It's the Royal News many Sussex residents have been waiting for since the wedding back in May - Breaking News, Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Announce First Visit To Sussex.

Yesterday Kensington Palace announced that for the very first time the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will be visiting Sussex on Wednesday, October 3rd. Exciting news indeed but I know what you're thinking "What has this got to do with my business?" well in short a lot! Whether you’re a royalist or not it's excellent news for the county as such a high profile visit will definitely put Sussex on the map. Just think of all the media coverage both locally, nationally, and worldwide the visit will attract. And in this brief article, I'm going to share some tips on how you can use this to your advantage and help raise the profile of your local business while also having some fun celebrating the visit.

So let's get started as we haven't got long to create some great marketing content to boost your business before they arrive.

Reading this too late to take advantage of Harry and Meghan's visit? Don't worry as the following business marketing tips I'm about to share with you can be saved and used for any future high profile public events or celebrations.

Step One - Social Media. Get tweeting and posting on your business Facebook Page and Instagram accounts about the visit. Start now and continue right up to and during the day of the visit. Include any relevant hashtags or maybe even start your own, it might go viral!
Why? Not all your followers will have heard the news, and a good news story like this is definitely worth a like, comment or even a share. Also as the news spreads people will be talking more and more about the visit and if you've created some attention-grabbing social media content, your social media profiles will appear as people search for that Royal Sussex Visit News.

Step Two - Create A Royal Promotion. To capitalise on the Royal Buzz create a Royal Promotion for your business. Whether you're a baker, car dealer, coffee shop or flower shop owner, it makes no difference you can still get involved. You could offer a 10% discount, free delivery, or create a buy one get one free offer. Heck, if you own a coffee shop, why not create a Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Welcome To Sussex special coffee! The choice is yours just be sure to give it a catchy Harry & Meghan inspired Royal visit name. Once you've created your marketing campaign, let people know about it instore and across your social media profiles.

Step Three - Get Dressed Up. On the day of the visit transform the interior of your shop or your shop window with a Welcome To Sussex Harry & Meghan Royal theme. You and your staff could even dress up for the occasion, it'll make some great photos, and you'll have some fun on what would usually be an average October Wednesday. Don't own a shop or business premises, don't worry. Instead, transform your Website and Social Media Profiles for the day.

Still not sure if this will work for you? Earlier this year I used these same marketing tips to help promote one of my Sussex clients. I helped create an event to celebrate the wedding of Prince Harry And Meghan Markle, in fact, the photo you see above was taken by me to promote the event. It became the talk of the town, and I was even interviewed live on BBC Sussex and also on the Jonny L'Anson Radio Show, a radio program that's broadcast across the entire BBC local radio network in the UK. I took photos and created a press release which I syndicated to my local and national media contacts. The story and pictures were used in both print and online, and the story was also picked up by a worldwide TV News Channel! And to top it all off my clients Facebook page and website gained loads of traffic, success.

So what's stopping you? Get creating.
I hope you find the tips I've shared useful. It doesn't even matter if the Royal couple isn't visiting your town or village, as long as your business is located in Sussex you can join in and have some fun on the day.

Just remember to really make your content work for you it needs to be creative and eye-catching. In this highly connected world, we are bombarded with great content daily, so it becomes difficult to stand out. Good content with professionally taken images and the use of creative videos makes a big difference. So if you need some help let me know, you can find details on my website about all the social media, photography and video services I offer to my clients.

Best of luck and if you're lucky enough to end up meeting the Duke And Duchess Of Sussex, Harry and Meghan on Wednesday don't forget to take a selfie and share it with your followers.