Breast Cancer Awareness Month is coming up in October. About 1 in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. It is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Raising awareness about breast cancer means making sure women are aware of the severity of the disease and how important it is to stay on top of their health and regular check-ups. Women ages 20 to 39 should be getting clinical breast exams every 1 to 3 years and, from age 40 and on, they should be examined every year. Being a retailer, there are many ways you can spread awareness throughout your store and community.
Spreading awareness can easily be done on an ecommerce site or brick and mortar shop. Simply add pink decorations and products as well as the pink breast cancer ribbon to window displays or pictures on your website. Show support by wearing pink for the month and providing breast cancer ribbons for employees to wear while working. You can also have informational packets on breast cancer in your store or post flyers in your windows and throughout displays. Online, you should add a link to the National Breast Cancer website for customers to easily find all the information they need on the topic. Selling products that have a portion of proceeds being donated to breast cancer awareness is another great idea. You can create your own fundraiser and put a pink jar on your counter and ask for donations. This lets customers know it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and that your business is doing its part to give back . You can also have a portion of the proceeds from marked products donated to breast cancer research. There are many ways you can integrate Breast Cancer Awareness into your store both on and off line through decorations and donations.
If you want to do more than spread awareness through your store, you can create a community event. Hosting a run, ride, or walk is common and easy to plan. Name it something catchy, like a “Diva Dash” and partner with other businesses to host the race. Any event can easily become a Breast Cancer Awareness event with a pop of pink color and donations going to breast cancer research. Since pink is the official color of Breast Cancer Awareness month, you could host a rosé tasting night in which all the local businesses offer a type of rosé and people spend a night tasting the different wines and donating to a great cause. This event is so simple and inexpensive that all proceeds can be donated. Everyone who attends will be feeling warm-hearted from the wine and, of course, from doing a good deed.
Breast Cancer Awareness month is about a horrible disease that affects an incredibly large amount of the population, but raising awareness about it and donating proceeds will bring hope to you, your customers, your community, and the world as a whole. Having fun and decorating or creating events around breast cancer builds awareness and brings happiness to an otherwise saddening illness. If you are a woman, schedule an exam for yourself and everyone, tell your friends to schedule an exam as well!