You probably think it’s way too soon to think about Christmas, but the truth is, if you want to have a successful Christmas marketing strategy, you need to start brainstorming your ideas right now!
We know this process might be overwhelming for some of you, so we thought we would put together some Christmas marketing and post ideas to inspire you! Plus, we’ve created some amazing Christmas Templates for Social Media! These are great ideas that pretty much any small business can use to make the most of this holiday season.
Are you ready? Let’s get right into it!
Read more: December Social Media Calendar + FREE Templates
Keep reading to find out:
Christmas Marketing and Post Ideas for Businesses
1. Create a New (Mini) Product or New Packaging
I love this tip because it really does make a difference. You don’t have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a whole new offering. You can just come up with a “mini” product, like a new flavor of an already beloved item, a new candle scent, or a new exclusive holiday color. Don’t want to create a new product? How about packaging? I love Starbucks’ red holiday cups, for example. They’re so Instagrammable and just looking at them puts me in the Christmas spirit. Can you do something similar?
2. Promote Seasonal Products
If you already have a line of seasonal products, now is the time to promote them! Don’t reinvent the wheel each year. Just make a tradition around promoting your seasonal products at a certain time of year every year and your customers will really start to look forward to it. Again, Starbucks does this brilliantly in the fall and again in the winter with their seasonal beverages like the Pumpkin Spice Latte and Gingerbread Latte. Certain clothing stores will put out Christmas sweaters and socks as soon as November rolls around. Do you have seasonal products to promote? If so, create a marketing plan and make a big deal out of it.
3. Create a Gift Guide
Gift guides are a helpful way to give your customers and followers valuable content and promote your products at the same time. Create a virtual gift guide on your blog or as a downloadable PDF. You can do multiple versions for parents, moms, grandparents, children, etc. Think of your target audience and create a gift guide for them and be sure to put plenty of your own products in it. Just keep in mind, this sort of thing needs to be published weeks and even months in advance to give people plenty of time to shop!
4. Share Christmas Ideas
If your business centers around crafts, entertaining, home decor, or something similar, you can help your customers get their homes ready for the holidays! Help them craft their own gifts, decorate their tables, and trim their tree in style. Use this time to create helpful content for your followers, give them tons of value, and they will be sure to support you in whatever way they can… well beyond the holiday season.
Read more: 18 Social Media Post Ideas for Small Businesses
5. Share Recipes
If you’re a chef or a restaurant owner, why not share a great holiday recipe with your followers? They will absolutely love it and they’ll be so grateful that you gave them something to be proud to serve their guests on Christmas. Giving valuable content like this always pays off. Always.
6. Share Tutorials
Are you a hairdresser? Teach people how to create amazing and simple hairstyles at home. A nail artist? Teach people how to do fun and simple nail art. An interior designer? Show people how to create a holiday-themed mantle. Share your expertise by creating tutorials that you can share on social media. It doesn’t matter if it’s a static post, a video, an Instagram Story series, or an Instagram Reel. Just share your knowledge with your audience! They’ll see you as an authority, and if they like the tips, they will definitely come back to you when they need your products or services.
7. Decorate Your Website and Social Media
This one is super really simple, but it also makes a big impact. Why not create a Christmas version of your logo – perhaps by just adding a small Santa hat to it – or change your Facebook page cover to a holiday-themed one? Poster Maker is an easy tool to customize your assets or add your logo to images. Just remember to always make sure your website and social media accounts are on-brand.
8. Share Behind the Scenes Images
Sharing behind-the-scenes images is always a good idea, but especially around Christmas. People love to know what you’re working on, so if you’re coming up with a huge sale, a new product, or just cleaning out your stock room, share the process with them. We’re naturally curious beings, so let people in and they will feel closer to you and your business!
9. Create a Playlist
There’s nothing like a good Christmas playlist. If you have one that you’ve already made, that you play in your business during the holidays, go ahead and share it with your followers! Personally, I love it when I get into a store and Christmas songs are playing (as long as it’s not too early). It’s so easy to share your playlist. You can even print a QR code and place it next to the register, for example. People can scan it and go straight to your Spotify playlist!
10. Create Movie Lists
Another good way to connect with your audience is to share your favorite holiday “must watch” movie list with them. You could make it fun and create a bingo card or some fun Instagram Story templates that they can interact with and check off which movies they’ve seen. You could even do a bracket and have people vote on the best Christmas movie of all time. Even if it doesn’t *totally* relate to the work you do, it’s still a fun way to engage with your audience.
11. Start a Countdown
Create a countdown for something big that you’re doing in your store or business to celebrate Christmas! For example, if you’re having a huge sale, new product launch, or putting your seasonal items out on the shelves, you can create a countdown to make everyone a little more excited for the occasion AND to help keep your business and brand front of mind.
Read more: Instagram Stories for Businesses: The Complete Guide
12. Create a Giveaway
Instagram giveaways are a great way to promote your business, increase brand awareness, and even help boost sales. This will not only appeal to customers you already have, but it’s also a great way to reach new people who might not have heard of you yet. Think of a nice gift to give people and promote your giveaway on social media. Make sure you do it at least a few weeks before Christmas. This way, people who didn’t win still have plenty of time to shop with you before the holidays.
13. Create an Offer
If you created a giveaway, it’s super easy to create an offer to go with it… especially if you collected email addresses as part of the contest entry. You can simply email everyone who entered a special discount right after the giveaway ends. Even if you don’t do a giveaway, you can still email your contact list a special offer for the holidays. Everyone loves a discount, after all… especially when they have to buy so many gifts. Creating an offer is a great way to ensure they do at least some of their holiday shopping with you!
14. Share Stories from Customers
Most people love to be in the spotlight. So, why not ask them to send an email or video that highlights their experience with your business? Encourage them to send you their stories and testimonials so you can share them on your social media feeds. Since it’s the holidays, you can incorporate Christmas by giving them a little something in return, like a discount or free gift-wrapping or a small seasonal item for free the next time they stop in to see you.
15. Share Messages From Your Staff
Christmas is the perfect time to get personal. So, ask your staff, your family members, or the people who work with you as suppliers to record a quick video to post on your social media channels. The goal is to help people feel like they’re a part of your community. When you get more personal, your followers feel like they know you better, and that goes a long way in building trust for your business.
16. Create Quizzes & Polls
A fun way to increase engagement is to create quizzes and polls. People love to participate in these, even if it’s something frivolous and playful. You can create some polls centered around Christmas, or you can ask fun questions about your business, your staff members, your holiday favorites… the sky’s the limit. Let down your guard and give people an opportunity to get to know you a little better. Just make sure you keep it PG, of course.
17. Join Collaborations
Another great way to create content and promote your brand during the holidays is by partnering with other businesses and brands in the same niche or local area. You can both profit from a partnership like this because you’re able to increase your visibility and find more potential customers. You could even take it a step further and create a product together or do a giveaway that incorporates both of your products. Thinking about ways to grow together with other businesses is always good, but especially during the holidays.
18. Create Bundles
If you don’t want to do a giveaway, you can still partner with another business to create a product bundle. Do you have products or services that would go perfectly with something from another business? For example, if you own a bookstore, you could partner with a local tea shop and do a “cozy reading bundle” that includes a few new books and some loose leaf tea and a cute mug. This is the perfect thing to do around the holidays because people are looking for unique gifts to give to the people in their lives. If you can, try to launch them in time for the big shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday!
19. Create Limited-Time Offers
Limited-time offers really help to create a sense of urgency. You can create several different offers and tell people that they are only available during the Christmas shopping season. By doing this, you can encourage them to come into your store or visit your website to spend some of their holiday shopping budgets with you!
20. Donate Part of Your Profits
Christmas is all about giving, so why not donate a portion of your profits to a worthy charity? Help people feel a little less guilty about all the money they’re spending by pledging to share some of that money with people who might not have as much during the holidays. Make sure people know what you’re doing and then pick a day or even a week to raise money. Then, don’t forget to share how much you collected so everyone can celebrate this achievement together!
21. Offer Something for Free
People loooove gifts, and what better time to give your customers and followers something for free? Create a marketing campaign to let people know how they can earn a free gift for themselves (or someone else) when they shop with you. Maybe after they spend a certain amount, they’re eligible to receive a free item. Maybe you’re including a free gift with the purchase of certain items. Maybe you give people a small gift card for themselves when they purchase a larger one for someone else. No matter what you decide to do, make sure to post about it at least a few times so people see it and take action!
Ps: Want to get our FREE Christmas social media templates? Click here to download them!
We can’t wait to see what you do. Please tag us using the hashtag #GrowingMyBiz so we can see and share your work!
