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Hi there and welcome to September!  Did you know its International balloon month? What are you going to do to really maximise the exposure from this month long event to grow your balloons business?  In this blog post we are going to look at the campaign being run by The Balloon Council #LiftUpSomebody and how you can embrace this in your business to gain orders and get valuable PR for your business!

What is International Balloon Month?

First of all, let me say, don’t worry if you haven’t heard of International Balloon month… I know it was running for several years before I even knew it happened!  It is a month long celebration of the joy that balloons bring when used responsibly. The Balloon Council are running two campaigns to really promote the joy of gifting a balloon whilst acting responsibly to reduce the impact on the environment.

International Balloon Month - How to make the most of this event to grow your balloons business

What is #LiftUpsomebody?

The first campaign from The Balloon Council is what we are going to focus on here (don’t worry a second blog post will cover the other campaign!). So what is the #LiftUpSomebody campaign all about?  In a nutshell its about inviting the public to thank local community heros by gifting them a thank you balloon and sharing the joy on social media.  


“Giving balloons to special people in our community such as firefighters, care givers and teachers,helps spread goodwill and demonstrates the positive power of balloons,”

“We invite everyone to share their joyful moments using the hashtag #LiftUpSomebody.”
Lorna O’hara Executive Director The Balloon Council


Photos using #LiftUpSomebody and shared on The Balloon Council’s Facebook and Instagram (@balloonsliftup) will be automatically entered into the photo contest.

Prizes will be awarded for the best images in the following categories.

  • Community
  • Heroes
  • Home
  • Family
  • Smart Balloon Practices

There are a range of prizes generously donated by the sponsors Anagram, Betallic and Qualatex and Premium Balloon Accessories!
Visit https://balloonsliftup.com/home/international-balloon-month-2/# for full contest details.

What can you do to embrace the campaign and grow your business?

There is so much you can do to piggyback this campaign and really grow sales and PR exposure in your business.  Here are some ideas to get your creative mind buzzing with the possibilities

Come up with some amazing designs for people to gift –
when creating think along the lines of “You are Amazing” or “Thank you” designs that local heroes will love to receive.

Introduce the campaign on your social media channels and get people thinking about the people who they think are amazing in their community.

Create some memes about the campaign and schedule them periodically throughout the month on your Facebook and Instagram to keep the momentum of the campaign going all month long. Remember only 5-10% of your audience see your posts so post at least once or twice per week

Email your newsletter subscribers telling them all about the campaign and getting them to think about who their local heroes are. Be sure to tempt them with a special offer for the first X customers (make sure it’s profitable and drives FOMO!)

Have a pop up stall in town/local shopping centre selling balloons and creating a buzz about the campaign. Get some flyers made up about the campaign getting them to think about who their local hero is with your details on the back to purchase balloons and give them out. Enlist lots of help on the day to tell passers by about the campaign.

Run a short (over a couple of days) competition on your Facebook page or Instagram getting people to nominate a person they would like to receive a balloon.  Be sure to follow facebook/Instagram rules and word it in a way that doesn’t get hit by the algorithm to ensure maximum local reach and gain new page followers. After the winners are announced its important to message all people who enter the competition (but don’t win) with a special time limited discount voucher for a balloon for their nominated person to gain orders from the competition.

Do the same competition above but instead get them to sign up to your enewsletter in order to have a chance of winning a balloon for their local hero.  You will need to set up a landing page on your website to collect their details and email – this is a great way to maximise growth of your newsletter list. Yes it is a bit more work on your part but don’t forget newsletter subscribers are worth so much more to your business than social media followers as you are not at the mercy of any algorithm in their inbox and people are more likely to purchase from an email so always look for ways to grow your list!

Contact your local paper about the campaign and see if they want to cover the stories of people being gifted balloons or even just the campaign encouraging people to thank their local heroes.  It’s a great feel good factor story that papers like to cover and a perfect way to get lots of FREE editorial copy PR for your business!

Contact local radio and ask them to give the competition a shout out directing people to your facebook page to enter their local heroes with a chance to win!

Do some gifting yourself!  Why not create some gorgeous balloons and drop them in to your local fire brigade/ambulance/police station/hospital/hospice etc to say thank you for all they do.  Come up with creative designs that will wow and get people talking about how fantastic the balloons are. Make sure you take lots of promotional materials with you as there will be lots of employees there with personal celebrations ( and a need for balloons in the future).  Get photos with the recipients and use them on social media or submit to your local paper as a feel good story for them to publish.

Contact local corporate companies about the campaign and see if they would like to purchase a special balloon to recognise an employee or customer who always goes above and beyond or who has had long service etc in the company. Use it as an opportunity to discuss how promotional balloons could really help them hit their goals and targets for their business.

Don’t forget to get your customers (and your business) to share  photos of the local heros receiving their balloons on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #LiftUpSomebody and make sure they tag you in it. 

International Balloon Month - How to make the most of this event to grow your balloons business

It’s got to come from a place of giving

One last thing to note… To really gain the maximum exposure and momentum from this campaign in your business it really does need to come from a place of giving.  That is, whilst of course there needs to be a commercial objective, by focusing on the celebration of the work of heros in your community you can create a real buzz and feel good factor around your business.  Get people to really think about who goes above and beyond to help others, the unsung heroes who make such a difference, those who selflessly give to make other people’s lives better. You need to get them to identify the actual individual in their minds and then they will naturally seek our what you have to offer!

What are you going to do in your business?

I really hope you can see the opportunity here for your business and the ideas above have got your creative wheels whirring!  I would love to know what you decide to do in your business.. Be sure to comment below with what you are going to do… Better still make sure you email me at sonia@balloonbizacademy.co.uk after  you have run your campaign and let me know how it goes – I would mean the world to me to see what you can achieve in your business during International Balloon Month and I would love to feature your success on the blog!

Get Featured on the Blog!

Simply email me the details of what you have been doing during International Balloon Month and how it has grown your business! I would love to feature you and your business!

🎈 Until next time… Stay Amazing! 🎈

Sonia x

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