Content for your Christmas Campaign

Right it is November – if you can offer your clients or customers anything special for Christmas (…and nearly everyone can!), then it is time to sort out how you are going to advertise your offering…and how you are going to present it. This is your content strategy for your Christmas campaign.

So, what have you got to offer? And how are you going to create the content so that it is eye-catching and works hard for your business?

Gifts

Like it or not, Christmas is mostly about presents! …and for the entrepreneur inside of you it is time to capitalise on this. So, what can you offer in terms of a gift?

We live in a world where a lot of people have everything they need – so focus on wants and desires. Focus on how you are offering something ‘different’ and focus on being unique.

If you have services, rather than products, consider making gift vouchers available.

Importantly consider two ‘audiences’ :

• the first is the person who would love your product or service as a gift
• the second is the person who would buy this gift for this first person.

Does that make sense?

You need to make sure your content campaign will to appeal to both – why? Because you want the first person to see what you have to offer and tell friends and families about it and how much they want it, and because you want the second person to see it and know exactly who to buy it for. This may mean creating different styles of posts and advertisements for different places to make sure you reach your target audiences and in the right way. This is a really important consideration for your campaign and ‘what’ and ‘how’ you are going to write the content.

Celebrations

If you don’t have a product or service which you may think someone would like or give as a gift, then consider if your business can help people to celebrate. As materialistic as my section above might seem, Christmas is about getting people together and helping them celebrate the festive season. So, if you are in any kind of catering, hospitality or entertainment business, you should be really thinking about how you can share your Christmas message and offering.

If you don’t have a venue, do you offer something else that can help people celebrate in style this Christmas – perhaps decorations or special food items?

Whatever it may be, you again need to consider who is your target audience or ideal customer and, importantly, where are they? Which social media platforms do they use? Where (and when!) are they most likely to see your content? All of these things will influence both your text and how you present the information.

Christmas branding

However you are going to communicate throughout the festive season – whether it is lovely Canva designs or reams of social media posts – consider how your wording and images will reflect your brand and values. Consider using consistent phrases and similar images, so that these become associated with your business.

Consider if you are going to give your whole collection of marketing avenues a ‘Christmas makeover’. Ask yourself:

• Are you going to update your website and ‘decorate’ with Christmas visuals?
• Are you going to write a special blog post?
• Are you going to send out a newsletter or special Christmas email?
• Are you going to do a series of social media posts? (Are you going to boost posts? If so, have you set aside some budget?)
• Are you going to advertise any where else?
• Have you considered print media?

However many of these channels you choose, then, make sure you offer a consistency across them all of them so that it is a well-rounded and recognisable campaign, reminding everyone of your business and brand….with a Christmassy feel.

Remember to also think about what will work best depending on the channel, slightly shaping your message for the different social media platforms vs your website vs email marketing communications.

Thank yous and best wishes

Whether you are focussing on encouraging someone to buy from you around Christmas time or not, it is important that you think about whether you want to wish your clients, suppliers, etc., a “Merry Christmas” and if so, how? Are you going to write physical Christmas cards or send e-cards? To whom? How many? Make sure you consider the cost. If you are going to send an email newsletter or card, decide when will be best to send it and, of course, will it be GDPR compliant depending on who you decide to send it to?

Importantly, consider what you are going to say. Is it simply a best wishes message or are you going to do a special offer or share some news?

New Year and 2019

Hot on the heels from Christmas comes New Year…so whilst you are in the ‘campaign’ mindset think about your strategy and plans for the New Year and for January 2019. Can you offer something that will help with a new year’s resolution or a new start?

Again, think about consistency of message and brand too.

Need some Christmas help?

This can be a crazy time for small businesses – I get that. Let me know if I can help. Whether it is simply proofreading or helping you create some content, email me at kate@thecontentconsultancy.com .