Christmas sneaks up on every small business. One minute you’re putting the summer stock away, the next someone’s asking if you do gift vouchers and you’re printing a sign on the office printer.
You don’t need a big budget to get it right. You need a plan you can stick to. Here’s a six-week one that works for shops, cafés, salons and trades across Dorset and Hampshire. Start it in early November and you’ll be ahead of most of your competitors.
Week 1: pick one Christmas offer
Everything else hangs off this, so keep it simple. One clear thing you want people to buy or book before Christmas. For a café it might be a festive menu or Christmas lunch bookings. For a salon, gift vouchers. For a shop, a gift guide or late opening nights. For a tradesperson, “book before the new year” slots.
Write down your offer, your last order or booking date, and your Christmas opening hours. You’ll use all three everywhere.
Week 2: update your Google Business Profile
This is the five-minute job most people forget. Add your special opening hours for the Christmas period, post your offer as an update, and add a couple of fresh photos. When someone searches for you over the holidays, the first thing they see is your profile, and nothing puts people off like hours that are wrong. If you’re not sure where to start, our guide on showing up on Google Maps covers the basics.
Week 3: sort your window and in-store print
If you have a shopfront, your window is free advertising to everyone walking past. A proper poster with your offer, an A-board outside, and matching price cards or gift voucher displays inside make you look organised and on brand. Order print now, because local printers get busy from mid-November.
Gift vouchers are worth doing properly. A well-designed voucher feels like a present. A photocopied one feels like an afterthought. We design posters, vouchers and price lists as part of our print design service.
Need Christmas posters or gift vouchers? Tell us your offer and dates and we’ll give you a fixed price. Get a quick quote.
Week 4: send your first Christmas email
If you’ve got a list of customer emails, use it. Three emails is plenty for the season: one to launch your offer, one a week before your last order date, and a thank you between Christmas and New Year. Your regulars are the people most likely to buy, so they should hear first. Our post on the first five emails to set up in Mailchimp has more ideas.
Week 5: push it on social media
Plan your posts in one sitting rather than scrambling every morning. Show the offer, show the people behind the business, and remind people of your dates. If you’ve got a small budget, a Facebook and Instagram ad aimed at people within a few miles of you can work well at this time of year. Start with our guide to Facebook and Instagram ads for local businesses.
Week 6: last-minute reminders
The final week is about deadlines. Post your last order date, last booking slots and Christmas hours on your Google profile, social pages and website. Last-minute shoppers are searching “open now” and “gift vouchers near me”, so make sure the answer is easy to find.
Then plan January
January is quiet for a lot of local businesses. Use the gap between Christmas and New Year to note what worked, then plan one January offer so you’re not starting from scratch. It’s also a good time to fix things that have been bugging you, like a logo that looks homemade or a website that gets visitors but no enquiries.
Related: how we help cafés, independent shops, salons and restaurants.
Photo by Minyeong Jeong on Unsplash
Want a hand getting your Christmas marketing sorted? Get a free, no-obligation quote.
