I know people might be thinking it’s a tad early to be thinking about Christmas. But in business it’s never too early. The Christmas rush can snowball if you want time off in the holidays as we all deserve some TLC you need to be planning ahead. So if you would rather not be in a Christmas frenzy after two days into December this year then I’ve got some tips that can not only help reduce stress – also use December to leverage your business. If you like give me quick pause and go make a cuppa or some muddle wine and a blanket settle in! You can always grab a notepad and pen to take notes if so wish too.
If your last December resembled you slowly being drowned in a sew of wrapping paper, tinsels and delivery boxes. Then it time to put in some prep work now and plan ahead. In the month of December, there are way more people online browsing, therefore making it the perfect opportunity to ramp up your marketing effort in this month you’ll see some pretty big rewards with this wave of online traffic.
Pre Planning Content & Christmas Marketing For December
But December does come and go in a flash and if you are like me chancing your tail with content most months it can be even harder to find the time in the month of December. Batching and scheduling is your saving grace. This gives you time to do more important things like sit back and sip on a glass of Advocaat or whatever your Christmas tipple is, and watching Kirstys homemade Christmas. The best part about it is your blog posts, Pinterest pins, instagram posts are automatically publishing without your a hands and eyes needed!
But let’s not make any marketing plan, no get into spirit of Christmas give everything your doing a festive sprinkle! Create a christmassy themed marketing campaign for your small business. But remember to in tuned and aligned with you brand values, don’t be tempted by the glits lights and forget what you stand for. I wont go into the ins and out of Christmas marketing ideas as I have a few episode last year that included heap load of ideas! If you are curious as to how to make your marketing plan for December Christmas go check out Episode 14 – 3 ways to build brand hype at Christmas.
I might do a bonus episode and re-publish all my Christmassy episodes last year in to one long one so you don’t have to scroll back! And because I genuinely believe I included so much amazing ideas in them for small businesses.
Optimise your site for email subscribers in December
Once you’ve got you marketing plan and content batched and scheduled for December. It’s time to optimise your website. With all this extra traffic online, I want your website reaping in on this opportunity. It’s time to make sure you have a clear sign-opt in sections and including maybe even the occasional pop-up. I usually try and stay away from pop ups, they can feel annoying and intrusive, specially when you get one flung at you when you first land on a website. So if you want to use a pop up opt in form I prefer it only appears once my visitor has scrolls down past certain point then it doesn’t feel so premature and if I’ve held there attention for that far then it might be of value to them.
Opt in are great but to get someone to sign up to your email list you cant just ask for their email address and not off them anything We usually only give it up for something in return, so think about the incentive you are going to offer. It should also be closely linked to your main service or products you sell. It would be kinda strange if you create hand made candle and your offering a organisation sheet as your opt in there’s no real connection there. Make it something that they will want and will provide them value. It could be a quiz, check list, how to, e-book etc. Maybe something that is both christmasy and closely related to your offer. Find out next week what some of these ideas could look like.
Make Your Visitors Website Experience More Christmassy
Lastly think about the experience of your site. If you’ve got all the above sorted it’s time to grab out some festive decorations and Christmassy your site. I’m not saying go made and re-design your whole site so it look like Santa’s grotto, nope! I’m just saying include maybe a slight more christmasy image, add some digital snow flake effects. Some brand like to add an extra element to make their logo christmasy. You may be thinking but why? Do people really care? Well if you’ve made your site more christmassy it shows that you are regularly active as a business and brand. It also might also peak your returning visitors attention because something new has changed or been added that wasn’t there before which may make them a little more curious. Plus lets face it who doesn’t like some Christmas decor? Again doesn’t have to be much! This is a great opportunity for anyone who is selling hand-made products to take some product image that feel festive! Perfect if you are running a special Christmas collection of products this holiday season.
So that it’s from me today, remember to create a christmasy marketing plan batch and schedule everything for the month of December! Leave nothing up to chance, get it planned get it created get it scheduled! Then have a quick review of your opt-in form, think about may even including a temporary pop-up this time of year and entice your people with a new or even better opt-in incentive! Lastly this about you website experience, and think about how you could make it feel a little festive this year for wonderful visitors? That it for me today folks if you like this episode you will love next weeks I’m grouping all my best Christmas content into one. So don’t miss out!