Saint Patrick’s Day: Be Green with a Green Business Opportunity

Move over cupid and red hearts! Green shamrocks and leprechauns are taking over!  For many Saint Patrick’s Day is a day of celebration filled with green, gold, shamrocks, and lucky leprechauns.  But for others March 17th is a day where the Irish celebrate with a meal of corn beef and cabbage and wash it down with an ice cold beer – maybe a Green one.  But what many overlook is the true meaning behind this green covered holiday.

Saint Patrick is seen as the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland known for bringing Christianity to the country.  But the legend Saint Patrick is most known for is driving the snakes from Ireland.  You are probably thinking of how did he do that?  But you too can be like St. Patrick and “drive the snakes from Ireland”.  However, instead of snakes your will be driving trash out of our environment.  When you stop and think about it, we have a lot of trash that goes undetected surrounding us throughout the day, in our offices, homes, and around the town.  Now think of how often you think about doing something to fix our obvious trash trouble.

It is actually a very simple problem to solve.  In fact, you already have the tools and skills to do so.  By starting your green business, not only will you be able to work from your own home or be your own boss, but you will be passing the knowledge to other companies that they could be saving money by recycling.

I can’t exactly say you’ll be canonized as a Saint and have a holiday named after you, but Saint Patrick started small too! So the next time you pass a celebrant of Saint Patrick’s Day, think of how you can make every day green and drive the trash from our environment by creating your own entirely eco-friendly business.

St. Patrick’s Day Has Retailers Seeing Green

Consumer spending on St. Patrick’s Day is expected to jump 20 percent this year — and retailers are joining the party.

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, and this year, small retailers may be seeing a little extra green. According to the National Retail Federation’s annual St. Patrick’s Day survey, the average consumer will spend $33.97 this year on St. Patrick’s Day merchandise, up percent from $33.05 in 2010. Overall, spending during the holiday is expected to jump 20 percent from last year, to $4.14 billion, driven primarily by young adults celebrating at bars and restaurants and hosting private parties. According to the survey results, more than 40 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds said they plan to celebrate at a bar or restaurant on March 17, with adults 25 to 34 expected spend the most that day ($41.30). However, retailers may have slightly more competition when it comes to capturing a slice of those spending dollars. Because Easter falls in late April this year, industry experts say March is expected to be a slow month for holiday related sales overall.

“Eager to shake off the winter blues, consumers will look to St. Patrick’s Day as their first spring-related celebration, meaning great things for the economy, retailers and restaurants,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement. “As a non-gift giving holiday, retailers will need to make sure they have the best assortment of merchandise, aiming to attract celebrants looking for decorations, holiday food and even apparel.”

Direct-Marketing Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day

Holidays are an excellent time for businesses to launch a direct-marketing campaign, and St. Patrick’s Day is especially great since many are excited about the upcoming spring (and their tax returns). As a graphic designer, you’re used to coming up with creative ideas to help your clients’ marketing materials stand out and look better than their competitors.

Here are a few ideas to spur your creativity for St. Patrick’s Day campaigns:

Thematic association

Thematic association is often used in holiday direct-mail materials. The purpose is twofold: First, you associate a business, service or product with certain emotions from a given holiday. For St. Patrick’s Day, you might want to associate a business with fun by drawing on the many parties the holiday provokes. An investment firm might capitalize on the use of a pot of gold to symbolize wealth. The “Luck o’ the Irish” theme is often used in St. Patrick’s Day ad campaigns.

The second purpose for thematic association is to create an easy-to-remember cutoff date for a sale. By associating the start or close of a great sale with St. Patrick’s Day, you can drive traffic to your storefront, website or phone lines during that period.

St. Patrick’s Day theme

There are several ways to give your direct mailer a St. Patrick’s Day theme, but first you must know your target audience, choose what type of direct-marketing piece you’re sending, and select an appropriate promotion. If your target audience is senior citizens, you probably don’t want to send them a mailer that plays on the green beer party scene. Conversely, college students are not a primary market for investment firms. Your direct-marketing piece could be a sales letter, door hanger or postcard; and the bargain you have to offer is up to you. Don’t take the promotion part of your direct mailer lightly; a great deal goes a long way to attracting new customers and getting old customers back in the door. For a St. Patty’s Day theme, try the following:

Copywriting that plays on the St. Patrick’s Day tradition: “Get Online Bill Payer and avoid getting in a PINCH this St. Patrick’s Day” or “You don’t need the Luck o’ the Irish to get great deals at Discount Bob’s”

Use a green envelope or shades of green in your postcard or door hanger. Also, orange is another color associated with St. Patrick’s Day

Use icons associated with St. Patrick’s Day such as shamrocks, leprechauns. or a pot of gold

Have your flyer die cut into the shape of a shamrock or pot of gold

Play on the holiday’s history. A quick online search will reveal many stories and legends of St. Patrick

The best designs meld these all of these things into an effective, cohesive direct-marketing piece sure to drive sales. Make sure you set the proper tone – fun, professional, elegant, extraordinary – through words and images; and don’t forget your call to action that will entice prospects to take the next step in the purchasing process.

Time To Invest In Ireland Will Be St Patrick’s Day Message – PM Kenny

DUBLIN (Dow Jones)–Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny will bring the message to the world that his country is open for business when he meets President Barack Obama in the White House around the St. Patrick’s Day festivities on March 17.

“The government will use the unique global opportunity of St. Patrick’s Day to bring that message to all our key global markets and to Ireland’s many friends around the world,” he said in a statement.

Kenny said he will be in the U.S. over the St. Patrick’s Day period from March 16-21, while other ministers will travel to other world cities to promote Irish business.

-By Eamon Quinn, Dow Jones Newswires; +353 1 6762189; eamon.quinn@dowjones.com

 

 

references:

http://www.environmental-waste-solutions.com/saint-patrick%E2%80%99s-day-be-green-with-a-green-business-opportunity

http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2011/03/11/st-patricks-day-has-small-business-retailers-seeing-green/

http://www.psprint.com/resources/holidays-and-special-events/st-patricks-day/direct-marketing-st-patricks.asp

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120306-711469.html