St. Patrick's Day, or The Feast of St. Patrick, is a well-known holiday, known for fun (and sometimes crazy) parties all over the United States. Shamrocks are abundant and you'll be seeing in the color green just about everywhere you go on March 17th. However, many people celebrate the holiday without ever knowing WHY they are celebrating or WHAT the traditions mean. We're here to put those questions to rest.

What is St. Patrick's Day, Besides a Party?

St. Patricks' Day is when people, specifically those of Irish descent, recognize and remember St. Patrick, a historical figure of religious significance in Ireland. The day was traditionally celebrated as a feast day by those of the Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox and Lutheran churches.

Who Was Saint Patrick?

It is thought that St. Patrick was born a Roman Britain to a wealthy family in the fourth century. He was kidnapped by Irish raiders at age 16 and sold as a slave. He served as a shepherd in Gaelic Ireland for 6 years, and during that time, it is historically said that he "found God". According to the story, God told him to flee to the coast where a ship would be waiting to take him home. Once he made his way home, Patrick became a priest, and later returned to Ireland to convert the pagan society to Christianity. During his ministry, he converted thousands, and tradition holds that he passed away on March 17th.

Why All the Shamrocks?

According to the historical tales, St. Patrick used clover, a three-leaf plant, to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

Saints and Parties?

Traditionally, the Feast of St. Patrick was the one day that the restrictions of Lent were lifted, and people could indulge in the things they had given up, including alcoholic beverages. It was a time to honor and celebrate the patron saint Patrick and remember what he did for the Irish people. Today, St. Patricks Day is used as a huge marketing holiday for many food and beverage (specifically beer) companies since the day is celebrated with large parties around the world. They take advantage of the concept of "abundance" and extravagance that has come to be associated with St. Patricks' day.

So, this St. Patrick's Day, go green on March 17th knowing exactly why you're wearing those sparkly shamrock glasses and enjoying a fun party with your friends. Are you feeling like you’re out of luck when it comes to advertising your business or building your brand online? It’s time to call Newton Peach Marketing! We are Polk County’s top choice for online and small business marketing. We personalize the process of building your brand, and tailor a plan to you, your budget, and your business. Call us!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

YouTube is, perhaps, one of the most quickly growing platforms in the world of social media and digital marketing, yet many small businesses discredit it as something only for "big companies" and therefore pass it by when developing their plan for business growth and advertisement. However, YouTube actually caters to small businesses, by giving them a chance to reach a much larger audience, connect with potential sponsors or collaboration partners, and build their brand beyond their own community. In addition to the free platform, YouTube now offers a variety of monetization options, meaning you can make profit from your video content!

Here are three reasons why Newton Peach Marketing loves YouTube, and why you should consider it for your own business plan!

It's FREE! Did we mention, YouTube is free? That's right, there is no startup fee, no registration cost, or subscription service required to take advantage of YouTube for your business. All you need is a Google My Business account (attached to your gmail) and you are ready to set up a profile on YouTube for your brand and start putting out content so you can connect with your audience faster. Very few platforms that offer the options available with YouTube are free, so we think this is a huge perk.
You can make money with your regular content! YouTube works with lots of big brands who want to advertise to the millions of viewers who frequent YouTube each day. What does that mean for businesses like you? Well, YouTube will give you the option of monetizing your business, which means advertisements can be played before, during, or after your video content. Because your video is used to pull in viewers, you get paid for allowing these big brands to advertise. It's basically free money! Note: your viewers are not forced to watch these advertisements. They often have the option of "skipping" the ad after a few seconds, so no worries about tricking your audience into watching ads they didn't ask for.
You can get sponsors for your business and your brand! Companies are constantly scanning YouTube for businesses and brands that represent something similar to, or related to, their own product or service. These companies will usually reach out asking if you're interested in reviewing their product or service, and will likely ask you to make a video about said product or service if you liked it during your review. These collaboration or sponsorship videos are a great way to not only meet other names on YouTube, but can also grow your own following (since fans of the other company will likely follow you due to your connection).

Newton Peach Marketing is happy to work with clients who are interested in incorporating YouTube into their advertisement and marketing strategy. We work with you to come up with content ideas, seek out resources for creating that content, and then building and managing your YouTube account for optimum exposure. How can we help you grow YOUR business?