I have a love/hate relationship with the whole “Christmas in July” concept. On the one hand, whenever I see ads that feature “Christmas in July” sales, I cringe. My brain just keeps saying, “Too soon…” On the other hand, it’s always a reminder that it’s time to start plugging holiday content. As someone who heads a successful copywriting company, being mindful of the timing can make or lose me a good bit of money.
Since we are now way past July, I thought I’d give you a gentle nudge in the yuletide direction. Planning holiday content early is important for a number of reasons. I’ll cover the most important ones from a content creation standpoint in just a minute.
For now, I’ll just say this: I’ve seen a fair share of very rushed content requests fly across my desk much closer to the holidays than it is now, and rushed content is never optimal. If you want to maintain your brand image even during the craziness of the holidays, you have to at least make it look like you’ve got everything covered even if, in reality, you’re struggling to keep pace. With that, let’s see if I can persuade you not to procrastinate with holiday content this year.
Reason #1: You’re Not That Busy Right Now
I alluded to this just a minute ago. For many businesses, summer and early fall are the best times of year to play catchup with your content. Now is the time to plan your marketing strategy for the last month of the year. Depending on how you manage holiday content, some campaigns start as early as Halloween.
If your business is in its fall slump, now would be an appropriate time to start deciding what kind of content you would like to generate around each holiday. Do this now before you start making excuses to put it off.
Reason #2: There Are Lots of Holidays
…and they all manage to fall within just about two months of each other. Keep in mind that there are many, many holidays between Halloween and the new year. Developing content around some of the lesser-known or foreign holidays might help you broaden and endear yourself to a larger segment of your target audience. Here are just a few examples:
• Samhain (also Oct. 31, multinational)
• Dia de los Muertos (Mexico)
• Diwali (India)
• Yule (winter solstice, multinational)
Acknowledging holidays that might be considered outside the mainstream in our part of the world also keeps your content fresh and interesting. The more interesting it is, the more people will want to share it. I would challenge you to have a look at some of the holidays on this page and see if you get inspired.
Reason #3: Holiday Content Is Light and Easy to Produce
Even if you never heard of Diwali before now, there is a wealth of content out there that explains it. You can instantly find written and visual descriptions of the activities and traditions and quickly build an understanding of them. In short, holiday content is quite easy to research and doesn’t require very much prior knowledge to write it with authority.
Reason #4: Your competition Knows This Already
If you look at the major freelancing sites starting around late September, you will notice an upsurge of requests for holiday content. Don’t allow your brand to be left in the dust because you didn’t plan out your blog the way they did. Be sure to maintain enough of a buffer to stay in front of your audience, especially if you run an e-comm or traditional business that relies on holiday dollars. That means starting early. Now would be ideal.
#5: Writers Take Time Off, Too
If you want your pick from the biggest pool of qualified writers, don’t wait until the last Monday in November to look for that perfect writer for your Thanksgiving Day blog. While we at Beez maintain a full-time staff of talented writers, we also work with a number of freelancers. I can tell you from experience that it gets more difficult to find a freelancer who is as available around the holidays as they would be just a few weeks later.
Most people who get into freelancing do so to avoid rigid schedules. Don’t expect a talented writer to just drop everything and scramble for the opportunity to write your holiday recipes e-book if it’s already mid-November. You want to start planning that and hire for it right now if you haven’t already. Quality is key with everything in content marketing, so respect your own brand enough to represent it as best as possible.
Final Takeaway
Instead of doing the traditional “final takeaway recap” this time, I thought it would be nice to leave you with a few ideas for the kinds of holiday content you can produce this year. Consider it an early holiday gift. Here is a short list of things you might think of adding to your holiday content strategy:
• Holiday Quizzes
• Cookbooks and Recipe E-books
• Personalized Greeting Cards
• Holiday Newsletters and Emails for Employees and Clients
• Holiday Messages and Greetings from Your Company Execs
• Holiday Origins and Traditions E-books
• Holiday-Themed Landing and Squeeze Pages
• Holiday Email Blasts
• Holiday Catalogs and Brochures
• Holiday-Themed Ads and Sales Copy
• Holiday Blog Content
• Holiday-Themed Social Media Posts
Hopefully, that gives you enough of a springboard for your own imagination. Keep in mind that BeezContent can help you both imagine and create content in all the above areas and more. If you’ve got a great content idea, we’d love to help make it a reality.
