What is an advent calendar?
Advent calendars have been around for a long time and a great way to start the Christmas festivities well before Christmas is actually here (we aren’t complaining!).
The purpose of an advent calendar is to countdown days till Christmas and build excitement for the holidays. For companies and businesses, they can be used for a whole bunch of marketing purposes. Not sure how? This blog will tell you how your business can use advent calendars to plan out its marketing goals and schedule exciting campaigns.
Here are 10 different ideas of what you can add to your digital advent calendar this year.
1) Promote seasonal deals
Holiday season comes with its fair share of discounts and promotions. Some people even postpone all their shopping plans to make use of the pocket-friendly Christmas sales happening everywhere.
You want to make the sales and promotions a part of your advent calendar sooner rather than later. This gives people a headstart on gift-giving and they will know where to come for their Christmas shopping.
2) Give your customers a Holiday gift
You know what makes Christmas special? The gifts! Pick a day when you will give some little gifts to your customers and add it to your advent calendar. These ‘gifts’ can be discount vouchers or codes for frequent customers, vouchers, or even referral codes.
Every little gesture adds up and gives people a reason to choose your business over others.
3) Send out Holiday greeting cards!
Not every point of contact you have with your customers needs to be a sales pitch. Sometimes people like receiving well wishes just to feel like they are a valued customer.
Design a holiday greeting card and send it out to your entire mailing list. Let your customers feel important because that’s exactly what they are.
Just like your holiday cards, we also have you covered for designing your advent calendar yourself.
4) Bible verse of the day
Christmas is a religious holiday so it often gives people a reason to rekindle their spirituality. Reconnecting with verses from the Bible is a great way to kickstart the season of thankfulness.
Your digital advent calendar can include certain days where it isn’t all about deals and promotions, but about spreading positivity. Share certain verses of the Bible that relate to the occasion and might help people feel the holiday vibe.
5) Jokes and riddles
Everyone enjoys a good laugh or a fun little challenge. Add jokes, puzzles and riddles to your advent calendar once in a while to switch things up and make it more interactive.
A solved puzzle gives so much satisfaction, we’re sure people will come back looking for more. And a good old dad joke? Never underestimate its power! Creating an engaging advent calendar will keep your audience wondering what’s next and they will not leave the advent calendar midway.
6) Gift recommendations
For some reason, gift giving season is exactly when the mind blanks out and suddenly it seems impossible to think of good gift ideas. Coming up with ideas when you’re on a deadline isn’t easy, it’s not your fault.
Add useful tips in your advent calendar, such as gift ideas and where to get them from (hint: your business!). You can make this as elaborate as you want and create categories such as gifts to give to your mother, father, significant other, friends, and children etc.
A problem exists, why not give people a solution?
7) Book and movie recommendations
Just like spooky season calls for Halloween movies, the holidays are also ten times better when you pull out the Christmas movies. These movies are a genre of their own and it would be sad to miss out on the opportunity to watch them when you’re snuggled up in your Christmas pyjamas. Some holiday classic movies are:
- Home Alone
- The Grinch Stole Christmas
- Love Actually
For book, take a look at these:
- Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Send out book and movie recommendations to your customers and make it more convincing by sharing the ratings for them too. Some days can be dedicated to the classics and some can be all about new releases. You can cater to every taste!
8) Charities to donate to
While Christmas is a wonderful time for those who have the means and the people to celebrate with, there are also less fortunate people who have to miss out on the festivities and celebrations. A great way to celebrate is also by helping other people do the same.
List down reputable and reliable charity organizations that work towards making Christmas a memorable occasion for those who are less fortunate. Share these details with your customers and let them know of the opportunities they have to give back to society and celebrate the true spirit of Christmas. Here are some organizations that you can trust:
9) DIY Christmas tips
We all love a quick and simple DIY solution. It’s fun to do and extremely satisfying to achieve.
Include fun DIY activities in your advent calendar and give your customers useful tips and tricks to use over the holidays. Whether it’s a guide to make your own Christmas stockings, cookie decorating ideas, or hacks to wrap presents, everyone is sure to love tips that are valuable.
10) Repurpose older Christmas content
Running out of ideas for your advent calendar? It’s okay to look back at what you did last year. Repurposing older content is perfectly alright as long as you’re not copying it word for word. Use it as inspiration, and remember that some ideas are timeless so they might be applicable every year.
You can use your old Christmas blogs and resources wherever they fit. Filling up an advent calendar can get pretty difficult so it’s alright to recycle (or upcycle) older content.
Wrapping it up
Christmas is the best time of the year so it makes no sense to give up on any chance to start celebrating early. An advent calendar is the perfect way to make sure the festivities never die down, and the holiday spirit stays alive.
Keep your customers constantly engaged and up to date by celebrating Christmas with them. Be it vouchers, coupons, puzzles or tips, everything adds towards building the perfect advent calendar.
