2023's National Days: The Ultimate Hospitality Marketing Tool
Each and every year, there’s a bunch of weird and wonderful days that we all see on social media and on the news - a personal favourite of ours would be ‘Naked Gardening Day’... (the imagery works for itself).
It's important for hospitality businesses to know what’s on the horizon. BUT, what is the point of getting involved as a hospitality operator? Let us tell you.
Why should you tap into a national day?
- Inspiration
First and foremost , it’s inspiration for new content and offerings. Each day can provide the perfect opportunity to find inspiration and be inventive. Get people talking - create your own weird and wonderful. Have a look through the national days coming up and see what grabs your attention. Could you create a new package to purchase, run a giveaway, tailor a menu or host a cookalong? Could you simply highlight your favourite dish that relates to that day, or unveil a secret recipe?
- Engagement
New, different and inspiring content is going to help drive engagement and help reach a wider audience. Think of expanding into multimedia to keep it creative.
- Giving customers another reason to spend with you
Incentivise your customer base to shop with you. For example, could you partner with local small businesses to create something MORE?
- Showing brand personality
National days are a brilliant way to get your brand’s personality across. Can you be cheeky with your offering? Do you want to be fun or casual? Or is it a serious, high-end offer? Or is it a cause you’re supporting that’s close to your employee’s or customer’s hearts that deserves serious attention? Are you wanting to show that you’re a brand with purpose?
- Brand awareness
Tagging a national day means people outside your universe can stumble upon your content more easily. They could be a burger aficionado but unaware of your establishment - and this will give the burgers on your menu through a National Burger Day promotion a wider audience.
PR Potential
Journalists regularly write round-ups of what is happening on national days. Google your favourite national day and hundreds of articles by both national and regional journalists are going to crop up. If you have a PR team, they’ll likely already be maximising these opportunities but, even if you don’t, you’re increasing the likelihood of PR exposure. If a journalist happens to be searching for things to include in your area then there’s a chance they’ll spot your offering. If it drives online coverage and includes links then it will support SEO too.
Top tips for maximising national day activity
- Plan ahead so you don’t miss the boat
Add the most relevant dates to your diary and always try to look ahead by at least a month. Perhaps schedule a regular monthly internal meeting to have a quick chat about what’s coming up in the next few months.
- Utilise all your channels
Has your website been updated in plenty of time? Have you scheduled a newsletter and some social media posts?
- Optimise your social media posts
Ensure you’re using the right hashtags and have appropriate lifestyle imagery, graphics, gifs or videos. Consider placing a bit of social media budget behind it. Budgets might be tight (or non-existent) at the moment, but if it’s an extremely popular national day, putting a little bit of social media ad spend behind your national day post can help you get cut through the noise.
- Limited offers
If it’s a package, consider promoting how many of these are available and for how long - if there are only 100 kits available it or it’s a ‘one day only’ offer, it might just prompt someone to make the purchase then and there.
Your calendar of dates
Here are some of our favourite hospitality-related national days. The majority of these dates stay the same date each year, but some will change, like Mother’s Day. Let us know what your favourite national day is in the comments below.
2023
January
1-31st - Dry Jan
1-31st - Veganuary
1-31st - Ginuary
11th - National Milk Day
22nd - World religion Day
23rd - Blue Monday
23rd - Brew Monday (The Samaritans host a day to encourage others to open up)
25th - Burns Night
30th - National Croissant Day
Hey, just a quick one… have you ever wanted to reward your customers for visiting you, or wanted to incentivise your lapsed or prospect guests to come back? We have created a digital wallet called “Airship Rewards’, which means you can do this. Want to know more? Click here
February
1st - 28th - Black History Month
5th - World Nutella Day
5th - Yorkshire Pudding Day
9h - National Pizza Day
14th - VALENTINE’S DAY
17th - Random Acts of Kindness Day
18th - 26th - Real Bread Week
21st - Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday
23rd - National Chili Day
27th - National Strawberry Day
27th - March 12th - FairTrade Fortnight
March
1-30th - Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal
1 - National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day 2022
2nd - World Book Day
7th - 14th - British Pie Week
8th - International Women's Day
9th - International School Meals Day
13th - 19th - Nutrition and Hydration Week
14th - National Brunch Weekend
17th - St Patrick's Day
17th- Comic Relief/Red Nose Day
18th - Global Recycling Day
19th - Mother’s Day
20th - National Ravioli Day
22nd - World Water Day
22nd (until 21st April)- The first day of Ramadan
April
1st - April Fool's Day
1st - Sourdough Bread Day
4th - International Carrot Day
7th - Worth Health Day
7th - Good Friday
9th - Easter Sunday
10th- National Siblings Day
10th - Easter Monday
12th - National Grilled Cheese Day
21st - last day of Ramadan
21st - National Tea Day
22nd National Jelly Bean Day
22nd - Earth Day
23rd - St George's Day
23rd - Great British Beef Week
May
1st - UK Bank Holiday
1st - May Day
4th - Red Cross Week
4th - Star Wars Day
8th - Coronation of King Charles III (Bank Hol)
13th - World Cocktail Day
15th-21st - National Vegetarian Week
20th - World Whisky Day
29th - National Biscuit Day
29th - Spring bank holiday
June
All month - LGBT Pride
All month - Pride Month
All month - National Candy Month
1st - World Milk Day
2nd - National Donut Day
2nd - Fish and Chip Day
4th - 10th - National Gardening Week
4th - National Cheese Day
10th - World Gin Day
15th - Beer day (Britain)
16th - National Fudge Day
18th - 26th - English Wine Week
18th - Fathers Day
18th - 26th - National Picnic Week
28th - July 2nd - Eid al-Adha
28th - July 4th - National BBQ Week
July
All month - Talk to Us (Samaritans)
All month - National Picnic Month
All month - Clean Beaches Week
All month - Plastic Free July
3rd - 9th- Alcohol Awareness Week
5th - NHS’ Birthday
7th - World chocolate day
18th - National Ice Cream Day
24th - National Tequila Day
August
1st - Yorkshire Day
4th - International Beer Day
6th - International Hangover Day
7th - 13th - Afternoon Tea Week
12th - National Prosecco Day
24th - Burger Day
28th - Bank Holiday
September
All month - Sourdough September
All month - Organic September
1st - National Tofu Day
2nd - International Bacon Day
4th - 8th - Zero Waste Week
16th - 3rd - Oktoberfest
15th - 24th- Great British Beach Clean
18th - 24th - Recycle Week
25th - World Dumpling Day
30th - Macmillians Biggest Coffee Morning
October
All Month - Black History Month
All Month - Go Sober October
All Month - Stoptober
3rd - Taco Day
10th - World Porridge Day
10th - 16th - National Curry Week
13th - World Egg Day
18th - World G&T Day
25th - World Pasta Day
31st - Halloween
November
All month - Movember
All Month - National Stress Awareness Week
All Month - Veg Pledge
1st - World Vegan Day
5th - Bonfire Day
8th - Cappuccino Day
11th - Remembrance Day
12th - Remembrance Sunday
24th - Black Friday
27th - Cyber Monday
29th - International leftovers day
December
8th - National Brownie Day
24th - Christmas Eve
25th - Christmas Day
26th - Boxing Day
31st - New Year’s Eve
P.S Don’t worry if you're going to forget ALL of these, follow our socials for monthly alerts of what's happening, when.
