During the holidays, it’s easy to switch your focus from work and marketing to more fun and festive activities. To be sure, the holidays are a time to relax and focus more on fun, family and friends, but your business needs to keep running as well! We created this simple Holiday Marketing Calendar to make it easy for you to continue with your marketing and still have plenty of time for fun.
We actually think most of these marketing are super fun, so you don’t need to sacrifice the holiday spirit to keep the business going!
Week #1 October 31-November 6
- Social Media – Post a Happy Halloween post as well as a reminder about the time change on Nov 6.
- Email Marketing – Send a holiday schedule of events in your area
- Direct Mail – Time to order your Thanksgiving cards from One Step!
- Text Message – Reach out to clients that you worked with in 2022. Thank them for their business and ask for referrals.
- Community Engagement – Time to order your client and vendor gifts! Not sure what to get? Check out our list of recommended client gifts!
Week #2 November 7-13
- Social Media – Do a video Q&A. It can either be live or pre recorded. Answer questions unique to the holiday season.
- Email Marketing –.Send a market update and let people know the market is still going strong during the holiday season.
- Direct Mail – Send a postcard explaining the benefits of selling a home during the holidays. We’ve got one all done for you, just ask!
- Text Message – Reach out to 5-10 past clients. Remind them that their equity has increased and ask if you can send them a free home valuation.
- Community Engagement – Buy local. Do your holiday shopping with local vendors that you find at farmers markets, craft fairs or on social media. Help them out further by promoting their products on your social media.
Week #3 November 14-20
- Social Media – Share your favorite holiday traditions and ask your audience about their traditions.
- Email Marketing – Explain how rising interest rates are impacting the housing market. Focus on why this doesn’t have to be a deterrent for someone who really wants/needs to purchase a home.
- Direct Mail – Time to order your Holiday Cards from One Step! Get the artwork approved this week so we are ready to mail right after Thanksgiving.
- Text Message – Do you have any clients celebrating a move-in anniversary this month? If so, reach out and congratulate them and ask for referrals.
- Community Engagement – Are there any local nonprofit or charity organizations you connect with? Ask if you can host a donations drive, or gather a small team to volunteer. Invite your email subscribers, social media followers, past clients, coworkers and leads to join you.
Week #4 November 21-27 THANKSGIVING WEEK
- Social Media – Share interesting facts about the Thanksgiving holiday. This History.com article has some great info
- Email Marketing – Send your list a heartfelt Thanksgiving message. This would be a great time to show a more personal side with a photo of you on vacation, with family, doing a hobby, with your pet, etc!
- Direct Mail – if you haven’t already, get your holiday/Christmas cards approved so they can mail next week
- Text Message – take a break this week.
- Community Engagement – Host a neighborhood leftovers potluck the Friday after Thanksgiving. Invite everyone to bring whatever leftovers they have and enjoy a laid back community meal.
Week #5 November 28-December 4
- Social Media – Giving Tuesday is November 30 and your favorite non profits will probably be doing some heavy fundraising. Help them out by reposting their fundraising requests and goals.
- Email Marketing/Text Message – Reach out to your farm, past clients, and/or leads to let them know that you have buyers looking in their neighborhood.
- Direct Mail – Order a postcard that features testimonials from sales done in 2022.
- Community Engagement – Set up a hot chocolate stand. This is especially effective in neighborhoods where visitors come to see holiday light displays. Buy branded cups, or put logo stickers on plain cups, to help spread the word about your business.
Week #6 December 5-11
- Social Media – Host a “Random Acts of Kindness” challenge. Get ideas and resources at RandomActsofKindness.org
- Email Marketing / Direct Mail / Text Message – Send a link to the CAR real estate market forecast for 2023. If you’re sending a postcard, we’ve got one on this topic already done for you, just ask! https://www.car.org/en/aboutus/mediacenter/newsreleases/2022releases/2023housingforecast
- Community Engagement – Support community helpers. Drop off a tray of cookies at the local fire station. Leave a basket of muffins for teachers at the local school. Or send lunch to the nursing staff at your doctor’s office. Be sure to include a thank you note!
Week #7 December 12-18
- Social Media – Share a client testimonial, either written out or recorded on video.
- Email Marketing / Text Message – Reach out to your contacts with an offer to help if anyone is struggling and in need of community resources. It’s good to also include a link to resources online, that way if they don’t want to reach out to you, you are still giving them tools to get help.
- Direct Mail – Start compiling information for a year end recap of your total sales. Include a couple testimonials, as well as your thoughts on the market in 2023. If you have homes still in escrow, you may want to wait until January to actually mail the piece so that you can include those last few December sales.
- Community Engagement – Go Christmas caroling. Get a group of coworkers and/or community members together for a night of holiday music! You can go caroling around a specific neighborhood, or ask a local senior home if you can sing for residents.
Week #8 December 19-25 – CHRISTMAS WEEK
- Social Media – Share what your family is doing this week to celebrate the holidays. Include favorite recipes, games, religious traditions, decorations, books, movies, etc.
- Email Marketing / Text Message – Send a heartfelt holiday message, wishing your past clients, family, friends, partners, vendors, coworkers, leads, etc a wonderful holiday. Leave out the sales pitch and keep it a genuine holiday greeting.
- Direct Mail – Take a break this week!
- Community Engagement – Take a break this week!
Week #9 December 26 – January 1 – NEW YEARS WEEK
- Take a break this week. If you do work on marketing, take this time to plan for next year. Need some help? Start with our article “How Do I Start Creating A Marketing Content Calendar” and then read part 2 “How To Create A Marketing Calendar.”