How do you market your business at Christmas when your service isn’t seasonal? A Christmas blog sounds like a great idea but what on earth do you talk about? If the problem you solve could come up at any time of year, you might find yourself struggling to make it festive.
The good news is you just need a bit of lateral thinking. You might also need a writer who doesn’t work in your business every day.
The client
The client came to me through an SEO expert they’d been working with to improve their search rankings. They’re expert locksmiths based in Scotland and serving a clear geographical area, so their SEO campaign was helping them to build their local reputation. They wanted to let local people know about their employee credentials and show why their service was better than the competition.
They were already starting to see results and then came the question of the Christmas blog.
The challenge
The great thing about being a locksmith is that people could need your services all year round. This is good for business but not so great for your Christmas marketing. Do you ignore Christmas altogether or try to include it? The client had only just started blogging and didn’t want to lose momentum. They also realised that a Christmas blog would be more likely to attract readers. The question is, how do you make it interesting and relevant to your audience?
The Christmas blog solution
Luckily for the locksmiths, they were working with me, a writer with a strong lateral thinking streak. It turns out that people lock themselves out of their houses much more often at Christmas, simply because they’re distracted or out of their normal routine. There’s also the increased risk of burglary when your house is full of presents. We talked about simple solutions and included details of what a locksmith could help with. It was helpful and sent a clear message.
So, there you have it – a Christmas blog for a non-Christmassy business. If I can help you to create one of your own, email me or book your no-obligation discovery call here.
Yes, I’m publishing this blog in July. No, I haven’t lost my mind. There are already business owners on my social media feeds talking about buying baubles. I know that there are marketing professionals out there that have already been planning their Christmas marketing for months now. I actually said the words “we could do a Christmas gift guide” to a client when it was still June.
When it comes to Christmas marketing business owners tend to fall into one of four camps. There are the ones who are already on it (if you need some help with the copy, get in touch). Then there are the ones who aren’t going to do anything because Christmas is irrelevant to their business (I may have news for you). Maybe you think it’s far too early to think about Christmas marketing, even if you’ve already started buying stock. Or perhaps you start thinking about Christmas sometime around 25th November. The thing is, if you’re going to do any festive marketing it’s worth thinking about it now.
I’m not suggesting that you jump into content creation right now (unless you really want to). All the same, a bit of thought and planning now will make things much easier further down the line, plus you’ll have plenty of ideas if you need to get someone else (like me) to do the creating for you. So, here are a few things to think about for your Christmas marketing.
Start with a blog
You won’t be surprised to hear me suggest this. Even if Christmas isn’t peak season for you, a blog can be reused and shared throughout your marketing, so you build awareness. If it’s your busiest time, a blog gives you a central piece of content that you can break down and share as individual posts. It means you’re more likely to be found by people buying gifts, looking for inspiration or just trying to survive the Christmas stress.
Be helpful
I know that for most of you Christmas marketing is about making sales. That’s OK. The important thing to remember is that you’re more likely to make a sale if you’re being helpful. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Offer them a solution to a problem. That solution might end up with them buying something. Even if it doesn’t, you’ll have created a good impression and started to build a relationship that’s based on trust.
Ideas for product-based businesses
Need some ideas? No problem. If you’re a gift-based business, start by making gift recommendations alongside some lovely pictures and links to buy. You could create a whole series of blogs with gifts for mums, dads, aunties, little kids – you get the idea. If you have gifts for the person who has everything or is difficult to buy for, talk about that. You could even do a round up of Secret Santa gifts if you have lots of stocking fillers to share.
Ideas for business that create the perfect day
If you help to make Christmas easier or more enjoyable, talk about it in your Christmas marketing. Do you do home delivery, help with meal prep or offer gift wrapping? Can you suggest 5 ways to keep the family entertained when they’re full of turkey or sick of the sight of each other? Talk about ways to survive Christmas without getting frazzled or share expert tips for busy people. If you can make the whole thing less stressful, your customers will love you.
What if your business isn’t Christmassy?
Writing a Christmas blog for a non-Christmassy business takes a bit of lateral thinking. It starts with putting yourself in your customers’ shoes. Can you offer tips to make extra family time less stressful? Could you help them avoid a Christmas Day emergency? Quick self-care tips are perfect for this time of year. You could just focus on fun – share some Christmas jokes or write a funny blog. My personal favourites are this one I wrote for an insurance broker about insuring Santa and a will writer’s letter to Santa.
Have I got you thinking? If you’d like to talk over some ideas and find out how I could write your blog for you at any time of year, you can book your free discovery call here.
Further reading
If you’d like to go a bit more in depth on the Christmas blog ideas, I’ve got a whole load of them here:
You can also sign up to my mailing list for hints and tips straight to your inbox every month. You can unsubscribe whenever you like and I won’t share your information with anyone else.
Is your business seasonal? You might have one of those businesses that gets incredibly busy in the run up to Christmas, so it makes sense to focus your marketing attention there. Maybe it’s less obvious, but if you look closer you might find patterns that repeat themselves across the year. Creating seasonal content for your business is a great way to stay in touch with what your customers need at any given time. If you can tune in to the things they’re thinking about you can talk about them in your marketing. Your customers trust you because you’ve shown you understand them and you’re much more likely to make a sale. How do you spot the seasonal elements in your business? Step this way…
Do you have a peak season?
Some businesses have a clear peak season. It could be Christmas for retailers or summer holiday sales for travel agents. (Of course, those bookings might start on Boxing Day.) Your business might have more consistent sales throughout the year, but with customers buying different things at different times. Think seasonal skincare – you might sell more sunscreen in the summer and more hand cream for fingers chapped by the cold in winter. What do your customers need as the seasons change?
Focus on a seasonal issue
Are there things that your customers only need help with at a specific time of year? For me and my primary age kids the long summer holiday has always been a challenge (though home school has made it feel like a picnic). Do you offer the solution to seasonal childcare challenges, buying the perfect Christmas present or getting the tax return in by the deadline? Show your customers that you have the solution to the thing they’re stressed about and they’ll love you.
Look at your best sellers
You might have products or services that people can buy whenever they like, but when do they actually buy? You could join a gym in November, but there’s something symbolic about a new year that spurs people into action. The same probably applies to books that help you discover the ‘new you’. Using these patterns in your marketing doesn’t just help you to sell more. It allows you to help the people who are already buying, by offering extra hints and tips.
Consider seasonal trends
If your business has been going for a while you might have a whole load of information about the way your customers behave. But what if you don’t? Maybe you’re a new business, have never collected much data or just haven’t spotted any patterns. Google Trends is your friend. Learning more about when people search for information helps you to target your marketing around the things they’re searching for. Visit Google Trends and search for keywords that relate to your business.
Other important dates
You can build your marketing content around almost anything seasonal. Talk about gifts for Valentine’s Day, Mothering Sunday or Easter. If your business has a sporting element you can focus on the major tournaments. There are increasing numbers of awareness days/weeks/months that you can talk about. One plea from me if you take this approach – please make sure it’s relevant. I’d rather hear from a brilliant baker on National Cake Day than from someone who just likes eating it.
One of the best things about working in a creative industry is the fact that it gives me opportunities to work as part of a team. The other one is working one to one with clients, but they’re vastly different experiences. A collaboration for me often comes about when one of my website designing friends creates a new website (or redesigns an old one) for one of their clients. They don’t do the wordy bits so if the client doesn’t already have someone in mind, they send them in my direction. I love it because I know there’s already a clear vision for the site so I can jump straight in. It’s brilliant when another creative brain has already got things started because it sparks so many ideas in me.
All of which brings me to another kind of project. When I first ventured out of the (frankly boring) world of corporate networking and into drinking coffee with creatives I hadn’t considered working with people who make films for businesses. I kind of assumed that they’d already have people who are good at that sort of thing. What I didn’t expect was a collaboration that took video and turned it into something else.
The project
If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’re probably already familiar with local initiatives that encourage business growth. I’ve seen everything from funding schemes to education projects. Beyond the obvious benefits to local businesses and regional growth, projects like this have one other massive advantage. It gives the people offering the scheme the opportunity to shout about how great they are. A Leicestershire based agency had been offering grants and loans to local businesses. The funding enabled them to secure premises or buy new equipment that allowed them to grow. There were lots of positive stories. Clearly, everyone involved wanted to get the word out.
The marketing
The marketing plan had several different strands, taking in both online and offline marketing. A video agency had already interviewed businesses who’d benefitted from funding and creating short films to share online. They just needed to turn the stories into a form that would also work in print. That’s where I came in. I took the transcriptions of the interviews and turned them into good news stories that could be shared online, via social media and even in printed mail outs to other local businesses.
The whole initiative was so successful that it’s happening again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get to put together another collaboration and share some of the stories again this time round!
If I can help you to share your story in a new way, book your call here and let’s have a chat.
When I started my business in 2015 I thought all I needed was a logo and some business cards and my branding would be sorted. I had a huge list of “To Dos” and branding was something that I could put a big tick next to.
I was good at this business lark!
Then, when I started to read more about marketing the words Ideal Client kept coming up…
Who is your ideal client? Which product would your ideal client choose? Where can you find your ideal client?
The answers were easy. Everybody was my ideal client, so they’d like all of the products and they were everywhere. Move on.
But it continued to come up time and time again so I decided to do some research into this whole branding thing.
Turns out, a business is way more successful when they have a clear message and how do they create a clear message? Through having an ideal client and a strong brand. Not only are businesses more successful, decision-making becomes much easier too.
So when we use the term branding what are we talking about exactly? We are talking about the overall message that a business conveys. Some key elements (but not all) are the logo, the colours used, the fonts, the language and importantly; the imagery.
I will touch on each area below:-
Message
Who do you want to attract? Who is going to buy your product or service? A 20 year old man is likely to be attracted to a very different brand to a 75 year old woman.
Logo
Should it be clean and simple? Bold and colourful? Monochrome? Do you include a motif? Any words? Do you have more than 1 logo?
Colours
Did you know that colours carry very strong messages with them? Red can suggest passion, excitement and importance, whereas Green can signify new beginnings, growth and nature. A couple of well-known brands that use colour well are Virgin and BP. For me, the red of Virgin says adventure, fun and excitement, whereas the green in BP says light, nature and energy. Both very different messages, but equally powerful for the companies concerned.
Fonts
When you start to search for fonts you will find that there is a choice of hundreds! From gothic to script to comic sans and everything in between. What message does your choice of font say about your brand? Is it sophisticated and high quality? or do you want to be seen as fun, high energy and lively? It really can make a huge difference to what people will expect from your company.
Language
The language that you use is extremely important. Spelling mistakes and poor grammar may go unnoticed by many, but to some it will indicate poor attention to detail and could even be a deal breaker. Some people prefer you to get to the point by being bold and direct, whilst others will enjoy more elaborate language, overflowing with metaphors and similes. There is a well-known company in the beauty industry that always addresses it’s clients as Darling. I can’t stand it!! I don’t know why, but it makes my skin crawl… The company in question has a huge following so this approach clearly works for them. I guess I’m just not their ideal client, and that’s absolutely fine.
Imagery
Which is, of course, the most important part (don’t worry all you graphic designers, I’m only joking, it’s all important! but great photographs are high up the priorities). The photography that you use is an essential part of your company’s message. Make it too generic and people will just scroll past. Incorporate all of the above elements and your ideal clients will instinctively know your style and you will have their attention. Add to this the notion that a picture can say a thousand words and suddenly you have the ability to deliver a very clear message. Many companies use lifestyle images to suggest that the purchase of their product or service will improve your life – and it works exceptionally well! Who doesn’t want to have more money? do lots of fun stuff? or spend more time with their family?
People buy from people that they know, like and trust. By getting your branding right (I have lots of tools and resources to help with this) you will be able to become more visible, save yourself hours of time and attract your dream clients.
Julie is a specialist Personal Brand Photographer, who helps local businesses to become more visible, stand out from their competitors and to attract more of their dream clients by providing them with a bank of beautiful on-brand images.
“I didn’t realise how much my business needed this! Since having my photographs taken professionally, I feel so much more confident posting to social media and I am now attracting more new clients than ever. Thank you” Emily.
Creating new and engaging marketing content for your business can feel a bit like living on a hamster wheel. You might be dizzy but you can’t seem to stop moving. I’m not going to pretend that creating marketing content doesn’t take time. It does. What I will tell you is that it doesn’t need to take you as long as it is right now. Here are a few of the ways that I save myself time when I’m planning my own marketing content so you can swipe them for yourself.
Reuse your blog
I see lots of business owners who think that every post needs to be unique. They spend hours planning and coming up with ideas before creating brand new copy and images for every single bit. The truth is that your audience won’t see everything you post. Sharing the same message more than once keeps your marketing consistent and means that it’s more likely to sink in. If you’ve spent time crafting a good blog post, (or if I’ve written one for you) recycle it as much as you can – there’s more on how to do that here.
Choose a theme
When it comes to marketing, consistency is key. You might offer a lot of different products or services but if your marketing flits between all of them your audience will just get confused and back away. Choosing a theme for each month makes planning easier as your posts can talk about different aspects of the same thing. Your theme might be seasonal, for example winter sun holidays or summer skincare. If your business is in health or wellbeing you could focus on a particular problem. You could simply focus on a service that you want to promote.
Create a content calendar
I have a monthly content calendar that sets out the type of post I’m going to create. It includes things like videos, blogs and posts on different platforms. I share my blog at the same time each week and have regular monthly posts on things like business buzzwords or good copy that I’ve spotted online. It acts as a template, which means that I don’t have to spend loads of time pondering what to share, but I can still change things if I need to.
Don’t reinvent the wheel
You don’t have to create absolutely everything from scratch. I have lots of resources that other people have created and which I use in my own marketing. If you’ve got something similar, share it. Your audience will remember that you were the person who gave them that useful thing so they trust you more. Sharing popular social media posts also helps you to increase your reach. Just make sure that it’s relevant to your audience and that you credit the person who created the original.
Use a scheduler
Scheduling tools are a massive time saver because it means that you don’t have to find time to post every day. You can just block out content creation time and create everything in one go. Put it in your scheduler and you don’t have to think about it until next time. You could break your time down into planning, writing and image creation (or even smaller blocks than that). Doing it this way means that you don’t have a last-minute panic where you end up posting something random because it’s better than nothing.
If you really want to speed up your content creation, I can do it for you! Book your no-obligation discovery call here or sign up to my mailing list for hints and tips straight to your inbox.
Firstly, forgive me. I know that you’ve probably had people telling you to ‘add value’ left, right and sideways. If you’ve escaped this so far, well done. Over on my social media pages I highlight a business buzzword every month. I ask people whether they love or hate it or whether it’s just overused. This nearly made it onto the list so I’m a bit surprised to be talking about ways to add value here.
The truth is, I couldn’t think of a better phrase to sum it up. Adding value isn’t just a buzzword. It’s incredibly important, not just in attracting new customers but in looking after the ones you have. Writing a blog can be the perfect way to add value. Here’s why I love it and how you can do it for yourself.
Enrich the experience for existing customers
We put loads of effort into attracting new followers, but your existing customers have already been won over. Putting some time and thought into looking after them will encourage them to come back. One way to do this is by writing a blog that helps them to enjoy the thing they already bought. For example, if they’ve booked a holiday with you, share the top 5 must see sights wherever they’re going. It shows you care about them having a good time, not just about the cash.
Solve a problem
I’ve seen plenty of advice saying that you shouldn’t share too much of the ‘how’ in your content. After all, why should someone become a customer if they can do it themselves? I take the view that if you can help someone to solve a problem quickly they’re more likely to trust you. Help your audience with an easy way to solve a problem. Then when they have less time or need better results, they’ll remember that you gave them a quick win when they needed it.
Provide a reference guide
You don’t have to offer a quick win to add value. You could provide a longer, step by step guide to something more complex. You’ve probably seen the type of thing I mean. A guide to creating your first website or 50 ways to come up with new content ideas. Your customers could read it all at once, but they’re more likely to return to it when they need something new. It means you’re helpful long term and they’ll remember your name every time they refer back.
Talk about something current
Most of the suggestions I’ve made so far are evergreen content. It’s information that will stay broadly the same for years on end and that you’ll only have to tweak to reflect small changes. Sometimes you can add value by responding to something current and time sensitive. At the moment that could be 5 things to help stressed parents and children cope with home school. You might be sharing techniques that will support people’s mental health at other times. By offering help in a crisis you’ll build trust.
Add value by being a signpost
Adding value often means giving your audience something useful without any expectation of reward. They could take your solution and use it without you even knowing. If you’ve ever written a blog with questions to ask a professional they’re thinking of hiring, you may have helped them to choose someone else. A great way of acting as a signpost is by sharing your favourite third party resources. It sounds counterintuitive but by sharing the things you value, you’re helping your audience to get great results themselves.
Do you need to create a blog that adds value? Book your no obligation discovery call to find out how I can help you or sign up for monthly hints and tips straight to your inbox using the form below.
When it comes to business marketing there’s always a lot of chat about blogging. Some people will tell you that writing a blog is pointless because no-one reads them anymore and others will tell you it’s essential. It won’t surprise you to hear that I recommend blogging to most people. (There are a few exceptions.) Writing a blog is only pointless if the customers you’re trying to talk to won’t read one. I’d be hard pushed to find an audience that would never read a blog. But when you’re a busy business owner who’s short on time, there might be better methods depending on who you’re trying to reach. There are lots of reasons why blogging is an effective marketing tool. Here are just a few of them.
It can bring you more website traffic
You might do most of your marketing on social media, but ultimately you want to attract people to your website. A link to your blog post is a great way to do that, mostly because it’s offering useful information and not just trying to sell something. When visitors arrive on your website you can engage their attention with more information about the ways you can help them. Social media is full of posts from their friends and other businesses which will all make them wander off and get distracted. That won’t happen on your website.
It helps you turn traffic into leads
Building a following can be incredibly difficult. Social media algorithms make it easy for your posts to disappear from followers’ newsfeeds if they don’t engage frequently. When you write a blog you can use it to encourage readers to stay in touch with you. That could be by including something as simple as a sign up form for your mailing list so you can email them. I know you still run the risk of vanishing into an overstuffed inbox but it’s still an improvement. If you talk about specific products or services you can also direct visitors to your shop or a contact form if they’re ready to talk.
Your blog can be evergreen
Unless you have followers who are in the habit of scrolling through all of your page content, social media posts have a fairly short shelf life. Of course, the advantage of this is that you can reuse old posts as long as they’re still relevant. The downside is that those posts aren’t going to show up when someone asks Google a question. With good SEO a blog on a topic that’s relevant to your audience could still be found in a search years from now. If there are key questions that your audience always ask, write a blog and it could keep bringing you a new audience in the future.
You can recycle your blog
I’ve talked about reusing your blog before but you can go beyond recycling it for social media. You can use it as a lead magnet (also known as a freebie) to encourage people to sign up for your mailing list. That could be a tips post that helps them achieve something, or even a list of your favourite resources. If you’ve got a series of posts that you can put together to make something more substantial, you could even turn it into a paid product. When you’ve put time and effort into creating a blog it’s worth considering what else you could use it for.
If you’re ready to start a business blog but would rather hand it over, I’m here to help. Click here to find out more about my blogging packages. If you’d rather just have a chat, you can book your no obligation discovery call here. Or, you could just sign up for writing and marketing tips straight to your inbox every month, using the form below.
Creating a blog can feel like a lot of hard work, especially if you spend hours on it and end up with something that feels a bit underwhelming. Paying someone else to do it for you can also seem like a lot of money for one piece of content a month. The good news is that your blog can go a lot further than that. Get into recycling and your blog could help you create a whole load of new marketing posts. Here’s how to get started.
Break it down
A good blog should have a few subheadings so you don’t end up with a chunk of text that your audience will struggle to read. Each subheading, or even each paragraph, could be a social media post on its’ own. You can post a section with an image or create a graphic with text on it. The copy might need editing a bit but it’s quicker than creating something from scratch. You can also add a link to your blog so more people find it.
This works really well if your blog is a series of tips (like this one). Write a blog with five tips and you’ve got five separate posts.
Create video content
I know that the idea of doing video causes a lot of you to have a wobble, but it doesn’t have to. There are ways to use video that don’t involve you being on screen. If you’ve already created images for individual paragraphs you can use them in a video. Just add some text if the image doesn’t already have it. I do this using Canva.com or try Ripl.com if you prefer a paid version.
If you’re up for doing a live or video with you in it, you can give a quick summary of your topic and send viewers to a link in the comments if they’d like to read more.
Use the theme as inspiration
Coming up with new things to say on social media can take up a ridiculous amount of time. Reusing your existing content will help, but you can also cut down on the thinking time by talking about your theme in different ways. You can share a motivational meme that’s relevant to your audience or choose a quote that gives a different perspective on the topic. Asking questions can be a great way to find out what your audience think, or what they struggle with. It can get people talking and give you insights that could help you to develop new products and services in the future.
Reuse your blog in your emails
You might think that your email subscribers will follow you on social media so will have seen all of your stuff already. Not necessarily. Nobody will see everything you post. Your subscribers have signed up because they’re interested in what you have to say so there’s nothing wrong with sending them something you think they’ll find useful. Just make sure you write something that’s just for them too. It’s also worth remembering that subscribers are more likely to buy from you than anyone else. Showing them content that shows them why a particular product or service is helpful means they’re more likely to become a customer.
Do you need help creating your blog or coming up with ways to reuse it to create more content? Book your discovery call now and we can have a chat. Alternatively, sign up to my email list for blogging and marketing tips straight to your inbox every month.
If you’re starting the year with a marketing plan in place and content ready to go, hurrah! This blog will help you with new ideas if you need them. It’ll also act as a handy checklist if things aren’t working as you’d like them to. If, on the other hand, you decided to think about your New Year marketing plan once you actually got to the New Year and are now panicking because you have New Year brain fog, you can stop. Here are my essential steps towards creating a plan that works.
Know your customer
You’re probably sick of hearing me talk about this but it bears repeating. Even though anyone could buy from you, there are some people who are more likely to. If you talk to them in your marketing you’ll build trust and grow your audience. Think about who your ideal customers are, what’s important to them and where you’ll find them. That way you can create marketing that makes people say ‘yes! This person understands me and I need what they’re offering.’
Knowing your numbers is just as important as understanding your customer. You’re a small business owner which means you haven’t got time to waste on marketing that doesn’t work. Check your analytics and see which blogs got visitors and which didn’t. Find out what social media posts got likes and comments and what got tumbleweed.
This isn’t a hard and fast rule. Some posts will get noticed but won’t get any feedback. All the same, knowing your numbers is always a useful place to start.
Choose your platforms
Choosing the right platform takes in knowing your audience, your numbers and working out what works best for your business. When you’ve got beautiful product photos, Instagram is probably a no brainer. If you want to work with business clients head to LinkedIn. Think about what works for you and where your customers are going to spend time. Pretty much everyone is on Facebook and you can share different types of content.
If you’re creating a New Year marketing plan it could be time to take a fresh approach.
Think about benefits
I know that you love your products and services and want to tell everyone how great they are. That’s wonderful. Trouble is, your customers don’t care. They only want to know what’s in it for them. In practice, that means that whenever you talk about your products and services you need to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Does it save them time, help them solve a problem or make gift buying easy?
Take the things that are wonderful about your services and show your customers how it benefits them.
Write a blog
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? When you’re creating a New Year marketing plan, think about including a blog. It’s a great way to talk to your customers and offer them something useful. You can share your expertise and build trust with your audience. But you know all this. What you might not know is that you can reuse it in all sorts of different ways. Writing one blog (or getting someone to write it for you) can save you time because you can recycle it. More on that next week…
If this has left you feeling that you need some help, book your free discovery call now and let’s have a chat. Alternatively, sign up to my mailing list for blogging and marketing tips straight to your inbox every month.
