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Holidays as Communication Tools

Using the holidays to promote your cause and communicate. Could be used for fundraising too! Christmas and New Years Eve are obvious targets, with Thanksgfiving being popular too. Other holidays in the USA and of course in other countries where you may operate make good reasons to reconnect with people on your email list, or promote in other ways. Is there an event where tabling would be appropriate? Could you just put some 8X11 posters in the area?

Is there any possible tie in with an upcoming holiday and your cause or mission. Why aren't you using that? We are all, in the USA at least, familiar with ads for food donations, ads that talk about how many people are at risk of going hungry this Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Look for a holiday that offers an excuse to do one of the following:

1. Remind people what you've accomplished.
2. Tell people what you want to do in the near term.
3. Report on what you are doing now.
4. Talk about a related issue.
5. Ask people to do something specific.

Combinations of two or more are always an option!

Just don't be a Debbie Downer. Reminding people that 1 billion kids aren't going to eat on Thanksgiving does not encourage giving or any other positive action really.

Suggest specific actions. Join the call to plant trees on arbor day. Suggest that people use Labor Day to volunteer on community cleanup, tree planting, et cetera. Pick something realistic and try to offer a new twist on the idea. Instead of planting a tree on Arbor Day, what about planting a fruit tree in the yard?

A Youtube poster who goes by Potholer54 mentions the patron saint of lost causes in connection with his annual award for stupdist thing said by a creationist on YouTube. That's got nothing to do with holidays, but could you enlist a holiday character like the Easter Bunny.

(Potholer54 sparks a related thought: Create a prize or trophy, serious or silly to use in promoting your cause. There could be an Empty Bin award for biggest opponent of municipal recycling initiatives. Boring prize, but I think you get the picture.)

Speaking of holidays, could you use some element of the holiday in your communications? Of course! Just be doubly sure to check what you are doing. Can you use zombies to promote healthy eating? Probably. Could you use Christmas presents to raise awareness of sex trafficking? I wouldn't.
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