Anniversary

Mel Prestamo
B&B Headline

How To Celebrate Your Corporate Anniversary

The average business lasts only 7 years. You have a reason to celebrate!

Your Anniversary, whatever the year,
provides you a singular opportunity to tell
your customers and target audiences about the
Service, Reliability & Product Quality that
have brought you to this momentous
milestone in your company's history.

Invite your employees, dealers, suppliers, and customers to paticipate.
Everyone likes to be a included in a celebration.
It creates a warm feeling of friendliness.
It creates a comfort zone from where you
can block out your competition and cement
long term relationships with your buyers.

A successful Anniversary program can:

Improve Employee morale
Launch special promotions to increase sales
Strengthen relationships with dealers, suppliers, and customers
Update the company image
Boost relations with the surrounding community

GETTING STARTED:

Start planning at least a year in advance.
Appoint one person to head the project.
The project manager can assemble a group to assign responsibilities to. Build a good mix of departments

OUTLINE OF TASKS:

Upper management should determine a budget and special requests.
Blue print the general size and tone of the celebration.
Assign a date for the offical celebration with alternative dates.
Define your requirements for a venue and begin the search.
Consider other activities such as: an incentive program or a special customer appreciation event. The project manager will need to coordinate with various department heads.
Determine whether gifts will be distributed and to whom. As soon as possible contact us for ideas: melprestamo@brownandbigelow.com
Research your company history. This will help to spark ideas and promotions. It will also provide invaluable informaiton for press releases.
Discuss public relations and advertising for the anniversary.
Solicit input from department heads and employees.
Collect names of honored guests and possible speakers. Get commitments as soon as possible.

CREATING A BUDGET:

There are no hard and fast rules for budgeting a celebration.
Plan well enough in advance so that a separate budget line can be created for the anniverary celebration. since differing departments will be involved, it makes sense that program finances be kept separate.
How much is enough? No set rules. Consider what is normally spent for a company special event plus an extra percentage to cover the cost of elements specifically related to the anniversary.
Money budgeted for an anniversary is NOT wasted. When you tell the story of how your company has prospered through the years, it will set you above and give you more of an advantage over your competition.
The important action is to create your budget early and stick to it. Don't let downturns in the business climate derail your program. Waiting until the last minute may mean relying on cash flow at a limited time and that could severly limit your opportunities.

GETTING THE WORD OUT:

Develop a theme or slogan as well as an anniversary logo.
Use them for the entire year.
Include them on stationary, calendars, corporate gifts and awards, advertising, and sales literature.
Development of a slogan and anniversary logo can be a part of an employee incentive.
Promote your milestone at Trade Shows, Conferences, and large gatherings.
Arrange for advanced publicity. Media outlets require advanced lead time.
Schedule paid advertising space. You can also coincide new product rollouts in conjuction with the anniversary.

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