What Easter reminded me about Marketing

It’s Easter weekend. I find it interesting that we all have different traditions in our families. We were raised with getting Easter candy (large chocolate bunny and eggs sitting next to our plate) when we got up for Easter breakfast. No mention of the Easter bunny — we knew who gave the candy to us.

Of course, because of our strong Christian background, our family centered on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our church usually did a cantata presentation which we were all involved in since my Mom played the piano and my Dad was the AV guy at our church.

Thinking back at all my years at home, I don’t remember an Easter dinner. Strange. I remember other special days and meals, but not Easter. I have no Easter traditions to pass on to our kids — no easter ham, lamb, easter breads, nothing. Except the chocolate of course.

How about you? Any traditions you have for Easter?

We’ve tried to create memorable Easter traditions for our children (other than chocolate) — this year we wanted to make it special. My wife’s parents are visiting from Canada (which doesn’t always happen each year) so we decided to invite some friends over to a big Easter dinner.

I don’t know about you but just the mere mention of a large dinner set’s my wife’s mind into a spin. She loves to do things just right — and she always cooks amazing meals. I’ve been blessed with a helpmate who is a wonderful hospitality hostess as well as a great cook.

I watched her exhibit the organizational skills of Martha Stewart as she set out to create this experience.

She followed these simple steps:

• Decide the Theme – this of course was Easter.
• Select the Menu – She decided (since it would be after an early Easter church service) that it would be a brunch. Egg Casserole, Ham, Asparagus, Cinnamon rolls, Sausage Balls, etc.
• Invite your Friends – We wanted to make sure that they had kids so they could interact with our kids. And of course, we wanted to enjoy their company.
• Share the Responsibility – With the fine abilities of an army general, my wife divided up the tasks and got us all involved.
• Shop – The list of things required were purchased. Quality and price were properly balanced.
• Deliver – The day arrived and it was amazing. It all played out as planned. Or at least it seemed that way. Often, the unexpected became part of the “plan”.

The same can be said for great marketing. You want your business marketing to be remembered like a long-standing tradition!

Here’s the same list, but this time it’ll help you with your next campaign:

• Decide the Theme – What’s coming up on the calendar? In your community? In the minds of your audience? These are great starters for a campaign!
• Select the Menu – Start with the 4 Ps of Marketing: Price, Promotion, Product, Place. Then create the menu! This is the fun part… the sky’s the limit. Just make sure all the “P’s” are involved. It’s always in the “menu” where the success begins.
• Invite your Friends – These would be your target audience. Know why you would invite them. And I certainly hope you like to spend time with them.
• Share the Responsibility – You can’t do it all. So know what you do best and hire experts in the field to accomplish great things.
• Shop – Only buy the best. Balance money with quality. Buy the best you can.
• Deliver – Your clients/customers will purchase from you if the invitation is right, and they desired the Menu.

It’s that easy! Of course, planning a family tradition isn’t really that easy. Just like business marketing isn’t really that easy either. But you’ll get better the more you do it — and as you learn from the people you deal with. We have a heart of a teacher, we love to teach you the “why” of everything we do.

Our Easter party ended with a surprise Easter Egg hunt. It was the end to a perfect day. Why? It involved chocolate! And it reminded us of the sweetness of God’s mercy that was exhibited on the first Easter day.