2-21-13 A celebration can provide the basis for some great PR

I’m always on the lookout for examples of excellent marketing.  Sweet Mona’s in Langley is the basis for my blog this week.  Her celebration was a great example of creating an event and marketing it in a way that honored her current customers and invited others to learn about her business.

Mona opened her business as a chocolatier seven years ago.  It just happened that she opened on February 17^th, which falls between Valentine’s Day and Langley’s Mystery Weekend, and for the next five years she enjoyed the uptick her business got from these two events.

This year, she and her husband Tony, who is now a full-time partner in the business, decided to have a 7^th anniversary celebration.  And, what a celebration it was.  Those who came were invited to select any seven chocolates in the case for just $7; there were drawings for prizes (42 items were donated, with over half coming from the local community); and, of course, there were lots of chocolate samples.

She widely publicized the event in the local newspaper, through emails, and through Drewslist. I wrote two articles as well in Whidbey Local -  http://www.whidbeylocal.com/carolyn/#SweetMonas and in Whidbey Island Life Examiner - http://www.examiner.com/article/sweet-mona-s-langley-celebrates-seven-years-of-creating-divine-chocolates ).

Mona says the event was a roaring success: “Looking over our sales for that day I’d say that over 100 people took advantage of the 7 for 7 chocolate promotion. We had an outstanding sales day that even beat out Valentine’s Day, and Valentine’s Day was a record day for us this year.”

Mona estimates that about two-thirds of those who came to the store were Whidbey Island residents; the other third heard about the event and came to Whidbey to celebrate with her.

She feels that seven years in business is quite an accomplishment for a small business and that “It seemed right to celebrate.”

It’s also likely that a lot people who walked through the door for the celebration hadn’t tasted her terrific chocolates before.  They will most likely be customers in the future and tell lots of others about their experience.