If you’re in food and drink related businesses, you probably don’t need me to tell you we’re in the run into Christmas trading period.
New products and menus have been created. Production schedules have been created, possibly already underway. Orders from retailers have been received and planned for. If you’re a restaurant then Christmas bookings have probably been coming in since August.
And your content is sorted, right? I mean, we’ve been talking about getting it ready since June.
It’s not too late
Life’s imperfect. We all have plans to be better organised, to get our content planned out and written months in advance.
Well, I know I do. And I do try.
But life and work does have a habit of getting in the way.
The next three months are such a period of opportunity for recruiting new customers, and encouraging previous customers to order again, order more than last year. You could get previous customers to recommend potential new customers to you.
And you could get different parts of your marketing activities to work wonderfully well together.
5 quick ideas to get on to now
Time is not going to be your friend, so you’ll want to get the maximum amount done in what time you do have. But not having lots of time doesn’t mean the output can’t be creative or compelling. In fact, there’s no point doing any of this unless you can make it that way. Here goes:
1. Review what worked last year
There is no harm in reinvention. Let’s face it, Christmas is a reinvention every year. So, have a look at all your data from last year and see which posts worked best for you, whether blog, emails, Instagram, Facebook or any other channel. Is there a common theme to them? When did they go out?
You’re not looking to just repeat the same thing. Google takes a very dim of duplicate content, so give it a refresh, a twist on last year. You’ve probably got something new to say, something new to share.
2. Show them the new stuff
You’ve probably created something new, and potentially sold it into your retailers, and loaded it up onto your website. Did you make sure that you told them about it?
There’s all kind of things you could do, and you could do without it taking lots of time. Video can be your friend here, whether short or longer form. Think of it as the pre-cursor to the unboxing videos of Christmas Day. Although according to Ordoro, brands and businesses do best when they make spoof versions. Something to think about it.
Think about how you can link different forms together, and reuse them. Your blog can contain all your content at different times, your photos can work on your post and on Instagram, your video can be posted across all kind of channels. And your email list should hear from you with the new stuff first.
3. Share what others think
We don’t, generally, buy from businesses we don’t trust. Word of mouth helps us trust even if we don’t know the people doing the talking. Share with them any comments and feedback from previous customers.
If you don’t have much, then ask for it. And then share it.
4. Tell them about your Christmas plans
Countdowns, traditions, events…there must be plenty that you get up to that you can make into content. Now will be the time you’ll be glad that you took plenty of photos last year. Or whenever your business was covered in snow in the last 12 months.
5. Write a plan
Take all the first four things and plan them out. If you need some help, go back and read my post on planning, and also on how to write a blog post without it taking all day. A plan will help you prioritise, and make the most of all your ideas. And if you still feel overwhelmed, then maybe read my post about why to hire a freelance writer, as now might be a good time to consider it.
As with all things content, knowing what your customer wants from you will help you produce content that gets them engaged. This is why I suggest starting by looking back, in order to go forward. Getting close to your analytics is so useful in many ways, and definitely for working out what is your customers are most looking for. But don’t spend so long there you don’t actually start creating any work!
Let’s get to it then! Christmas waits for no one, not even Santa! What will you create? Or are you all ready for the season ahead?
