While we love a good holiday pun as much as the next marketer, it can get a bit wearing to read the same old tropes over and over again. How do you keep your seasonal content fresh? Read on for 5 tips to keep your content from inspiring eye rolls and groans.
1. Keep the focus on your customers & their needs.
Regardless if the time of year, we need to speak to our customer’s needs. It can be tempting to let the tide of the holiday at hand carry us, but it won’t. As you’re planning your seasonal content strategy, look at how your products and services can enrich people’s experience of that season or how it can solve a problem related to the season.
Consider this example from Crate & Barrel:
Subject: 2 ways to set the perfect holiday table + Get it by Christmas.
This content is successful because it starts with the customer and their specific needs at this time of year. Needs change with the seasons. You can offer information, solutions and deals that revolve around your customers’ changing needs, such as costumes in October or the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for brother-in-law. What are your customer’s pain points at different times of year? Do they need tips for relieving holiday stress? A list of sugar-free stocking stuffers? A how-to video for dyeing super cool Easter eggs? Use the holiday as a context for framing your products and services.
Seasonal content isn’t all about the holidays, either. Different seasons bring different needs, too. Rain gear in spring, snow boots in winter. And don’t forget cool refreshing beverages in summer. Without overtly selling, Anthropologie speaks to this need with a weekly blog post series of fruity cocktail recipes.
2. Stay true to your brand.
It’s fun to get all tinselly for the holidays, but if you do, make sure you’re keeping your message relevant to your brand. Your existing customers have a relationship with your brand, and you want to maintain that relationship by following through on their expectations. Part of those expectations include your content and the voice you speak with in that content. Keep your brand voice consistent no matter the season or holiday. If your guests expect you to be clever, give them what they’ve come to know and love from you. If not, don’t switch it up just because you’re all giddy with holiday magic.
Evergreen seasonal content can be a great way to keep your seasonal content out of the cheese zone and on-point for your brand. You can feel comfortable investing a little more time in it since you’ll be able to use it again and again.
3. Appeal to the emotions.
The holidays are full of emotions both joyful and challenging. Tap into them in an authentic way—not in a manipulative or smarmy way—but in a way that shows there’s an actual human being behind this content who wants to connect with other human beings. In other words, in a way that shows you can relate to what they’re experiencing. Connect to the warm fuzzy feelings, the nostalgia, the excitement. Here’s a good example from Apple that pulls at our heartstrings and makes us want to create a thoughtful, one-of-a-kind gift, too.
4. Tell a story.
And since we’re on the subject of emotions, here’s another tearjerker. It’s the John Lewis Christmas commercial from 2014 featuring Monty the Penguin, and it does an excellent job of telling a story that anyone with a pulse will get invested in.
On top of telling a great story, John Lewis created an online experience to continue the story with interactive media for kids, including a storytelling app.
5. Be original.
While plenty of puns and holiday songs get overused, we’re still tickled every time we see a pun made new in a surprising way, like in this example from a 2014 Target holiday email. Target is known for their clever content but also for great value. Here they’re speaking to both in a fun, original way.
All of these strategies point to one thing: adding value. Each piece your content—from blog posts to email marketing—needs to add value to your customer’s experience. Add that seasonal flair only if it adds value.
Looking for fun ways to spice up your seasonal content? Get in touch with Filament. We’ll be happy to take a look at your content marketing strategy to see how we can help you find ways to tell the stories you want to tell and connect with your customers in an authentic way.
