In a world full of pressure, deadlines and a ‘what’s next’ approach, it’s perhaps more important now than ever before to make sure your business or brand doesn’t overlook your achievements.
Brand anniversaries and milestones enable you to celebrate successes in real time, as well as highlighting the longevity of your work.
Celebrating milestones, whether it be five years, 25 years or 100 years, are fantastic examples of the trust and authenticity of your brand and your culture, demonstrating to your audience and potential customer base that you’re experts in your field.
Why celebrating brand milestones is more important than ever
The business world is always looking ahead, never backwards.
But failing to live in the present and celebrating your important brand milestones is an opportunity lost.
You might have won a glossy new contract at pitch, you may have long service or anniversary awards to hand out among your trusted employees, you may have just won a significant award in your industry.
Celebrate it. Cherish it. Live in the moment and, of course, make sure everyone who needs to know, knows!
Let’s not forget why we’re celebrating, or who for
R&Co has successfully helped many of its clients to mark their internal brand milestone moments with combined marketing campaigns.
But the question which is always asked during the ideation phase of any milestone or anniversary campaign is – who are you celebrating with, and why?
Landmark moments can take many forms, so it’s important to remember why you’re celebrating.
Gimmicky labels around short-form, topical events won’t stand the test of time, and a “it’s 5pm somewhere” mentality just doesn’t cut it, either.
Consider why you’re celebrating, and make your milestone moment hit the mark with the people who have either earned it or been a part of it, and the people you want to make sure see your success.
Five tips to make your next brand milestone ‘pop’
In an article for Forbes, Brighton Academy CEO Brandi Watterson highlights how the definition of a milestone is subjective, tailored for your business and your audience. So how do you make your milestone moment shine, and in what ways? Here’s a handy guide for enabling more than just the champagne corks to ‘pop’ when you’re next celebrating:
Reward the people who made the celebration, a reason to celebrate
Corporate messaging needs be on brand, with your tone of voice at the forefront of every piece of content distributed to your audience, but this can be channelled in different ways both externally and internally.
Reminding yourselves of why you’re celebrating, and who has made the occasion worth celebrating at all, is really important. Implementation of this can take many forms – LinkedIn content works particularly well here – to shoutout your team, highlight how you’re celebrating, and give thanks to the people who have made the milestone possible and/or shared in it with you.
Remember and respect the past…
More often than not, milestones in business will relate to a significant brand anniversary or moment in the company’s history. A decade in business, 25 years since the current owner took the reins, 75 years since the formation of a parent company, and so forth.
Respecting your business’ past, and leaning into that for major milestones, is really important to a successful marketing campaign.
Consider the people who made the company what it is today, use niche, industry-specific historical practices as a PR stunt, pore through the archives of the business and use all of that fantastic, often nostalgic media, assets and content to help form your anniversary campaign ideas.
… While looking ahead to the future
Your moment in the spotlight to celebrate in the present is also the best opportunity your brand has to be bold when looking to the future.
Making clear statements of intent towards the next period or milestone in the company’s history will make a bigger impact while you’re riding the crest of a current wave.
Draw people into your website with a piece of comms which can be shared externally and internally.
Double down on this with social content – interviews with the company director/founder, for example – to look back on your success and lead the charge towards an even brighter future and your next brand milestone.
Look closer to find the truth in your celebratory mood
Milestones don’t carry enough weight externally if they’re not supported by real evidence or significance, even if internally you might think otherwise. Understanding what makes a brand milestone reason to celebrate is in the detail of how you’ve reached this point.
How many people have helped you reached this point? How many end users have benefited from your service? What challenges have you overcome to get here?
Consider the bigger picture and shout about those details throughout your milestone marketing campaign.
Remain humble, but proud and comfortable to share successes
Striking the balance of your celebratory mood can be difficult to achieve. You want to share your success with anyone willing to listen but, importantly, don’t want to appear tone deaf, which is paramount in certain sectors of business.
Being gracious while showing pride in your achievements is a fine art, which is why R&Co Communications is on hand to help build and deliver your next brand milestone campaign.
How R&Co can help your business celebrate its next milestone
Choosing to partner with R&Co Communications for your brand’s marketing campaign will bring the potential to:
- Be seen by the most relevant people for your audience, in B2C or B2B comms
- Benefit from a strategic and targeted marketing campaign
- Maximise your campaign with a detailed, comprehensive social media plan
Learn more about how R&Co’s services can support your business or brand, and find out more about celebrating a milestone with our latest social media case study.
