We’ve made a (task)list, and checked it twice

They say timing is everything… So when should you start preparing for Christmas?

Well, the right moment to start preparations was on December 27th last year and we’re guessing you’ve missed it. Your next best option is today. What we’re trying to say here is, it’s never too early to be prepared.

But fear not if your business is nowhere near ready for the festive season, we’ve come up with the ultimate task list to make sure your Christmas season will be one to remember (for all the right reasons)!

First off though, a couple of pro Christmas preparation tips:

Focus on last year’s data to determine your most effective strategies. You should bank on what proved effective last year and invest more in the winners.

Also, any customer/client/user data collected throughout the year can be put to good use during the festive season to increase loyalty.

Now, here’s our list of things you should be doing during the lead up to Christmas. Or talk to us of course, as we can definitely help it all!

IT Related Issues

• Check your website’s health and ensure it is loading fast enough.
• Prepare your servers and IT infrastructure to manage extra website traffic.
• Make sure your website is as secure as it can be, as Christmas is also a peak period for cyber attacks.
• Make sure your website is not going through any major upgrades or dev work in the next 2 months, to avoid any downtime.
• Dedicate a member of staff to working on website maintenance for these important months

Website Preparation

• Add a nice Christmas design on your website
• Create a special Christmas landing page right now, to showcase any special promotions. Be sure to optimise it for Christmas relevant keywords as well.
• Create discount codes for pre-Christmas and Christmas periods to provide users incentives.
• Try to collect as many reviews as possible and showcase them on your website.
• Check if the website has easy to use navigation and is optimised for conversions.

Marketing Preparation

• Prepare your offers and sort your email campaign/s
• Have your Christmas page up and running and start your link building process for your best sellers to gain traction on Google
• Speak to us about setting up your Google Ads campaigns right now.
• Budget well and try running your campaigns early to get a better ROI. Advertising costs will peak from the beginning of December.
• Update your Google Business Profile (with seasonal opening hours etc etc).

Social Media

• Tailor your content around key events taking place across the holiday season.
• Set up and schedule your social media posts to be sent out automatically using scheduling tools such as Buffer.
• Make sure you promote your offers, but don’t over do it (a healthy content mix will be key to retaining customer loyalty and, ultimately, growing your business)
• Post your updated business hours and pin them to the top of your Facebook page
• Use the profile photos to promote offers or services

Lastly, start planning for the next year

After the holiday season is over, take the time to closely analyse the performance of your marketing activities. What worked well? What didn’t? Which of your social media posts had the greatest engagement? These learnings can be incorporated into next year’s strategy and help to drive business growth.