Marketing: 15 Content Ideas in 15 minutes, April 2021

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Hi everybody. It’s Nicola from Mint Business Club
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And Michelle from Michelle Rose Marketing.
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And here we are for your April 15, at least, content ideas in as close to 15 minutes as we can keep it. So we’re going to crack straight on. What do you think of April Fool’s Day on the first Michelle?
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Well, we were a little unsure on this one and we sort of normally like going for it, but what we did realise was that all of April is stress awareness month. And given the year that we’ve all had, I think we would be foolish not to address our stress levels and make sure that as we come into spring, we’re getting outside. And so those of you who deal with people’s mental health and wellbeing, I think you have a whole theme for April.
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Yeah, for sure. For sure. I think we’ve got to strike a balance. I’ve seen a lot of posts about toxic positivity, which has left me feeling really curious because I am, I guess, toxically positive. I try very hard to stay positive, but what they’re trying to say is it’s OK not to be OK. Which of course it is, so having a balance about talking about stress and maybe how we handle it and the fact that you haven’t been okay. That’s great. I think once we slide off into serious sharing of maybe real vulnerabilities perhaps, or things that I don’t know might come across dare I say a little bit wingy. I think that’s when we’ve got to start thinking about what we’re trying to achieve with talking about mental health and stress and all of that. But I think if you’re there going, do you know what? I’ve had a bad day and this is me and I’m normal and we all have those bad days. I think that’s really powerful content.
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Yeah. And all I think about and I guess a lot of us, it depends where we share and some of us might have private Facebook groups where we might invite people to go if they’re vulnerable or we, yeah. So it’s about, I guess, with all of the ideas that we’ve given you January, February, March, and now April, it’s putting your own spin on them, see where they fit in your content. Cause that could be your blogs, YouTube videos and Instagram Reel or just a picture. Make it, make it work for you. And I think Nic, it’s your integrity. If you always operate from a place of integrity, trying to show up and serve and help people you can’t go far wrong.
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I think, I think so. Just make it work for you, right? Just, you know, whatever you’re comfortable with in your business, to your level of sharing. That’s exactly as it should be. Okay. And we’ll give a nod to Easter cause we have to. Easter’s early so we’ve got, I’m looking at Maunday Thursday, second is Good Friday. You’ve got Holy weekend on the third, you’ve got Easter Monday on the fifth.
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Remember it’s not just all about chocolate. We might be celebrating Easter differently this year. But for all of us who celebrate Easter, because that is a really important religious festival, but all of that content, but for the rest of us, you know, we can, we can pick into that and we can do content about Easter. Let’s hope we’re having some holiday, let’s hope we’ve got a couple of days off perhaps, we’re seeing family that we haven’t. How wonderful would that be, you know. Lighter nights, school holidays, it is Easter. But you know, we, we have to mention that it’s Easter. So from whichever viewpoint you’re coming, you’re probably going to put some content out about Easter.
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Definitely. Good. I like it.
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Okay. So then what did we say on the third? We’ve got Find A rainbow Day and World Party Day, Michelle
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Party at the rainbow’s end. I love that. And we need it for some real positivity. World Party Day. I actually saw a thread today. You know, one of those threads you see on Facebook where people tag you and you have to like, but it was like, what was the first gig you went to see? What was the best gig you’ve been to see? So it could be like, you know, what was the best party you’ve been to? Where was the most embarrassing party? Well I think my hen party was the most embarrassing party. Cause I had to leave first.
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So World Party Day and Find A Rainbow Day, I’d share beautiful pictures of your rainbows. We’ve got, you’ve got artists in Mint. They could send some freebies of the colouring in, but you know, the images for people to colour in. Or if you do crafts, you could say craft activities for rainbows and get people to share. So obviously the rainbow has become particularly special in 2020, but it’s, it’s a beautiful emblem of hope and, and spring at any time. Really?
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Absolutely. But moving swiftly onto No Housework Day, Michelle on the seventh. I mean like let’s celebrate that! For me, I think I would celebrate the wonderful Claire who comes and cleans my house every single Wednesday. And it was a goal that I was going to have that I could have someone help me cause I can’t be doing with it. So, you know, there are better people than me to do the housework.
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That’s a whole another business and I think it’s going to be no housework day is the day that we take away the shame from having cleaners.
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Absolutely. Granny used to talk about this when I was a kid. Because she had a lady once a week and it was really frowned upon then. Yeah. I’m just channeling my granny. It’s perfect.
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Channeling your granny, I like it! Is there a channeling your granny day?
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I haven’t come across it yet, but I’ll tell you what, I’m channeling my granny. Cause she always used to say she had, she had a lady. That’s what she used to say. She’s got a lady who comes on a Thursday. My goodness. Okay.
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So on the 10th we’ve got Money Smart Week, which from every point of view, a small business can get involved with Money Smart Week, whether you’re talking about your own finances or you’re thinking about Let’s Talk About Money, our course that you could come on, you know. You could be teaching your kids how to be smart with money. I mean, there’s so many angles on Money Smart Week.
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It’s interesting because the same day, the 10th is National Siblings Day. Always just check if these are UK or US guys. But what you find is even if some of them are the American ones, the hashtags are international, they work internationally, but you could certainly talk about, you know, teaching your kids money. And I see with my three, which one saves and which one just like blows their pocket money like the week before they’ve even got it. And they want an IOU, so it’s really interesting, you know, how you how you teach skills and I’m going to mention it. Cause I’ve mentioned it every month, remember, don’t be afraid to sell. You don’t have to be sleazy. It doesn’t have to be constant, but I’ve got a course which is about setting your goals and knowing what your goals need to be in your business. So that would be a perfect day for me to maybe do an offer or a flash sale on it because it ties in really well. Yeah,
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Loving all of that. I might talk about my brother, who I went traveling with in my twenties and I paid for him from selling my house. And I’ve got all that story. It’s going to be great. What about the 11th? Which is Pet Day. I mean, for most people sharing a picture of their pet or the pet that they want. I mean,
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So it’s a good one, National Pet Day, but if you’ve, we’ve got Maine Coon so your hashtags, Maine Coons of Instagram. It’s what we talked about last month when we talked about flowers, how people like to see behind the scenes of their business mentors, their hairdressers that, you know, whatever. So showing people, your pet is a, is a lovely one, but use the, maybe use the breed’s hashtag because it might enable followers that wouldn’t ordinarily find you to, to come across you. And, and again, you can find people get involved in new conversations. So it’s a good, just a little peek inside your, your, your, your life aside from your business.
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Lots of people take their pets to work. I mean, have their dogs at work,
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The, the brilliant guy who comes with the mobile tyre business, who works around the Northeast, came to do my tyres cause I have flat tyres and he’s got both of his dogs, Ollie and Reuben in the van and they both have their own Instagram account!
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Who knew, who knew? And if you’d been looking, I mean, we are recording this in January, but there is a pet duck in Australia that is now absolutely viral.
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I was just watching this duck and the duck is swimming and it’s a viral duck now. It’s extraordinary. Who knew that ducks liked surfing? But we’ve got World Art Day on the 15th and there’s a million ways you can comment with your favourite artist and comment with the stuff that’s on your walls. If you make on all the, we can have a conversation about what, what art is because art is poetry. Isn’t it, it’s not just paintings on the wall of a particular style. I mean, you know, if you sell design, if you design them and you sell stuff and it’s original, it’s art. Get it on, on World Art Day.
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Of course. And it might be a lovely day to, if you’ve got, if you’re a, what’s the word, if you’re a venue and you know, so let’s just say locally for us Hadrian’s Wall and it’s, you know, but if people haven’t been out for a long time and we are able to go out by then, which hopefully in April, we will, you know. Come and see the art, come and see the Roman art. So those of you who are hospitality, tourism, there’s a, that’s a great one to, to push it. Maybe have some offers, or if the kids can come and draw a picture and leave it for the wall you get a discount, that sort of thing. So again, see how some of these ideas can come offline, off social and actually translate into your marketing as a whole.
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Yeah. And then, you know, if you’re a photographer right. Get in on it. Get in on selling some art, cause you’re, you know,
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Run a competition. If you’re a local photographer run a competition.
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So if you are a pro photographer and you sell your own work and people follow you, run a competition for other photographers, give them a theme and then you judge it and have winners and sometimes they’ll tag you or offer them a bit of time with you. So make these ideas work for you. Yeah,
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Sure. Okay. So Husband Appreciation Day the 17th. I mean, I have to do something for that because without him, I certainly couldn’t do what I do at all. Just like, so for those of us, with husbands, I mean, I guess if you want to join in and celebrate anybody, partners, but it’s Husband Appreciation Day.
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Put your husband in a selfie, I mean, I take selfies with mine all the time. Right? So just get appreciating your husband.
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And some of these ideas, you don’t do anything on social, but you maybe just make the tea or you’re buying a bottle of beer and it’s just, some of these days do remind you that actually life does go on outside of social media. You can do stuff offline and you don’t have to share it with the world. I know this is about content, but you’re absolutely right. Without my hubby, I don’t think our family would work. So
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Couldn’t do any of i.? Couldn’t do any of it. Talking about tea, 21st National Tea Day. I hope you’re watching this Liza, our tea queen, but you are a tea queen lover, Michelle. So National Tea Day,
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Yeah, I think I would, it would be a day where, what would I do? I was share pictures of my mug collection. I would ask people to share their mugs. It would be one of those, you know, like, is that chicken soup you’re drinking. Cause that doesn’t look like tea to me. It’s just it’s a really nice one. You know, there’s a lot of Prosecco and gin. What about the good old fashioned cup of tea? And for me, there’s a lot there in the hashtags and there is this tea lovers of Instagram and all of these hashtags that I can use and save on that day that I can pull in some, some new followers.
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But like LinkedIn gets a bit forgotten about when we’re talking about these ideas, you know. Go and do some of that more informal stuff on LinkedIn, because what’s the first thing we do when we walk into the office? Those of us who work in the office, it’s like, you want a cup of tea. You put the kettle on, you know. Tea makes, and or coffee, but tea makes the country work.
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Indeed. And going back to the husbands, the first thing he does when he wakes up on the morning, very well trained, is make me a cup of tea. He’s lush. He gets out of bed and brings me a cup of tea. So, you know, we can wrap all of that in together.
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And I take a lead from my mam who has a bell next to the bed for her second cup of tea, which my dad then has to make. Oh yeah, there is a bell in both the caravan and the house. How Wonderful. 50 years married this year and there’s a dingy dongy bell for the cup of tea!
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Nic, you’ve come from an amazing line of amazing women by the sounds of it,
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Strong, strong gran and a mother who is just like, bring my tea. I love it. So I’m coming forward a couple of days just to keep it on time. So 28th of April, Pay It Forward and also Denim Day, now we love a bit of denim. It takes me back to when I was in college and I got my first denim jacket. But I think paying it forward, Michelle, for a small business, for a human to, to do something, to pay it forward. You could plan a campaign for some of your clients or something you’re doing, or like you see a flash sale or something, but to pay it forward on Pay It Forward Day. How cool? And challenge people to do something to pay it forward, you know, tag that person in, or, you know, you could have so much fun with it.
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Or recognise the people in your wider community who have paid it forward over the past year, who stood up and gone the extra mile and did it for, for no recognition. For nothing. And all of our small business owners. We, even those of us who work really do work by ourselves. We are never alone Nic. I mean, Mint proves that. You have accountants and graphic designers and VAs and just accountability friends. None of us, even those of us who think we really work by ourselves, we don’t. So being able to say, thank you.
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So much of what we talk about every month comes back to integrity and kindness and being aware of the people who support you. And I think that that’s what ultimately makes a lot of us successful because we, we do support our wider community.
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I think we’ve just, we’re just nice people. And I think people inherently, when you run a small business, you’ve always got to give that a little bit more. You have to just always want to help that little bit more. We are working together now recording for April, but it is a Sunday evening, everybody because we just need to get it done. And so we just do that.
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Yeah. How many times, have we said that in training that people buy people and you said at the beginning about toxic positivity, but on pay it forward, it is going to be a lot of people who stand up and pat themselves on the back. And it’s, self-congratulatory look at me, look at what I have done. And you’re like, I don’t want that. Celebrate the people who never ask to be celebrated and that could make that day really special.
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And then at the end of the month, right? If you like dancing and music, you’ve got on the 29th, it’s International Dance Day, and then on the 30th it’s Jazz Day. And if you go back to the 29th, you’re also making a wish cause it’s World Wish Day. Fantastic. Oh, so how can I wish to be back in the jazz cafe in the square in Barcelona where I was with my husband last year, right? Like, Oh my goodness. What a wish that would be, but I can tag that in with a photo of a jazz singer and a flamenco dancer who was outside. And then I put all those memories. I mean, you know, this stuff is important to me. And if I share that, I know people will be asking questions and having conversations with me, but you can tap into all of those glorious hashtags that just might get you seen by more people than, than that normally do. Yeah.
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And I’m sure at some point there’ll be a like a Wishes Come True Day. I was going to say, cause if you will actually sitting in in the jazz cafe on the 30th, you can post it, wish has come true. But that’s the day where if your, if your wish is to travel again is to, you know, even just go to Cornwall for your holiday, but you know, everybody’s booked up and you can’t get there. Whatever your wish is, tag the businesses that would enable your wish, be it, the jazz cafe, or be Disney or be it, you know, whatever it is. And so people that, you know, you actually enable people’s wishes to come true. Their lives can be better, their memories to be made and let them know because that’s, that’s the amazing thing about social media is that the world is smaller and we can connect with people that, you know, we wouldn’t.
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You would go on holiday and you would write in the guest book and that would be it. You would, you never really have another way of connecting with them, but now you can. So I’ll tag that clifftop exclusive hotel in Santorini and see if they offer me and Kieran for being the best husband, a free holiday.
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I think I’m going to just take that and do exactly the same thing for the very specific hotel in Barcelona. I would like to go to mind. And now that we’re a bit distracted and miles away, I just had a quick thought. I know we’re well over probably 20 minutes now, but if you’re paying it forward, how about leaving someone a review? I think it’s just the easiest way in the world to pay it forward. That has a massive impact on that small business, whether it’s LinkedIn, Google, Facebook, Etsy, I don’t care where you leave them. But actually a very quick, takes seconds. We’re paying something forward and kindness forward is to need a review for a small business.
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See how that would work as a, as a mini campaign for you, Nic over a few days. And so you can take these days and even build them out into something, into something more. Yeah. Reviews are hugely important. So that’s a great one to end on.
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Yeah. Okay then thank you for watching everybody. We will see you back for the May one next time. My goodness. I feel like we’re just zipping through the months, Michelle. It’s only January, just January.
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Thank you for watching everybody.