Podcast 43: How to Keep Your Marketing Working Over the Holidays
Dec 10, 2020
Do you take a holiday from work over Christmas? When you step away from your business, does your marketing halt to a stop?
If you’re taking a much-needed break, your business and marketing can continue to work for you, while you relax.
Here’s how you can take Christmas off, and ensure you’re showing up for your clients with your marketing:
Let clients know when you’re off
Make sure people know when you’re officially closed over the Christmas holiday. This can be added to your emails and newsletters, as a poster in your clinic, on your website and social media platforms, on your Google My Business listings etc. This way clients know what to expect, and aren’t left wondering.
Remember to block the time out in your diary, especially if you use an automated booking system. Let’s just say I forgot this once and had someone book in – a lesson learnt!
Email autoresponder
This is an automatic email sent to anyone contacting you during a certain period of time sent from your email system. Personalise the message letting people know when you’re off, as well as pointing them in the direction of support if needed.
It’s a great way to let people know when to expect a reply and takes a couple of minutes to set up in your email system.
Write a to-do list
This will act as a reminder of what you want to get done when you return from holiday. It will save you from thinking about work while you’re off, and help you to get back up and running on your return.
Continue marketing
Just because you’re on holiday, it doesn’t mean you have to stop showing up in your marketing.
Christmas is a great time of year to show up in front of your ideal clients. They’re at home and actively looking for solutions to their problems. They’re also open to being entertained and inspired so how can you help them?
Spend a little time planning out your content and social media posts. Work out when you want to show up over the holiday period and how regularly. You don’t have to do everything from scratch – you could use it as an opportunity to re-share your existing content or curate others’ content you think your clients would love.
Schedule social media
Create your posts in advance and schedule them to be published while you’re off. There are lots of free and paid scheduling systems so use the ones you find easiest.
I use the Facebook Business Suite for my Facebook business page and the free version of Hootsuite for Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn (although I usually post directly to LinkedIn – I’ll make an exception for the holiday). Once the posts are set, I know I’ll have a presence online while I’m away from the office.
And don’t just stop at scheduling social media, you can also schedule your blog posts, podcasts and other content to publish over the holiday.
Make offers
The Christmas holiday is a great time to start filling your diary for the New Year. Make sure your services pages on your website are up to date, and you have a simple way for people to book in to see you. The best idea for this is a calendar system where people can book straight into your diary and pay you for the session at the same time.
People want to start the New Year and make positive changes. How can you support your clients to make the changes they want?
Then simply include your offers in your scheduled marketing and make use of any client testimonials and case studies too. These will help to inspire people to come and work with you.
Check-in
Social media is all about being social. Don’t post and hide – respond to someone who has made the effort to comment on your posts. Unless you’re having a complete holiday from social media, check-in once a day to keep conversations flowing. It’s the connection and building relationships that will help to attract clients to your door. Keep your boundaries in terms of not booking appointments but commenting and replying will help your marketing work.
Enjoy your holiday!
Your business is ready for the holiday–relax and have fun. You’ll start the New Year feeling refreshed and ready for action.
If you want to start the New Year brilliantly, book a discovery call and find out how I can help you make 2021 fantastic.
Podcast 43 show notes:
- (01:03) Let clients know when you're off
- (02:00) Set up an email autoresponder
- (02:37) Write a to-do list
- (03:20) Continue your marketing
- (05:10) Schedule social media
- (06:35) Make offers
- (07:52) Check-in and respond
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