Did you know that today is World Sleep Day?
Started by the World Sleep Society, World Sleep Day is an annual awareness day held the Friday before Spring Vernal Equinox of each year, which is March 18 this year.
Each year, the organization offers a catchy slogan for people to keep in mind. This year it’s “Quality Sleep, Sound Mind, Happy World,” which is fitting considering the state of the world right now.
Questions to consider are “How does quality sleep help maintain mental health? How might better sleep help people focus during the day? Or how might fatigue weigh us down physically, mentally, and emotionally?”
Nearly 200 activities are organized by volunteers in local communities across 56 countries around the world to celebrate the day—which advocates and raises awareness for sleep health, and this is an opportunity for you to drive more store traffic and build trust with customers through knowledge of the product.
Here are a few ideas of events you could put on for World Sleep Day.
- Carnival Style. Set up a small carnival with a mattress theme. Think up creative activities like pin the tail on the Serta sheep and guessing games about the number of coils, layers, or materials. Have kids dress up for a costume contest and give out awards. Make it fun and keep it focused on mattress education so people can have fun and learn at the same time.
- Quiet Time. Everybody needs some time to unwind, but why not be productive in the process? Invite people into your store for a meditation session where they can test a mattress while listening to a soothing song through headphones. Educate the customers on what materials are used and what they can help with when it comes to sleep issues, and explain the value that laying on the mattress for 10-15 minutes offers as opposed to just five minutes.
- Hold an Easter Egg Hunt. Since World Sleep Day happens close to Easter, tie it into the holiday by hosting an indoor easter egg hunt at your store, or in a safe zone in your warehouse. You can control crowd size, determine where people are allowed to go, and get entire families into your store all at once. Give extra discounts for any kiddo who dresses up and post pics on your socials because people like cute kids (and animals).
If you’re just finding out about World Sleep Day, it may be too late to plan an intricate activity—but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate.
- Pick up a few cakes from your local bakery and offer pieces to customers who come into the store. They’ll remember you the next time they’re looking for a mattress or sleep accessories.
- Advertise on your website and social media to get the word out. Sites like Canva make it easy to design a simple event graphic that you can share far and wide. Don’t forget to put all relevant information on it, like the date, time, location, etc, and have all of your employees share it.
But who says advocating for better sleep needs to end after World Sleep Day? Keep educating customers in-store and online so that they can make the best purchasing decisions possible. And maybe next year, everyone will know what World Sleep Day is.
