Blue Monday is a fairly modern tradition dating back to 2005 when it was classified by Sky Travel as ‘the most depressing day of the year.’ Through the collection of historical weather data Sky Travel discovered that the 20th January was officially the worst day of the year for bleak and bleary weather, and so bringing attention to that they wanted to encourage travel to warmer climates and better weather.
Blue Monday now seems to be associated with a day of feeling down, a day with a black cloud gloomy and looming overhead, but that was never really the intention of Blue Monday, it was always meant to inspire positive action and encourage people to break out of ruts, throw off the bad weather and cold climate and make something for themselves.
Blue Monday customer engagement doesn’t have to be difficult. So, to honour the original tradition of Blue Monday, and to help you encourage your customers to reframe what Blue Monday is all about, we are going to explore several creative ways in which businesses can use Blue Monday to increase customer engagement.
Using Prizes and Promotions to Boost Engagement
The problem with traditions and trends like Blue Monday is that they often take on a life of their own and become something they never intended to be. The very words ‘most depressing day of the year’ kind of sunk into the collective psyche and have begun to shape people’s attitudes to this day, making it a slow, dull, and depressing day indeed. The truth is customers need to be led towards better expectations and be given new examples of what Blue Monday can mean and to that end, we can develop all kinds of incentives to bring the fun, light, and warmth back to Blue Monday.
Prizeshark promotions and incentives are specialist by nature and have long been shown to increase engagement by enhancing the customer experience, offering them something positive and memorable in the form of engaging interactions.
For a day dedicated to feeling gloomy, what better way to lift people’s spirits than to offer them a chance at winning exclusive prizes, or running a Blue Monday promotional sale to help ease the minds of your customers and treat themselves to a little retail therapy.
Prizes and incentives marketing is going to be a key factor in the success of your interactive campaign for Blue Monday. Prizes and promotions offer incentives that draw your customers in, and by theming it appropriately to the trend, holiday, or season you can leverage the time of year for better results, such as turning the Bluest of Mondays into the Brightest of Mondays by endeavouring to offer something positive to your customers to counterbalance the collective glum.
How Incentives Improve Customer Loyalty on Blue Monday?
So, how exactly does leveraging Blue Monday using prizes and promotions manage to improve customer loyalty?
Well first of all, by being one of the few businesses that are actively trying to subvert Blue Monday, you are going to stand out as a business that gives back and uplifts its customers, even on the darkest day of the year.
Secondly, there is much research to show the effectiveness of prizes and promotions in how they engage your customers, develop positive emotional connections to your business and how those connections and experiences create a bond between your business and the customer, successfully enhancing their loyalty towards you.
By running successfully themed promotions you can expect to see:
A Sense of Excitement and Anticipation: Running promotions gives your customers a heads up on what’s to come allowing them to imagine the amazing deals and wonderful offers they will get to experience. Think of the anticipation for Black Friday and how in recent years it has become so popular and so successful, some companies run Black Friday promotions for the weeks leading up to and following the actual event. Applying this to a dull day like Blue Monday could allow your customers to feel excited about the day instead of dreading it.
Increasing Interactions: As the promotion unfolds, or as the competition draws to a close, the draw of special offers and the chance to win prizes will have more customers engaging with your business and platforms than usual, as customers look to secure themselves an amazing deal or be in with a chance to win stellar prizes.
Forging Emotional Connections: For Blue Monday in particular it will be so important to offer a positive campaign to offset the Blue Monday blues. We could also try a comical campaign that encourages people to come to the store dressed all blue and dreary, and those who do receive a certain discount. Either way, bringing brevity and humour to a dull day will warm your customers’ hearts and plant you firmly in their minds.
Creative Campaign Ideas for Blue Monday
So then, to help you get started here are a few creative ideas for prizes and promotions that could help you transform Blue Monday for both you and your customers.
Make it Positive: We’ve covered this a little already but presenting outwardly positive, bright, and happy messages and themes for your campaign will help to stand out from the blue crowd and highlight your business as one that looks for the good and endeavours to bring joy to its customers.
Brighten Someone’s Day Giveaway: So everyone’s feeling blue, Monday is bad enough by itself, but for many, it becomes worse on Blue Monday, and then you go to your e-mails, never mind you should be doing your work, and there it is, a little gift sent forward from a friend, a discount from their favourite business.
To encourage further interaction and spread a positive message why not encourage your customers to brighten the Blue Monday blues for their loved ones, by allowing them to nominate someone for special offers and discounts? Not only do you get more engagement from your customers and potential new customers coming to you, you create a positive experience that will enhance and expand your brand loyalty and advocacy.
Make Blue Monday Better for Your Customers
Blue Monday was originally created to point out that on the worst day of the year, we all still have a choice on what we do with it. Sky Travel encouraged people to go abroad, somewhere warmer. What will you offer?
Blue Monday can be made into a wonderful campaign, the darkness that shackles people can be thrown off and we can look to a brighter future. Utilising a well-placed and well-planned promotion or prize campaign, themed in just the right way, could lead to much greater engagement, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty for you and your business.
So this year, make Blue Monday into something different, make it better for your customers. Peak engagement strategies are just a click away, so if you want help crafting your special promotion then contact Prizeshark today to find out how we can help you maximise customer engagement this Blue Monday!
