5 ways to turn up the heat with your Autumn and Winter marketing campaigns
Autumn is always action-packed for marketing in the run up to Christmas. However, you may be missing out on some key ways to mix up your campaigns and content to maximise uptake and engagement.
Here are five simple activities to give your marketing more of a current spin.
1. Leverage key themes
For those of us that run a business, this is the perfect time to leverage key dates coming up in the retail and business calendar and even more so this year.
Here are some key days and themes to integrate into your marketing:
- November: World Kindness Day, International Men's Day, Thanks Giving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday
- December: Small Business Saturday, International Volunteers Day, Christmas Jumper Day, Christmas and New Year
2. Get staff involved with awareness days
Some businesses struggle to see the relevance of awareness days. However, they can play a vital role if leveraged in the right way.
Why not get your team involved and show the more human side of your business? One of your members of staff may have a passion or skill they can talk about through recording a video blog.
This could be a nice time to do some fundraising as well for a cause close to your heart or aligned to your business. Not only does this help to build your brand and improve your image, but it can also be highly motivational for staff.
Giving Tuesday could be the perfect opportunity. Celebrated in 60 countries and created to encourage generosity, this day takes place on the Tuesday following Black Friday and this year it is 28th November.
It is designed to champion the vital work of charities as well as raise money for important causes and support small local businesses.
3. Seek blog input from partners
At this time of year, it isn't unusual to get writer's block and struggle with blog content. The perfect solution is to get expert input from partners and colleagues in the same industry.
Draw up a shortlist of ‘experts’ that you know and that have a natural fit with your business and then start approaching them. When you do this, it is worth drafting content ideas so they understand how they can support you as well as a mini brief covering word count and do’s and don'ts. This will save a lot of back and forth in the long run. I would recommend the blogs have a seasonal context.
4. Update imagery
Refreshing old blogs with new season appropriate imagery from free photo libraries can give it a new lease of life. Not only will it make your content more current, but it will aid your search engine rankings too.
Remember to leverage the blogs across all your channels including your social media and e-newsletters. This will help to build your brand by achieving a consistent message and you'll get maximum value from the content too.
5. Be original with promotions
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas promotions can be innovative. However, tempting, don’t churn out the same old offers which could be stale and potentially cheapen your brand. It is always the easy option to automatically price discount. Consider the relevance too, the wider environmental impact and be cautious about boosting short term sales.
Instead, get creative and come up with some new ideas. There is always a new way and sustainable way to do things. Joining forces with a brand partner could mix things up and get your brand out there to new audiences.
Test new promotions and messaging out on colleagues and friendly customers to get feedback. Don't rush the copy - the crafting of the headline is always the hardest part.
Shining a light on your business
Don’t think it is too late to whistle up some new marketing activity this year. Much of these ideas are things you are most likely doing anyway. They will just provide seasonal relevance at a crucial time for year for sales in so many businesses.
For more help with your marketing read how to generate great content and how to win on social media as a small business. Good luck!
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