35. 4 Ways to Effectively Plan Your 2022 Holiday Content in Advance
Limitless Podcast —Episode 35 – 2022 Holiday Content Planning
The holiday season is demanding, with only two months left in 2022 and thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year coming up it is only natural that both customers and brands feel overwhelmed. However, a well-planned holiday marketing plan can help increase sales and customer retention by building a strong connection with them. Today, On the Limitless Podcast, Jamie Ratterman goes over four effective ways that can come in handy when planning your 2022 holiday content.
Episode’s Highlights:
Why you should start teasing the holiday season before it starts.
Other special dates apart from Black Friday must be remembered.
How making the content more personal can help build a stronger connection.
What to discount and why.
Resources:
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Transcript
Jamie Ratermann 0:02
Being limitless is knowing your success and your growth are built on a radical belief in yourself. Limitless is honoring your purpose, your health and impact above all else. Limitless is never playing small because the more alive you feel in your life, the more growth and success you attract. Hi, my name is Jamie Ratterman and I am a Holistic business coach, meaning I am just as invested in growing your health as I am and grow your wealth. With 11 plus years and brands social media marketing, I help rebellious entrepreneurs master marketing and body leadership and say fuck it to the hustle. This show is here to encourage you to become more radically aware of your self imposed limits to break free of your shoulds and to expand your brand into a movement led by you. Hello lovelies, welcome
Jamie Ratermann 0:49
to episode 35. The limitless podcast I am so excited to talk today because it is officially our holiday episode we're going to talk about what it means to be an entrepreneur or a solopreneur. And how you can use the holidays to not only cap off what you want to do with your business for the end of the year. But why this can be a really fun time to be able to be talking to your potential clients. I hope you all have been noticing that I've been adding a little bit of tea. Whenever I am starting to record a podcast in general I've been listening to my own voice is always a fun thing, right? Like I would definitely say that I've noticed the words that I repeat and reuse which has been, I will say a fun part of this process. But also I was like okay, how can I set the scene just like I talked about setting the scene for your work day setting the scene for podcast means I'm drinking a little more tea, but today was quite Kismet for the fact that I picked a tea bag. In particular, I really love Yogi teas. And this one says you are unlimited. So it feels like this tea was supposed to be drink during this limitless episode, which I love for anyone who is really thinking about how they want to cap off the year and consider how the holidays and in general thinking about how their 2022 went and how they want to make 2023 an even bigger year, I want to encourage you to take a look at marketing mastery. Right now the doors are open for allowing people to come on in. And I really think it can be an opportunity for you to just upgrade the way in which you market. So the couple of these episodes that are coming up, we'll be talking about how marketing is changing, and how you can capitalize on that. That program is there for you to be able to allow me to really dig into what your brand is and how we can amplify it. So one important thing that I really love that I do within my own coaching is that I know your business, I know it like the back of my hand like in this podcast, I give lots of tips and tricks and what to do and how that all works. But each business each brand, each leader really gets to excel off of different tactics and strategies. So whenever I run those group programs, even my you know, mastermind, I really understanding it like to dig into what you want to do. So Marketing Mastery is all about money making offers a magnetic mindset. And of course, messaging that's going to stand out, we are really focusing on video content, especially this next round. So if that is something that you are wanting to add to your 2023 to really building your business even bigger, definitely take a look in the show notes. Its Marketing Mastery doors are currently open. But let's dive in. Let's dive into this episode and talk about holiday fever, how we can really look at the holidays as a really big opportunity to not only ramp up the things that have been working really well for us all year, but definitely not to shy away from them. I think one of the biggest myths out there around the holiday season is that it's only for the big brands, it's only for the brands who can do the like stocking stuffers. And you know this for the gaps or for the banana republics or for the Walmarts of the world to really be able to capitalize on all of this. And I want to be very clear here. People spend their money at the end of the year, it doesn't matter what it's on. In general, we are looking to either gift ourselves and others at the end of the year. But also it's a time for where people are spending to think about what they want to do the following year. I mentioned this in the last episode, to help you all be re motivated and really thinking about how you want to finish the year strong. But this is the episode to talk about what you can do, especially if you're wanting to participate in holiday fever. So one important note, this is for products and services. We're not just focusing on coaching or service providers today we are talking about as a whole. So at the recording of this episode is the last few days of October. I want you first and foremost to consider that the holiday season does not start on Black Friday, the holiday season start On November 1, so people are immediately going to be thinking about their shopping lists are going to immediately be looking at how much money they have left in their budgets. So really realizing when it comes to how you want to really capitalize on the holidays, it's how can you create interest now. So here's a couple of things to consider when you are wanting to participate in holiday discounts, holiday giveaways, in general what that looks like. So the first couple of weeks of November, I would encourage you to take a look at what was the top interest or intrigue throughout the month, what was the top product and service that really hit it off throughout the year. So in particular, let's say one on one coaching was something that you that did really well for you, maybe you're going to lead up and talk about what's happening with your one on one clients up to Black Friday through that cyber weekend, and be able to decide, oh, I'm going to give a one on one intensive away at a lower discounted rate. So that this is going to apply to not only the higher ticket services, but also to the products and services that you have. Let's say that you run a candle company and one in particular, scent is just doing so well for you can this be the month that you showcase it, you talk about it a lot to talk about everything that went into it. So really know that if you're wanting to be top of mind, when it comes to the holiday season, especially as many of the businesses are thinking about their own holiday campaigns, you are a business you are somebody who gets to participate in the holidays by starting early. So here's how to consider your holiday plan one, understand what those top products and services. So what is it that you're going to highlight the biggest, the loudest during the holiday season.
Jamie Ratermann 7:00
The second piece is when do you plan to give that discount. So one part of I think the biggest things that people miss, when it comes to the holidays is that they just give discounts all season is from cyber Monday to all the way to December 31. They are just giving discounts left right in the middle. So one important thing to know is that when it comes to your email subscribers, your social followers, whoever you're deciding to promote what you're doing during the holidays, they want to see that there's a gradual adjustment. So I know that if I decided to jump in on Cyber Monday on we're going to talk about sofa Sunday in a little bit. But if I decided to jump in, when I believe that there's the highest discount, I want to feel like I can trust you that that is true. So trust is a big part of this holiday season idea. So if you're going to be giving a discount in any way, make sure that your highest discount or your biggest bonus, or whatever you decide is going to be your holiday incentive that it is at its peak on the day after Thanksgiving through that Cyber Monday. So knowing that, if that's going to be your lowest your lowest price for your products, or your biggest bonus, from there, you get to have like this decreasing discount. So for us to build trust, we all expect the best prices to be that day after Thanksgiving. So make sure that you aren't just giving your discounts away. So this is something to really notice that if you are always giving away or giving a discount, in general, there's a fatigue that happens. So you want to make sure that these feel really special. That these feel like you are thinking and playing to what you know they're really interested in. That's why we talked about that top product or service. But also that this can be the time where you start to you start to play with how you can just create incentives every other week of okay, so Cyber Monday is my best discount. Well guess what we're adding this bonus. The second week of December, we're gonna we're giving an end of your discount on on between Christmas and New Year's. So knowing that like if you really want to participate big during the holiday season, take a quick note of how you can really tease out and think about how you are creating a holiday journey for those clients that really love you, those clients that have been waiting for the discounts to happen and making sure that they have that interest in mind. So now that we've been talking about your holiday campaign and how you've been thinking about discounts and what it looks like and how you can tease it out with with your products that people really love.
Jamie Ratermann 9:53
Let me talk about the many long list of holidays that you can really think about that people are going to be looking for. So For many of you, I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, solopreneurs small businesses on this podcast. So your bread and butter is going to be that Small Business Saturday. So Small Business Saturday follows on, of course, the Saturday after American Thanksgiving. So I would definitely say Black Friday can be something that's good. But I think the expectation or in general, in the past couple of years, according to data, people will see that entire weekend as their prime shopping season. So when you're looking at Small Business Saturday, that's your first that's your first part. So what can you do as a brand announced that you're participating? Not on Small Business Saturday, all week long, like all week long, leading up to Small Business Saturday saying like, guess what, there's something coming, hey, we're participating in small, Small Business Saturday, because we we can't wait for the holidays to begin. Being able to really tease that out is essential. So because I like that, because in general, there were people that have been following you loving you knowing that you are somebody that they want to purchase from, by giving them the incentive to know that you're participating in that big holiday is going to be really helpful. So Small Business Saturday, start there, but start talking about at least a week in advance. Now, let's talk about sofa Sunday. Anyone know about this? Have you ever heard of sofa Sunday. So sofa Sunday is actually when we are starting to make our wish lists. So Cyber Monday is when we all purchase everything online, we that's where we go, it was what we're doing. But some of us work on Mondays, who knows. So it was that day is considered a holiday amongst amongst vendors and ecommerce brands for the fact that they know that people are going to be doing their research on those days. So if you are planning, you could even do an early discount, like the discount start at 6pm on sofas or on Sunday, like for Cyber Monday. So if you want to just like get them in early if they're ready to make those purchases. So the biggest thing to kind of consider with that is that if if people are doing their research, how can you make that so easy for them. So this might look like your website is having a countdown leading up to when your discount for Cyber Monday begins. Or this might be the fact that, especially during this time you send out an email on that Sunday, you send out an email on even Saturday preparing them for Sunday. So in general, when people ask me, When is the best time to send emails, I would usually recommend not to send it on the weekends. But especially during this time of the year. This is where you might adjust your email sending schedule or this was where you might adjust what you're putting in your Instagram stories and how you're promoting your offers in that way. So So for Sunday is the planners day. So how can you create a plan. This is also where you can put together a holiday gift guide. So one thing I'm going to be talking about a lot more is that not only are are you going to be able to gain trust on social media, by sharing with your clients like what your products and services are. But the more you can recommend people you like products that you enjoy, the better it's going to be so that there's a bit of like a reciprocity. But also, let's say you decide like, Oh, I really love this skincare brand, I'm going to definitely be purchasing it for my friends on the holidays. Yeah, you're you're promoting somebody else. But if I'm somebody goes, Oh, I love this skincare brand, too. I am gaining trust with you. So one thing to know is that if we're starting to think about how we can capitalize on these, don't make it only about yourself, be able to consider how sofa Sunday, I just want to say like five more times. So for Sunday's got to be the most fun, where you're planning all the gifts that you're giving for yourself, who else gives gifts for themselves, I always do. But by being able to know that you can also promote other brands at this time, because it will not only gain you trust, but also some reciprocity with the brands that you really love. And then of course, Cyber Monday, this is your perfect, perfect moment to be able to just go big and talk about what you're doing. Now, I would definitely lean away from spent sending too much email around this time because everyone's going to be doing that. So how can you on Cyber Monday be using your social channels. So on social, you're more lot more likely to be able to talk directly with people. So Cyber Monday can be where you're sharing what you're buying, where you decided to buy for the day, you can share all the orders that you've got from the people that are intrigued by what your what your business is selling. So that is where you're just Cyber Monday is more about generating really big interest of what you're doing. And then of course we've got a couple other holidays. Let me just run through these others. So we've got GivingTuesday so right now if you are somebody who puts a cause to their business like that they're raising money for charity. Give On Tuesday can be really helpful. So being able to talk about that purpose behind what you do if you're able to give a portion of your
Jamie Ratermann 15:10
a portion of what you're doing to a charity, that is fantastic. And then we move and then from there, we take a break, and then we go into, we go into the holidays. So the holiday specifically, on December 12, you have green Green Monday, which is, if you in any way are reducing waste, reduce or more of a green brand in any way, shape or form, you're going to want to share how you do that on those days that can be really helpful last day for free shipping is considered December 14. So that's a big one. And then and then I don't want you to forget about post Christmas. So post Christmas week is usually where you can absolutely dial into the people that are planning for their next year, and it or didn't get the gifts they wanted during the holidays. So post Christmas week is where you want to maybe talk about the trends that they could capitalize on. And here's the products or services that can help them, you can maybe talk about what you didn't get and what you're deciding to buy for yourself. In general, people are checking their email over the holidays, especially if it's from the people they want to be working with they want to buy from so that is a list of what did I say 1234567 opportunities really, to be able to jump in to the holidays and how it can work really well. I want you to focus the most of your energy on that Small Business Saturday through Cyber Monday, that is going to be your big one. And then I can definitely tell you, you're going to capitalize big on that week between Christmas and New Year. So when you're thinking about this long holiday campaign, I was just talking about being able to decide those are your big focus points. And how can you make sure that all of this work you've been doing to be highly visible to be a brand that people know that you can utilize what people love about you on both of those days. So you can generate some really big I really big interest and intrigue for people not only buying for themselves but for others. Okay, so we got through how to plan how to think about it, what it is that what how you can really jump in on all the holidays. Why don't we talk about content? Why don't we talk about specifics of what you could be sharing. So one thing to know is that holiday content is not just a sales driven place is not just pushing and talking. And like, Okay, so here's the other day, there's a sale tomorrow, if this is all you're doing throughout the holiday, we will tune you out. If this is all that you're pushing, as did you know that that we have this stocking stuffer and we have this thing we have that thing, it's like we will absolutely tune you out because everyone is going to be doing that everyone is going to be talking about how their product is worth being on your wish list. So the brands that get it for holiday content, do a couple of things. This is where you want to show holiday spirit. This is where you're going to want to lean back on pushing too many sales on a regular week versus slightly, you know, the cyber weeks of being able to really get into the vibe of the holiday. So I encourage you all right now to do a holiday gift guide. Here's what I'm getting for my friends, my fiance, my relatives like being able to use and help people. But make purchases and of course, include your product or service in there somewhere. Do a holiday gift guide start there. That would be that's going to be one place that can be really helpful. So on the gram, it can be a carousel on the gram it can also be a real you can make it a blog post, it's going to continue to get traffic all months. For for this always plays fantastically well on idea pins on Pinterest. So being able to showcase like what you're buying for your favorite entrepreneur, if that's your ideal client. I think that's a that's a really great angle to consider. So for any of you who really know your ideal client, think about what in general they would love to have under their Christmas tree under their holiday tree during the holidays. So for me, let me use myself as an example, my gift guy will likely include
Jamie Ratermann 19:25
a, like a planning notebook, a gift card to maybe an astrology session, I will also probably give a gift card to their favorite gym, I their favorite coffees. So all like I'll have all of those elements. Maybe I'll put a book list together. And then I'll put together the My Favorite coaches or services that really helped me to be my best. So all of that is going to be a part of what I do. Because I help entrepreneurs, I help people that are running their own businesses. So that's going to be one place The next is talking about your own traditions. So starting on November 1, what's what do you love about this time of year, it's going to be a connection point. So, so being able to share, I leave peep, or the pumpkin pie starts we made on November 5, or whatever it might be like to talk about your holiday traditions and talk about them early. So being able to share show just behind the door of who is the one putting out the sale, or who is the one putting out the services. I want to tell you all I don't eat pumpkin pie. I eat pumpkin torte and it is the shit. So that is going to be one thing that I could probably share about pumpkin tortillas. Um, let me just let me just get into the mode of this. It is graham cracker crumb crust, it is cheese cake. And then it's that it's pumpkin pumpkins. Custard, I guess I would, it's probably what I would call the middle piece. And homemade don't give me Cool Whip. I want a homemade whipping cream at the top. It is a tradition it is something I have made for many New Yorkers. And they're like, can you give me the recipe? Because it was something that in the Midwest, we always have. That's the kind of thing that I can't wait to share. It's not just because oh, this is how to get people engaged on the holidays. This is like, let's bring the human element back into your content during this time. So that makes total sense, right? So think about what your traditions are and what you want them to know about how you get into the holidays. What are you asking for, for the holidays? So again, bringing it back to who you like who you are, what is it that this holiday season you really want. So being able to share that like, oh, I noticed this year that I wasted so much money on takeout. So I'm going to ask for meal prep kits. I this year, I really want to upgrade my technology. So this is what I'm buying. So being able to get rid of the overwhelm that comes up around this year. In particular, like I'm not I I love giving great gifts, but I put a lot of pressure to give my to give great gifts. So in general, like give, give just incentive because people have already built up trust with you by how often you've been posting start to share some of these elements. So what are you asking for? That's another hot content idea for you during Thanksgiving is gratitude month, which makes total sense, right, during Thanksgiving. And November is so you I think there's a lot to be talked about through appreciation not only for your team, maybe not only for what you've done for yourself, not only for your family relationships. But this is a perfect month to talk about why you appreciate your community, why you appreciate your clients or customers but in particular, the people that have been hanging out in your comment section and people that have been hanging out in your DMS, it can be a great time to highlight them to go live with them on the gram so that you can show your gratitude in the best way. Holiday month is usually a holiday month being December specifically, is usually combined with two different things your Christmas, what you love about Christmas, Christmas Music, whatever that might be. And I want to say Christmas as just the holiday. I know many of you do different types of holidays during that month. And I'm just leaning towards the one that I feel like people talk about the most but in general, like holiday month can just be like how do you celebrate the holidays. So sharing those elements, but it's also going to be that time of year, where you do the retrospective where you talk about okay, this is what happened all year with this is what I want to share about what I'm taking from 2022. And then also looking at the year ahead. So December is going to be where you jump in on that. Don't wait for January for those things that can be really helpful with your holiday content. The last piece that I think is the most important piece is really taking a good look at your ideal client. What are they focused the most on during this time of year. If you know them intimately, you're going to know that they're going to be looking for this or they're going to be wanting to save themselves time they're going to be wanting to do X, Y and Z so know that the more you can go back to who she is who he is, is
Jamie Ratermann 24:25
going to be really helpful. So this is a big marketing. This is something that like let's say grinds my gears is a lot of people will create an ideal client and they'll never look at it again. It will be like they do it once and they don't worry about it. This is not the way to do things. Whenever you have an ideal client in mind you're going to be really clear you're going to know how to speak to them and what in general know what's going on so you're gonna know their mood throughout the year. How are they going to be perceiving the holidays for my for I have a leadership coach in my mastermind right now I know that she's going to be She knows that many of them are going to feel like they have to wrap up the year, they're going to be putting a high pressure on themselves to have the best dining room table and best meals on top of finishing their work because she's got, she's helping people who get overwhelmed and with achievement coming into more of what they want for the holiday. So that can be what she's going to be focusing on. There's going to be others that are like this is their time that they want to tune out. They want to be done for the for the year, how can you help them be able to be motivated and work back and forth? So in general, I gave you some ideas here for holiday content, but consider you're going to be the one that knows your client best around this time of year, take 20 minutes to go. Okay, who is my ideal client? Let me get re acclimated with them. What is going to be stressing them out right now? What might be making it hard for them at the end of the year? What is something that they're going to absolutely devote their time to?
Unknown Speaker 25:58
What is something that they're going to put on the backburner?
Jamie Ratermann 26:02
What would be a nice surprise or a way for them to reflect on what how they want to finish the year use all of these use all of these to be able to think about how your content doesn't have to completely change but gets to shift
Unknown Speaker 26:17
to what their mood is. Okay, holiday
Jamie Ratermann 26:20
episode, talking getting ahead here so you guys know exactly what it is. So really, the biggest takeaways I hope you take from this episode is one start now don't wait. Start to think about your best products REST services. Think about all of the holidays that are coming up. So how you can capitalize on Small Business, Small Business Saturday through the end of the year through that week between Christmas and New Year's. Don't over discount. Try know that if you are going to discount or give big bonuses during the holiday season, choose those times not to have it running the entire time so that people have an incentive to buy when it is at its best. And then of course, start thinking about your holiday content that ideal client pieces there but I gave you a couple of ideas of how you can really gain trust and showcase that for throughout the throughout the holiday season. So this can be one of the best times for you and I want to I want to finish this episode this way. So knowing that the more you can get yourself excited the more you can share during this time of year finish this year out strong. The beginning of next year is going to be even better. But even so I want to I want to repeat what I what I shared in the last episode. Most of my clients in the last year have their highest revenue months in December. So this is a time to not just turn off and forget this is a time to decide how can I jump into the joy of the season by showing up in a way that I that I was showing up in the way that I enjoy to have this be a joyful time and a way to cap off of fantastic 2022 So if you are deciding to jump into any of the small business, any of these discounts any of those things, DM me and tell me about what you thought about this episode if it was really helpful to you. I cannot wait to just kind of see how all of the of the solopreneurs in my community decide to jump into the holidays because it is for us not for the big brands alone.