The calendar year is something that rarely changes, so why not play on the annual/every few years seasonal activities and events? Things like Christmas, Easter, Sporting evets like Wimbledon, The Masters, F1, the London Marathon, and numerous endless tournaments, Black Friday events, Festivals like Glastonbury, the list really is endless. But how can you work these into your marketing schedule and include current seasonal content? See some of our tips below….
Get Prepared
While the focus is usually on the upcoming events and although this is important, taking that step ahead is also a great strategy. Take the time to start your preparation for the coming year early and plan which of your calendar events could be the most successful for monopolise on for your business. Using tools like Google Trends will help with what aspects have been/are popular and will be a good indicator for what will really take off next year. Think about content marketing research that you already have and figure out:
- Be specific and keeping in mind your target audience decide what is the best way to grab their attention
- Use tools like Semrush for keyword analysis
- Look at your site’s traffic in previous years and the data as this may be useful to see how products or posts performed
- Look at testimonials for inspiration
It’s all about the timing
If you are going to create relevant holiday content and make the most of it, it is best to plan when. You do not want to wait too late to pitch it and end up missing the key time slot for this! It is better planning to get articles written early and scheduled out for a future date, rather than rushing them and missing the deadline. To get your content done before time and effectively, use these tricks below:
- Look back and analyse old content around seasonal topics and start developing ways you can advance it and use it again
- Whilst building your seasonal products, think about how your content will sit alongside this to help boost your sales
- Avoid adding dates to URLs around seasonal content so that it can be recycled for the following year
- Refresh any seasonal content as new, develop it bringing it into the new year. You do not need brand new content for the same events every year
Market each platform effectively
The holiday season is always a difficult time to capture the attention of clients so if you can be prepared with what you would like to publish across each different platform this will be more effective for your audience, and less stressful for you. Knowing who and what to market on each platform is key. Keep in mind:
- Lists on Pinterest are very popular and a great way to share gifting ideas, your favourite recipes and décor ideas
- Instagram is great for sharing visual inspiration about gifts, and what seasonal outfits are trending
- Facebook is great for running competitions for your followers and you can make this interesting and helpful for consumers instead of making it just about your product or service
- Guest Posts are a great way to advertise to a large audience that you would not necessarily reach in your day to day marketing
If you can prepare in advance and make sure your content is visible and live on multiple platforms, you have the best chance to get in front of your audience. Make the most of creating seasonal content to make it personal and giving the best chance for it to get noticed!
