Sip on that margarita in peace and eat cake guilt-free knowing you’ve sorted your content well ahead of the holidays. With only a few weeks away from Christmas, the pressure is on to get everything sorted in time – not to mention last-minute gift shopping and a busy calendar of social events on top of your usual business to-do’s.
We’ve compiled a content checklist to ensure you don’t forget anything before the Xmas holidays so you can pop that out-of-office on with ease and claim that well-deserved stress-free break of yours!
Notify customers of your availability and hours
Update your operating hours across channels, so your customers or new prospects know what to expect. Whether this is updating hours on your My Google Business, sending an email to your customer and supplier database, or sharing a post on social media. This provides clarity to your audience – whilst reducing unnecessary communications and admin for you while on holiday.
Communicate key information
The more you can preempt your client’s questions, the better! Here are a few pointers of what customers may want to know during the Christmas break.
- Who is the best point of contact and the best way for customers to get in touch with your business?
- Perhaps there are different email addresses for your varying services or a different point of contact for certain dates? Whatever you’re arrangement is, make sure to make this clear in your communications.
- If you run an e-commerce store, is there important information that’s not your norm? Such as delivery times, locations and products.
- Highlight special promotions, giveaways or bundle offers for the Xmas or New Year period. This is an opportunity to not only boost your sales but also create offers people are actually searching for. Ie, gifts, bundles, or a specific type of product for this season.
- If you’re a service business, make sure to communicate your availability to your clients and what they can expect from you during this time.
Automate your content
Automate your content so your business can run smoothly in your absence – this could include setting up automated emails or Instagram messages so clients know when you’ll be back in the office, or who the best point of contact is during the holidays.
Set up a personal auto-reply for your emails sharing your availability over the break. Include a link to your website or key pages that might help them answer questions before you get to them. (Don’t be afraid to make it fun, quirky or show off your personality to better connect with your readers!)
Make use of email automation tools to schedule customised group emails in advance to your online database. We use MailChimp. But there are others, such as Klaviyo or ActiveCampaign.
Continue to connect with your community during the holidays by pre-planning and scheduling your social media content in advance. There are a range of cool tools out there to make this as simple as possible for you. Check out – Metricool, Later, or Planoly. This way, you can still nail the timing of posts. E.g. Christmas, New Years
Keep it human
When knee-deep in your own content, it’s easy to get complacent and forget to think about your audience. Ensure to remember there’s a human on the other side engaging and keep the tone conversational and the personal touch at the forefront. Whether it’s your website content, emails or how you engage with your community on Instagram – keep it human.
Now this doesn’t mean you have to start sharing every personal detail of your life. But it could be as simple as, ‘sharing a day of life as a [business coach/designer’] – this gives your audience a sense of your vibe, and what it might feel like to work with you. You could speak to the camera now and then so your audience can feel more connected with you, or share a few learnings about your industry, or anecdotes about you as a person. Because end of the day, people buy from people – especially ones they like!
Make sure your content is up-to-date
You never know who’s going to be checking your website out, or searching for your services online during the summer break. Ensure the information across your marketing channels are up-to-date.
- Do you still have all of your stock available?
- Can customers easily book a call/purchase from you?
- Are your services updated?
- Are your prices updated?
Get ahead with your content and enjoy your holidays
Remain present with your family and friends these holidays, or enjoy those moments of ‘me time’ so you can return feeling recharged after your holiday. With some pre-planning and making the most of the automation tools available, you can get ahead with your content and relish in a stress-free Christmas break. Your customers and your holidays will love you for it!
If you’d rather free up more time and resources, reach out to us at Craft ‘n Connect to help take care of your content for you. We’re a bunch of copywriting experts who love working with words and copywriting is our sweet spot.
Peruse our website and services page to find out more info, or get in touch with us to book a discovery chat via our contact form.