Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Business Anniversary Drop-in/and My Birthday

Posted by flwrsbyj on 7/5/2011 at 10:34 AM ET 500 Points
I'm having an "invitation only" 40th birthday party for myself in my hometown. I have a lot of clients and want them to feel totally left out when they hear about it. So I have thought about doing a business anniversary and birthday drop-in during lunch hours of 11am-2pm. Invitations will read:
Celebrating
40 years of life
Plus
16 years of service
Equals
56 minutes of "chat -n- chew"
"thanks 2 you"
Any suggestions????
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 7/5/2011 at 10:46 AM Accepted
    Why specifically should your clients want to attend your party (besides eating cake and ice cream)? What's in it for them?
  • Posted by Andy Fracica, MBA on 7/5/2011 at 11:10 AM Accepted
    Do you have a very close relationship with your clients? Are they as close as friends? I have several people that I use for various services that I am close to, but I would never expect an invitation to their birthday parties. Unless you always include your customers in your personal parties, I would suggest leaving them out. I think they will more than understand.

    It might be better to save the business party for when you reach 20 years in business.

    I hope this helps,

    Andy Fracica
  • Posted by Gail@PUBLISIDE on 7/5/2011 at 11:39 AM Accepted
    I would also leave your birthday out of the equation unless you want to offer 40% off of something in honor of your 40 years.
  • Posted by lathans on 7/5/2011 at 1:05 PM Accepted
    Sorry, you DO or DO NOT want them left out?
    I am assuming the latter...
    Though I am not sure what your question is, 56 minutes does not equal 3 hours so other than being cutesy (and a stretch) that copy doesn't mean anything.

    So if the question is, "Is this a good idea?" I'd ask you why you care. If you want to invite your clients to your party, send them an invitation. Quite frankly, I bet you'd be surprised that people will care less than you think about not being invited to your birthday party. If so, I'd be really surprised if a B-list invite to your office would make these people any more comfortable with the idea. Honestly, "Chat-n-chew" conjures up something MUCH more different than an invite-only affair.
  • Posted on 7/5/2011 at 4:05 PM Accepted
    I don't get it. Why would you want to combine a business function with your birthday celebration? And why would clients feel left out if they were not invited to your birthday party? They might feel relieved that they didn't have to show up and bring a present.

    And why would you celebrate 16 years of service? Wouldn't you be better off focusing on the benefit you provide than how long you've been in business?

    I'm sure I'm missing something here.
  • Posted by flwrsbyj on 7/5/2011 at 4:11 PM Author
    I''m having an "invitation only" 40th birthday party for myself in my hometown for a small crowd. I have a lot of clients and don''t want them to feel totally left out when they hear about it. So I have thought about doing a business anniversary and birthday drop-in during lunch hours of 11am-2pm. at my shop on my b''day. I have 56 minutes on the invite sample because it is during their lunch hour and parking is VERY LIMITED. So that I can have my clients to arrive at different times due to space.
    Invitation Sample:
    Celebrating
    40 years of life
    Plus
    16 years of service
    Equals
    56 minutes of "chat -n- chew"
    "thanks 2 you"
  • Posted on 7/6/2011 at 10:27 AM Accepted
    As a business anniversary consultant, I recommend keeping your personal birthday separate from your business anniversary. Combining them dilutes the promotional power of the business anniversary.

    Celebrating a 16th business anniversary is fine. In fact, we recommend that clients "sell"-abrate every anniversary both the milestone years (those ending in 0 or 5) as well as the in-between years.

    To inspire business anniversary promotional campaigns, we've created a roster of business anniversary symbols. The symbol of the 16th business anniversary is Rock Music, so you can have fun with that if you choose to incorporate it in your promotional outreach.

    Our philosophy is why wait to promote your products or services every five or ten years (i.e., the milestone anniversary years) when you can promote your products or services every year through a business anniversary "sell-"abration?

    So happy 40th birthday to you and happy 16th business anniversary to your company. Rock on!

    Pauline Bartel
    Bartel Communications, Inc.
  • Posted by marketbase on 7/6/2011 at 10:45 AM Accepted
    Interesting concept, however, if the "invitation only" event is set to happen on YOUR birthday in a public place (the business?) is there a chance that people will show up who are not invited to the festivities? If so, could prove awkward especially in a hometown with a ''small crowd.''
  • Posted by flwrsbyj on 7/6/2011 at 11:33 AM Author
    "Invitation Only" birthday party is going to be a different location (private location) on a different date for special friends and family.... The other event was to pacify my clients who will hear about it and wonder why they get an invite.... If I was having it out of town that would be one thing. What about if I have a fall drop in later for clients and so-call friends...... and then only do one party
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