Freelancers are among the smaller businesses being urged to capitalise on the World Cup in under a month's time as a way to promote their existing products and services.
Although most fitting to consumer-facing traders, tying the football bonanza to the marketing, advertising or PR efforts of most types of business is easily achievable.
So said Emma Pearson-Kendall, founder of Fred Marketing, speaking to the Small Business Update team at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
As long as your World Cup promo ties in with your business message, avoids certain terms listed by FIFA, so as not to breach copyright law, it could be used both online and offline.
"Try to think of clever associations," recommended Pearson-Kendall.
“For example, a recruitment firm could send a direct mail message about selecting a good team, while an accident insurance firm could use a sports injury analogy.”
Seeming to have heeded her advice, one accountancy firm's eye-catching banner ad shows a football bouncing to the strap-line 'we get a real kick of helping you succeed.'
And for offline traders, her advice was to consider sending out merchandise or direct mail with a match schedule etched on the back "to capture customers’ attention.”
Even if businesses weren't predominantly online, they could still use social media to "comment on the last match, or include match schedules or game summaries".
But as with any new strategy, the marketer stressed that traders must ensure they have a contingency plan, particularly if they want their promo to favour the home team.
“Make sure your marketing doesn’t depend on England being in the tournament", she advised, "as they may get knocked out in the first round.”
May 20, 2010
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