Spring is in the air and so are fresh marketing ideas for planting the seeds of public relations, marketing and client loyalty. Here are a few weird and wonderful ideas I've come across. There is something here for everyone to take away for your own brand strategy spring cleaning.

Give Away a Dream Job

This falls under the heading of weird and wonderful ideas that build community, brand and interest. In March Murphy Goode Winery re-launched "A Really Goode Job" to give one person their ultimate dream job in wine country. The job comes with a $10,000 per month salary, rent-free living for a year in Sonoma County, and a year’s supply of Murphy-Goode wine.Wow! Don't we all want to apply? What's nice about their marketing campaign is the saucy humor they have added to the blend. The original campaign’s goal in 2009 chronicled a year of living and working at Murphy-Goode through social media which was fairly new for many wineries at the time. The winery revived the campaign because, as the company said in a press release, creating access and viable career opportunities in the wine country is more important than ever. The campaign catapults the new hire into his or her dream job, and creates a year of social media goodwill and content for the winery. Talk about a wine-wine situation!

Plant the Seeds of a Great Relationship

Lowe's SpringFest offers fresh marketing ideas on the more classic side. The Lowe's marketing team found that during quarantine home improvement projects were on the rise and people who worked on projects in the winter are planning spring projects. To help them get started, the garden and building center launched SpringFest 2021.The initiative includes a series of free online demos as well as these free curbside pick up projects:

April 8: Garden-to-Go kit sponsored by Miracle-Gro (includes exclusive recipes from professional cook and food stylist Amanda Frederickson)
April 15: Lowe’s Mystery Garden Pinata (includes mystery seed packets)
April 22: 500,000 tree saplings in celebration of Earth Day
April 29: Lowe’s Butterfly Quest (helps families create a butterfly garden)

People register for the free giveaways with their emails. Yet another way to collect that marketing gold -- emails!

Share Your Knowledge

The Catering Chronicles, an educational resource for catering and hospitality industries professionals and students, was just published by Franciso "Frank" Christian and Jennifer Perna.“Catering Chronicles has lived in my head as an animated film for the last 10 years and I’m glad I finally found a way to get those thoughts and ideas on to paper,” says Frank, Managing Partner of Taylored Hospitality Solutions in New Orleans.“Updated, written instructional resources are quite limited in our marketplace, says Jennifer, owner of Fulton Market Consulting in Chicago. "Catering Chronicles is my solution.”Catering Chronicles, Vol. 1 can be purchased here on Amazon. Each month, additional volumes will be added, focusing on hot topics affecting the industry today.

Start Something You Are Passionate About

While we are on the subject of spring marketing ideas, not every marketing idea has to spring up fully formed. For instance, Wanda Wen, owner of Soolip, a luxury brand offering fine stationery, mindful gifts and paper products, was so inspired by Women's History Month in March she created a mentor program to help other women in business. Clear on her idea, she announced it on Instagram Stories and has already connected with her first candidate. She is now taking steps to create a structure for the program that will help more women learn how to run a creative business throughout the year and beyond.The takeaway here is to start before you are ready. No one ever changed anything by waiting for the perfect moment.I love all these brand and marketing strategies for how they refresh, rekindle and re-energize a business. What great ideas are you thinking about as you spring into an ever-evolving 2021? I'm here to help you make them happen. Schedule your free 15-minute call with me. Let's chat!