Using April Fools’ Day To Promote Your Business

This forthcoming Friday is a very special day. Or is it? Depending on who you are, you may see April Fools’ Day as either a silly side note on the calendar or an amazing occasion when you can have a lot of fun. If you’re a business owner, we’d argue that you should be a member of the latter group. While not recognized as a holiday or anything, April Fools’ Day provides you with a great opportunity to promote your business in a number of unique ways.

Market a bogus product.

Restaurant owners! Why not promote your worm pizza this Friday? Car washes can promote a special that involves adding dirt to vehicles that pass through their facilities. Just how silly can you get with the product or service you plan on offering? According to Summer Nguyen on Mageplaza.com, Google had a great April Fools’ Day prank in 2013, claiming their search engine could find smells.

“Another big corporate is Procter & Gamble, they released Scope which is bacon-flavoured mouthwash,” she reports, “Although it was a fake item, it was effective in making clients laugh.”

Create a silly promotion.

Keep in mind that your key objective is to grow a buzz around your brand. Remember that people recognize April Fools’ Day as a day when people pull pranks. It’s your unique advertising style that is important. For example, you can promote the fact that everyone who enters your store wearing mismatched socks will get a pair of mismatched gloves. You may also wish to offer your one billionth customer a free prize – knowing you won’t come close to such a number.  

On HelpCrunch.com, Les Melnichenko offers up a humorous marketing example courtesy of Amazon: “‘Does your favorite goldfish display signs of aggression when you leave for work?’ says the Amazon ludicrous landing page dedicated to the April Fool’s day sale. Audible for Fish – this is the name of this funny audiobook collection.” 

Deliver a fake announcement.

“Our skin care clinic is now offering the ‘Will Smith Facial Massage’. For a limited time only, we will slap your face while you tell jokes!” Given the recent incident at the Oscars between this year’s Best Actor and comedian, Chris Rock, this promotion should garner a lot of laughs. Nguyen points out that making a fake announcement is an April Fools’ marketing ploy that many companies have used.

“On April 1, 1996, the fast-food chain Taco Bell announced that they purchased the Liberty Bell which is one of the Philadelphia’s most historic treasures,” she explains, “Thousands of American flooded Taco Bell’s headquarters and Philadelphia’s National Park Service with phone calls to see is the story was true. In fact, the Liberty Bell was not for sale and at noon of April 1st, Taco Bell confessed to the hoax. This prank was successful incredibly.”

How can Synergy Merchants help with your April Fools’ Day marketing campaign?

Our unique merchant cash advance program can fund your business within 24 hours! To learn all about it, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-877-718-2026 or email us at info@synergymerchants.com. You can also apply online for a free, no obligation quote!