It’s that point in December when everything is busy. With customer orders to fulfil or projects to finish by the end of the year, and an office to wind down over Christmas. Your Digital Comms might be the last thing on your mind.

Here are a few just very simple and quick things to action to help your business communicate well over the Christmas period.

Send a Christmas Email

Christmas is a good opportunity to thank your contacts. This could be customers, or suppliers, or both. A well-written, personalised email that’s not asking for anything but simply giving thanks, is a nice touch. Why are you grateful for the contact? What has your business achieved this year and how did this contact play a part in that?

Whilst you’re at it, if it’s appropriate why not include your opening hours over the holiday period so people know when they can reach you?

Update Social Opening Hours

On the subject of opening hours, think about how/where people will look for your business. For many that’s Google. Update your Google Business Profile to show your availability ahead of the holidays so that your customers will know when your business is open and when it’s not, and consider leaving a pinned post at the top of your social channels.

Think: What Will People Need From You?

If you’re closing the office over the holidays think what people might need from you whilst you’re in shutdown, and make it easy for them to find the answers. This can include:

  • In eCommerce? Make it really clear what your returns policy is. Remember, for people receiving your products as gifts their first touchpoint with your business might be when they’re looking to exchange/return. Make this experience excellent for them with clear information and be generous where you can.
  • Do you have clients under contract that may require your assistance in an emergency? Let them know how they can find help if the unwanted happens, and take away the stress of hunting for the emergency contact.

Schedule Social Posts

If you have messaging you want to put in front of your audiences you can schedule your posts in advance so you’re not tweeting between the Bucks Fizz and presents. Many social platforms have their own inbuilt tools for doing this, or you could use a tool that can schedule posts across multiple platforms at once, like Buffer.

Go Quiet

There’s lots you could do … but what should you be saying over the holidays? Does your comms serve people well or just add to the noise? If you’re struggling to see how your comms adds value over the break, why not just pause over the holidays? Take a cue from nature and allow things to go fallow for a short season. You could find this adds more vibrancy to when you do have something to say. And anyway, if you’re like me you probably have enough mouths to feed over Christmas without having to worry about feeding the beast.

In closing, let me wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!