There’s no doubt about it, Olympics fever has swept over Vancouver! While activities are in full swing, there’s no reason for you (and your business) to be slacking.
Don’t just spend the next few days in front of the TV, watching the Ladies’ Ice Skating (we know you do, even the guys!). You and your business can make the most of the Olympics (and the millions of visitors) while they’re in Vancouver. Of course, not everyone can spend millions of dollars on advertising and sponsorship deals. But, no need to worry! You can still take advantage of this once in a lifetime event to hit our fair city.
First of, make good use of the downtime, if business has been slowing down or if you’re just too impatient to deal with the tourists who have descended on Vancouver. Stay inside the office, sit back on your comfy office chair and get to work online.
Check out your website – when was the last time it was updated? Something as simple as the date (if you have “copyright 2009” somewhere) can easily be changed and will signal to new visitors to your site that your site is current. Have you been active in terms of social media? Perhaps you’ve been meaning to put up a Twitter account – now is the time to do it (and use those #olympics hashtags!) Or you might want to put up your own Facebook group or fan page so your customers can find you on the popular social networking site.
Next, if it’s relevant to your business, try creating some Olympics-related specials or promotions. For example, you can give away free products for the first 20 people to come into your store every time Canada wins a gold medal (to drive traffic) or perhaps create a trivia contest in which winners can get gift certificates or (if you can find any) tickets to Olympic events.
It’s also important to let your customers know if you have special business hours during the Winter Games. There are many reasons to close early or open late (and not just because you have tickets to the Luge event). If the event affects you negatively (i.e. less traffic because of diversions) then closing early or opening later may be to your advantage. On the other hand, if you expect more people coming in because of the games, then you may want to stay open at least until the last event of the day is done.
Of course, you should definitely go out and support Canada in the Olympics, when you can. While you may be tempted to just close shop and watch the games the whole day, you can still do something so your business can benefit from the Winter Games.
