Advent calendars are fast becoming an essential item in the small business Christmas toolkit. When considering how to create a digital advent calendar, many businesses use virtual calendars to build anticipation for the holiday, generating a lively presence on social media throughout December. This also serves as great content for marketing advent calendars.
We're offering a slightly unique approach. Last month, we shared a strategy for promoting your products during the festive period through the sale of physical advent calendars. This article takes a slightly different approach by illustrating how you can utilise this same calendar not just as a seasonal treat, but as a powerful marketing tool. This approach aims to amplify excitement among your dedicated customer base and also draw in new customers to your business.
There are many ways you can use your physical advent calendar to create anticipation – with greater effect than just posting a door on social media. The hard work of making the calendar is done because the good people at Tiny Box Company have produced this fantastic calendar. It has a cute little box for each day of Advent.
Let’s explore some strategies:
Which channels and content should I use?
- Capture the excitement: Record yourself opening the advent calendar every day and share the videos on social media or include them in your email newsletters. This will allow your audience to join in the anticipation and engage with your content.
- Engage through visuals: Take captivating photos of each day's advent calendar surprise and share them on social media. This visual content will pique curiosity and encourage followers to stay tuned for more.
- Create a landing page hub displaying all the content or your Instagram feed or both. There people can see what they’ve missed or just see it all in one place. This is a good way to drive people to your website.
- Create an Advent Calendar Club to encourage email signups. Drive people from social media to email by offering discounts or incentives that they can only get if they are signed up to your Advent Calendar Club email list.
What should I include in my digital advent calendar?
- Offer a different discount or special deal each day. This could be a percentage off a specific product, a buy-one-get-one-free offer, or a bundle deal.
- Showcase existing products or use the calendar to reveal new or upcoming products. This creates excitement and anticipation among your audience. You can also release a limited quantity of a special product each day. This creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
- Run daily contests where participants have a chance to win a prize. This encourages engagement and shares. This is also a tactic to encourage people to join your club and sign up for your newsletter. Create daily challenges or quizzes related to your products or industry. Offer a reward or discount to participants.
- Share tips, how-to guides, or interesting facts related to your industry or products.
- Provide access to exclusive content such as behind-the-scenes videos, downloadable resources, or sneak peeks of upcoming projects.
- Allocate a portion of the proceeds from sales during the promotion period to a charitable cause. Update your audience on the progress each day.
- Jokes! Preferably Christmas-themed.
- Introduce interactive storytelling by creating a daily story or narrative that unfolds over the course of the promotion. This could involve characters, challenges, and rewards.
- Encourage customers to share their experiences, photos, or stories related to your products using a unique hashtag. This creates a sense of community around your brand.
Time to be creative
You can use a variety of channels and creative content strategies to enable your small business to make the most out of your physical advent calendar. Our ideas go beyond simply revealing a door on social media. By capturing the excitement through videos, engaging with captivating visuals, creating a centralised hub, and encouraging email sign-ups, businesses can build a deeper connection with their audience.
The content within the calendar holds immense potential. From offering daily discounts and showcasing products to providing exclusive content and running engaging contests, the possibilities are limitless. Including jokes, interactive storytelling, and social media challenges also add a fun and community-building aspect to the promotion.
What ideas would you add to this list? We’d love to see how you use your calendar. Tag us on Instagram
Good luck!