Holiday Marketing Planning for Small Businesses: What to Do in September
Every year, we see some version of the same thing. In August, we start planting the seed with clients during our monthly meetings: the holidays are coming, so start thinking about your promotions and seasonal menus. They usually look at us like we are crazy, but the truth is, most businesses already know the general cadence of their holiday season. You tend to run similar promotions each year, just updated a little, so why not start your holiday marketing planning early?
To run an effective holiday marketing campaign, you need time. Time to finalize the offer, shoot content, create graphics, build email campaigns, prepare table-side promotions, plan social content, and get any paid ads ready to go. What we see far too often is last-minute planning, and by the time everything is approved and ready, there are only a few days left before the actual promotion or event. All that time and money went into creating a campaign that barely had a chance to work. Starting early with a plan gives your holiday marketing more time to circulate and perform. It also gives you room to jump on smaller opportunities that come up later, like social media trends, local events, or unexpected partnerships, because your core holiday marketing is already built and running. We are going to use restaurants as the main example in this post, but the same planning process applies to any small business.
Decide on Your Holiday Marketing Goals by Early September
Before anyone starts designing graphics or planning Instagram posts, decide what you actually want your holiday marketing to accomplish. For a restaurant, that might mean increasing catering orders, booking more private parties, growing gift card sales, launching or expanding Thanksgiving and Christmas prepared meals, or creating a Giving Tuesday promotion that supports a favorite local charity. These initiatives can all live under one larger holiday marketing plan, but each one needs to be defined on its own, starting with a measurable business goal. From there, define the audience, offer, launch date, and booking window.
Here’s an example. Your goal might be to increase company holiday private party bookings by 10% in Q4. Now you have something measurable. Next, think about who is actually making the decision. Your target audience might be an office manager, business owner, or event planner. Then think about the offer. What would give that person a reason to choose your restaurant over a similar venue? You might offer a bonus gift card to the person booking the event if they reserve by a certain date. That incentive directly benefits the person making the decision and gives them a reason to act early. Now you have a clear, measurable goal with a timeline, a defined audience, a relevant incentive, and a launch date. Keep in mind that your launch date and the date you want the customer to act are two different things. If you want customers to book by October 15, your campaign needs to launch early enough to give the marketing time to work.
Use that same process for each holiday promotion. Once you know what you want to accomplish, who you are trying to reach, what you are offering, when the campaign launches, and when the customer needs to act, your team can start defining each campaign.
Define Each Holiday Campaign Before Anyone Starts Creating
Once your holiday marketing plan is laid out and the goals, audiences, and launch dates are clear for each campaign, it is time to define how each one will actually work. Let's continue with the holiday private party example. What is the offer? When does the campaign launch? How long will the offer run? How does someone request a quote? Who follows up with the inquiry? How does the customer book? Once those specifics are defined, your marketing team can determine which marketing channels are needed to support the campaign.
In our experience, campaigns perform best when your offline and online marketing are working together. Your website, social media, email marketing, digital ads, and in-house or printed materials should all support the same offer at the same time. What we mean by that is a customer may see the promotion on social media, visit your website for details, receive it again in an email, and then notice it on a table tent when they dine in. That repetition helps nurture the sales process and keeps your offer top of mind.
Here is a quick checklist of common places to consider when planning each campaign:
Website: Do you need a dedicated page that outlines the offer and gives customers all the information they need? This should be where traffic from your other marketing channels is directed. Can you also add a website banner or other callout to promote the offer?
Email marketing: How many emails will specifically promote this campaign? Can the offer also be included as a section in other emails you are already planning to send?
Social media: How many posts, Reels, Stories, or other pieces of content will you create around the campaign?
Meta ads: Does it make sense to run hyperlocal ads to get the offer in front of people who live or work near your restaurant?
In-house marketing: Will you use table tents, flyers, signage, or have your team mention the promotion directly to customers?
Partners: Are there local organizations, community calendars, event listings, businesses, influencers, or charitable partners that could help get the promotion in front of more people?
Once you have mapped out the channels, you can build your holiday shot list around the assets those channels need and schedule your content shoot. The shot list should be built around what you are trying to sell, not just around what looks nice. For a private party campaign, don't just photograph an empty private dining room. Stage the space with food, drinks, people, and holiday details so potential customers can picture themselves having their event there. No one wants to book a holiday party based on a photo of an empty room. Your photos and videos should help sell the experience you want the customer to imagine.
Give Your Holiday Campaign Time to Work
Now the fun starts. We have defined the campaigns, set the goals and launch dates, chosen the marketing channels, and completed the holiday photo shoot. Now your marketing team can start creating. All of that planning gives the team what they need to build the assets for a successful holiday season. Starting early gives you time to review, revise, and make sure each campaign has the look and feel you want, instead of rushing to get something out because the launch date is suddenly here. And because those assets are ready earlier, they have more time to circulate and do the job you created them to do.
Once the campaign is running, keep an eye on how it is performing. Because you started early, you have time to adjust the messaging, creative, or promotion if something isn't getting the response you expected. And because you started with a measurable goal, you have something concrete to measure the campaign against.
You Don't Have to Figure This Out Alone
Holiday marketing involves a lot more than putting a festive graphic on Instagram. The strongest campaigns connect the offer, content, email, social media, paid advertising, website, print materials, and what is happening inside the business. That takes planning.
At LA Social Karma, we help small businesses build those pieces into one marketing plan, then work with the team to get the content created and the campaigns out into the world early enough to actually do their job.
September is here and you have not started thinking about your holiday marketing yet, this is the time. Let's talk about what you want to promote and start working backward from there.
