December is a busy time of the year as not only are we getting ready for the holidays and trying to find the perfect gifts for friends and family but our business is also extremely busy. For a Pet Sitter lots of people are travelling, for Groomers everyone wants their dogs to look pretty and for Vets and Dog Trainers more people are adding pets to their family.
It’s a time though when we still need to market our business because although December will be busy there is also more business available and we want to make sure that we are top of mind when people are choosing their Pet Professional.
It’s also a chance to build up our engagement on Social Media to make sure that the year starts off very busy for us.
Ideas For Marketing Your Business In December
#1. Blog Posts
I’m going to start with blog posts as I believe that your blog is the foundation of your marketing. If you don’t have any content to share with your followers that takes them back to your website then you are going to struggle with getting people to find you online.
On our blog we can really get festive this time of year and tap into the subjects that people really want to learn about and find interesting.
These should be quick and easy blogs to create. Some you will have written in previous years so you can re use those. But also create new content. Don’t just keep dragging out the same content year after year. Get creative, have fun and care about what your customers want.
Some Blog Ideas:
- Gifts For Cats and Dogs (choose local businesses to promote)
- Gifts For Cat and Dog Owners (choose local businesses to promote)
- Christmas items you can make – pet advent calendar, paw print Christmas ornaments.
- Places To Visit Over Christmas
- Best Christmas Deals For The Family
- How To Plan The Perfect Christmas When You Have Pets
- Bake Your Own Treats For Your Cat/Dog
Note – choosing local businesses to promote will help build relationships and hopefully they will share your content too. Make sure to tag them on Facebook and Twitter when you share the article.
#2. Images
Get festive and make sure your Facebook Page is full of fun Christmas images. These shouldn’t all be about promoting your business. Instead they should be fun, entertaining and lighthearted.
Why not ask people to share pictures of their pets, their local area, the Christmas gifts they bought for their pets.
Get chatty and talk to people and find out what they are doing and if they need help. Maybe they are struggling to choose something for their dog – help out, share some links and be available.
Share fun videos from other Facebook pages to boost your engagement.
You could run a competition, but I would keep it small and short. Maybe a quick competition for the best dressed dog at Christmas. Don’t do your main competition of the year at Christmas as it’s hard to compete with Santa and people won’t have time to really get into it.
#3. Share Other People’s Content.
There are so many sales, offers and promotions over Christmas that your clients will love so make sure you share them with them. You could share on Facebook/Twitter or even add them to your newsletter.
You should have a mix of your own content and content that you have curated from other sources. By sharing other content you will be seen as someone who is up to date on what is happening in the world of pets and with that comes credibility for you and your business.
Content Ideas
- Local offers or discount coupons
- Articles about local Christmas events
- Sales on Pet Foods/Toys
- Store offers for Kids and Adults – not everything has to be about pets
- Travel offers – flights, hotels, weekends away
- News articles you think your followers will love
#4. Pet Days In December
You might also want to create some content around these Pet Related days of the year!
- National Mutt Day – December 2
- International Animal Rights Day – December 10
These are just come of the things you can do to market your business in December.
Let me know what you decide to do in the comments below.
