Pink October 2019 – Get your Salon Involved

As many are aware, October month is breast cancer awareness month, and it’s an excellent opportunity for all types of businesses to get involved, help raise awareness and fight breast cancer.

Have you thought about getting your Salon involved this year? If not, here are some helpful ways to join in the action to promote a ‘Pink October event’ with rewarding success all around.

Fundraising

The best way to successfully promote Pink October is with some fundraising, as well as raising funds for the vital Breast cancer charities which help to support patients and families; it’s also the perfect way to raise awareness for the disease, so what are you waiting for? Get your Pink into action and make it a successful and enjoyable month at work this October.

Choose an event and spark media attention!

Get the team together and start brainstorming ideas for an event you are going to promote; it could be something Salon and beauty related, or it could be an event outside of work with the staff involved. The idea is to spark some media attention, so promoting the occasion must be top of the priority list if you want to make it a success.

Making it fun and motivating for the team

You want the team to be enthusiastic and uplifted about the event; you certainly don’t want them to regard it as an extra chore, so motivating the team from the start is what you need to do. Pink October should be fun; you want the team to have as much input in the occasion as well as your own ideas, it’s only going to work if everyone is happy and excited about the event. Organise a meeting and listen to one another’s ideas to come up with an event that is as greatly exciting for staff to be involved in, as is its prime goal- to successfully raise funds and awareness!

Timing is everything

Choose a realistically able time to showcase your event, ensure that staff is free to be part of the event on that particular day and think about busy working days because although they may be great for raising funds and donations, it could be a headache for staff if its distracting work duties at the same time. You may opt to prolong your PINK October event by making it a month-long event, this way it may take pressure off staff having to work alongside as per normal or you could arrange to organise an activity as a one-off on a non-working day perhaps, either way, all ideas need to be considered during a meeting in order to find something that will work for everyone and that everyone is happy to be part of.

Partner up

Some businesses decide to join forces when it comes to Pink October events and all take part in the same fundraiser, if you choose to partner up its probably better to partner with other local business of the same trade, e.g., salons and spas because it sets the theme and promotes your beauty salons at the same time. You can find ways to do this fairly easily as businesses that choose this method often advertise it freely in local papers and online, and often you can find more information on ways to get involved via the Breast Cancer Awareness website. If you’ve left it a little late to organise something and are struggling to find the time to fit it in, partnering up could be your easiest option this year now.

Breast Cancer Awareness website

For those who have plenty of time to organise an event but are struggling for some inspirational ideas for the occasions, then we recommend a visit to the Breast Cancer Awareness website. The website is packed full of ideas of how businesses can get involved, including tips and templates plus useful marketing materials that can be used on and offline, so well worth a browse when you arrange the staff meeting.

Here are a few ideas that we picked out which you could incorporate into your occasion...

• Selfies!!!! - Who doesn’t love a Selfie? Selfies are everywhere; they are extremely popular, and so why not include this! Set up a Salon Selfie Station and encourage clients and staff to take a selfie which includes a breast cancer awareness background as well as the fundraising tin, then kindly ask for them to be uploaded onto social media via your nominated #Hashtag 
• #Hashtag - Don’t forget that important hashtag to spread the word far and wide as well as promote yourselves. How about #Pinkoctober #Selfiestation #Pinkladies etc. and you could even include your own salon name as part of the hashtag as an extra nudge to self-promotion.
• Other promotional must-haves - Don’t forget to includeposters and banners for your Salon as well as social media marketing to catch the eye of as many people as possible; you could include a countdown on social media, perhaps? The idea is to get the occasion talked about as much as by all means possible. You could ask other local companies to promote your event whilst offering the same back in order to help each other promote their events. Get some savvy snaps posted in the press; most papers are happy to publish stories when it comes to big awareness campaigns, so give your local newspapers a bell and see if they will get involved and help you to mark the occasion for a good cause.
• Prizes - A good way to catch attention is to include some prizes, you could ask suppliers and other local companies if they would like to donate raffle prizes to support your event and for a good cause. You could arrange a prize for your social media followers by asking them to upload ‘Pink Pics’ and putting them to a public vote with the winning picture receiving a prize from your Salon such as a beauty hamper or a treatment.
• Think Pink - Don’t forget that whatever you do, albeit social media promotion, salon activities, etc. try to include as much Pink as possible so that people are aware of the cause-Breast cancer awareness. You may want staff to wear pink t-shirts or spray their hair pink etc. to add some crazy fun to the occasion.
• Blogging and website - Talk about your event via your salon website and link to your social media accounts. Put a story in your blog section explaining why you are getting involved, what you will be doing to raise awareness and funds, and the importance of Pink October and, if possible, encourage your social media followers to share their personal stories.

If all of the above is giving you anxiety because perhaps you may have left things too late or that you are far too busy this month to consider adding in anything else, do not fret because Pink October doesn’t have to be a massive event, little things are just as beneficial, and there are plenty of ways of getting involved which can help to raise money and awareness without the stress of organising last-minute events.

Stuck for smaller ideas? Then why not try giving these a go!

• Pink Bevies - Sell some pink refreshments to clients and staff this October with teas, smoothies, mocktails, and milkshakes in pink cups and flavours.
• Pink cakes and Biscuits - Using pink paper plates and napkins serve iced pink cakes and biscuits for a small donation.
• Pink Bra challenge - Organise a simple sponsor where clients and staff have to see how many pink bras, they can put on in one minute.
• Pink Bra challenge social media - Ask followers to video their involvement in the pink bra challenge or creatively decorate a bra to be put to public vote.
• Auction/raffle - Create a pink beauty hamper and get followers involved online as well as clients in the Salon to bid for it or sell raffle tickets to win the hamper as well as raise funds Or you could sell raffle ticket for a beauty of hair treatment for as little as €1 each and once you’ve sold 100 a winner is chosen to receive their prize whilst the rest is donated to charity and continue that throughout the month.
• Pink Decorations - Decorate the Salon in pink banners and ask staff to wear pink with plenty of donation tins lying around.
• Recycling projects - Set up a ‘recycle your old bras and clothing bank’ and ask for donations as Breast cancer charities will collect donations for free.
• Pink Ribbons and bands - Most businesses supply a basket of Pink Breast cancer awareness supplies in the form of ribbons, wristbands, and badges. Pop one on your reception desk to sell to the public and staff and donate the proceeds of the sales afterwards.

Whatever you decide to do, have fun this Pink October by getting involved with Breast cancer awareness, most of us will know someone who has been directly affected by this disease, so anything we can do to raise awareness is extremely worthwhile.