It's always a daunting time when Halloween is out of the way, it can seem like the floodgates of festivities have come crashing open. But, we are here early to offer some tips, tricks and a little bit of a checklist for you and your business to help get your elves in a row. 🎅
With lots of businesses trying to make the most of the festive season, it’s important to be prepared and stand out with your Christmas campaigns, whether that’s a series of social media posts, valuable blog content, or carefully crafted mailouts.
Bring the Christmas spirit to social media
We think that Christmas is the time when you can be a bit more playful, sharing funny work Christmas party traditions, bad Christmas jumpers and maybe even an office elf on the shelf! 👀 You could even invite interaction from your audience by asking them what they think the elf on the shelf has been up to or to leave scores for the worst Christmas jumpers of the company on your social media.
A super popular way to embrace the Christmas cheer is a good ol’ Christmas countdown now, we think that the line between excitement and sheer panic is very thin but they are always good to boost your social media!
Don’t lose sight of running your business though, and be sure to continue promoting your products and services. With everyone looking to save a little bit of money this year, you could look at joining in with some Black Friday offers or running a competition on social media. You don’t always have to create these offers for everyone, they could be exclusive to those who sign up to your newsletter or for return shoppers. You could opt for more ‘behind the scenes content’, sharing unboxing videos as your Christmas stock arrives, or before and after shots of your Christmas window display featuring festive gift ideas.
Tip: Schedule your content ahead of time so you can enjoy the festive break to its fullest!
Send festive cheer to customer inboxes
Moving on, you can even carry this theme through into your mailouts or newsletter to send festive fun right into your customer's inboxes! And the great thing about email marketing is you know your recipients are already interested in what you’ve got to offer.
Create festive email campaigns highlighting special offers or gift guides that click through to your website, to send well wishes and updates on your Christmas opening times, or to let them know about some festive blogs on your website.
Tip: Keep your email content concise with festive photography to break through the inbox noise, and include links back to your website
Spread the joy via seasonal blog content
Blogging can be a great way to engage your readers and increase traffic to your website in the lead up to Christmas. Think about what is going to be valuable for your customers; consider topics like Christmas gift guides featuring a selection of your products, DIY festive crafts, or tips you can offer your clients and customers during the festive season. Just make sure they are relevant to your business’ niche, and that you’re sharing original content using popular festive keywords.
Tip: Use previous data to inform your blogging content; refresh top performing blog posts from previous years, include top-selling products in your promotions, and use popular keywords (both seasonal and general) in your content.
Put your online decorations up
Your festive touches don’t have to be limited to the content that you’re sharing! You can also Christmas-ify your social profiles by updating your profile and cover picture. Why not create a seasonal version of your logo, to add a touch more festive joy to your page?
There are plenty of wonderful ways that you can give your website that Christmassy touches, why not add in some falling snowflakes, or maybe even a bauble here and there? The imagery of your website can also be changed to reflect the more magical time of year which can really help to keep a cohesive “Ho, Ho, Homepage” (sorry, that was really bad wasn't it?).