authenticity. Whether you agree with any of it, everything Kanye does is very much ‘him’. In a world full of fakery and inauthentic marketing, current generations value authenticity in the media they’re consuming. While we don’t recommend speaking out quite as controversially as Kanye, your brand will benefit from sticking to its values and remaining unmanufactured.
- Be consistent – A reason why Kanye’s marketing works is that it fits his branding. Ever since the beginning of his career, Kanye has seemingly never missed a week in the news for his loud, outspoken behaviour. While it’s fairly out-there, most people have allowed and entertained Kanye’s recent outbursts because it’s typical behaviour for him. Be unpredictable, but also embrace your brand’s identity and what makes it the great brand it is.
Whether intentional or not, Kanye knows how to get everyone talking about him. And for that, we can call him a ‘marketing Jeen-Yuhs’.
Want to get everyone talking about your brand (without the added controversy!)? Get in touch with Posh Cockney today.
Influencers: How to work with us?
As a leading PR and Marketing Agency for the hospitality industry in the UK, we have a lot of opportunities available for influencers across our various client bases. Predominantly, we work with restaurants and bars, but our clients do not stop there.
Are you a foodie that captures engaging content with an interactive social media following? We could be looking for you.
How to get in touch with us?
We are always on the lookout for new influencers to collaborate with. The best way to get in touch with us is through email (athina@poshcockney.co.uk) or directly through our social media channels (@poshcockneyltd).
What to include when you get in touch with us?
1. Who you are
First of all, we would love to hear a few words about you and the type of content you create.
It is very important for you to include a hyperlink to your profile, so we can find you in just one click.
We are all very busy here at Posh Cockney, so if you want to grab our attention, please make our job as easy as possible.
2. Why we should work with you
There are 100s of amazing influencers out there, so why should we choose you?
Please include your media pack or some stats from recent campaigns. These allow us to see quickly if your target audience is right for our clients.
3. Any additional info
Seen a particular client that you’d like to work with? Let us know! Also please do include your location or the areas you are willing to travel to as our clients span all the way from Essex to Surrey.
We take maintaining good relationships with the influencers we work with very seriously and always want them to enjoy their time working with us. That is why the team here at Posh Cockney is readily available to answer any questions and concerns you may have, whilst maintaining the utmost professionalism and respect for your line of work.
Get in touch with Posh Cockney today and work with us on exciting new projects!
The importance of finding your brand's target audience
The foundation of a successful marketing campaign revolves around one thing: knowing who to target. A target audience is a specific group of people with shared characteristics who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. In this day and age, being aware of your target audience is much needed if you want to create an effective marketing strategy that is going to work for your brand.
How to define your target audience
Firstly, your target audience can be certain types of people of your choosing based on your ideal customer and consumer type. When identifying your target demographic, you must consider some key characteristics these people will share, like:
- Age
- Location
- Language
- Spending power
- Interests
However, one of the most helpful ways to choose and define the people you should target is through social media. Social media analytics tools can help your business better understand what types of people are interacting with your accounts, and whether they are current customers.
You can also use social media not just with your own accounts, but to check in on your competition. Looking into how your competition attracts certain demographics can be beneficial as your business can then begin to target them as well, when it’s appropriate to do so. You can also review competitor social media accounts to see what type of customers engage with them.
Why is this important?
One of the gravest marketing mistakes to avoid is to attempt to appeal to everyone at once. Without a target audience, a campaign may come up empty handed because it casts too wide a net. The most efficient way to reach a more desirable audience is to target smaller, more specific groups.
This may seem very exclusive, but in reality, it is the most effective way that allows your business to focus its marketing efforts on niche groups that are most likely to support your brand and visit your restaurant. For example, Facebook Ads allow you to target users according to their interests. That way, you are generating business in an efficient and affordable manner.
At the end of the day, it is impossible to reach everyone at once. In the current economy, small businesses can compete with large businesses by marketing to defined audience groups. Focusing on the needs of your current consumer helps your business to develop an effective marketing strategy whilst saving time and money along the way.
How does influencer marketing play a role in this?
In the present day, one of the best ways to reach your target demographic is through influencer marketing. Marketing strategies that incorporate influencers in their campaigns are more likely to reach their targeted niche groups.
Influencers have the ability to reach very specific audiences. Instead of relying on thousands of followers, influencers ensure a very targeted audience that guarantees an increase in brand traffic and a more selective marketing strategy fit for your brand.
At Posh Cockney, we are dedicated to selecting the right influencers that are fit for your business. We select influencers based on specific criteria, as they represent your brand and will do the talking for you.
Ultimately, “There is only one winning strategy. It is to carefully define the target market and direct a superior offering to that target market,” as marketing author Philip Kotler once said. Target audiences are designed to create a bond between your brand and your most common type of consumer. It can allow your audience to feel engaged with your brand as well as create value for them. When your brand constantly markets to your specific niche target audience, it will create brand loyalty and continue to boost sales.
Need help defining and reaching your target audience? Get in touch with Posh Cockney today.
Brand image: What is it and how can we reinforce it?
What is brand image?
In a very busy market, it can be hard for a brand to stand out from competitors. When a new company arrives in a market where there are already leaders such as Nike or Adidas, it can be complicated to build a notoriety. The solution is to reflect a quality brand image in order to differentiate and attract attention.
Brand image, or brand identity, is the representation of a brand perceived by customers. It is very important for a company to remain consistent between the image they convey and the one perceived by the public.
For a company, having a positive brand image is a must. It will increase the notoriety of the company and of course, it will increase sales. It is important to keep in mind that customers sometimes buy the brand before they even buy the product! This is called e-reputation, and it is decisive in the consumer’s buying journey.
Brand image is crucial, because if it is perceived negatively by consumers, it will lead to a bad reputation of the brand, a loss of clients as well as a loss of sales.
How can companies maintain and reinforce this?
Building brand image starts by having a precise graphic charter, a logo, a slogan, you name it. Whatever it is, these aspects should be given thorough thought as the brand identity must agree with the marketing and communication strategy. This visual identity must correspond to the image that the brand wants to convey.
The visual elements chosen will allow consumers to recognize your brand, which is why you must remain consistent with them. But, keep in mind that brand image can evolve with time! According to the new missions of the company, or even in case of a name change, brand image can change too.
To maintain a positive brand image, it is necessary, as a first step, to focus on customers; brand image needs to be consistent with the targeted customers in order to attract them. So, get to know your customers, such as through a survey. Brand identity will also be reinforced by using digital marketing tools such as ads or social media.
If you have anything unique, or new, or original, be creative to set yourself apart from others! Exposing how your brand is different from the others will be your strength.
Offering quality content will demonstrate your values and skills in order to convince consumers to choose your brand. Good content has a lot of chances to be shared by consumers on social media. This will generate a digital word-of-mouth for your company, which is a very powerful marketing tool nowadays to attract new clients!
To find out more about how you can reinforce your brand’s image, get in touch with Posh Cockney today.