Episode 89: 15 Holiday + End-of-Year Content Ideas
Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact. I'm your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 89. This episode comes out on Tuesday, November 23 2021. In the US, Thanksgiving is just two days away, which means Black Friday is three days away. Small Business Saturday is four days away, and the holiday rush is about to reach its peak in the coming weeks. Most product based small businesses see their highest sales numbers in the latter part of November and December. This is exciting and rewarding. But it can also be stressful and leave us feeling like we don't possibly have time for everything. For a lot of people when things start to get super busy, one of the things that finds itself dropping off our list is marketing and creating content. But marketing and creating content is super important. The more effectively we market our businesses, the higher our sales numbers will be. So it's important that we don't totally drop the ball. And that's where today's episode comes in.
Today I'm sharing 15 content ideas that I'm going to be using for the end of the year to drive sales and build community for my businesses. So I thought I would share them with you today. And then at the end of the episode, I'm going to finally spill the beans on Making Good Happen. My new membership is designed to help you make sure you're actually taking the actions in your business to really drive results. So stay tuned for more on that.
Okay, so before I get into the content ideas, I wanted to let you know that these content ideas are all good to be used anywhere you want to use them. They are not platform specific. This means you can use them on Instagram, in your email list, on TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, whatever platform you know, your ideal customer hangs out on. Use these ideas there. And also along the same lines don't feel like you have to just pick one platform for each thing. For example, one idea on this list could show up as all of the following if those are part of your marketing strategy. The same idea could be an Instagram carousel later or an Instagram reel, which could be repurposed to be a TikTok. It could be a series of Instagram stories on the same topic, you could design an email on the same topic, Pinterest pins, a blog post and more, you get the idea. Make the most of your content by repurposing it across multiple platforms and types of content.
Okay, so let's get into the content ideas. Number one behind the scenes, step by step on how your product is made. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict that your customers buy from you because they love your product, of course, but they also love the fact that it's made by hand. For anyone who isn't skilled and whatever it is you do. The process of watching you create it behind the scenes is straight up magical, even if that's hard for you to believe. For me, I have a stationery brand called Good Sheila, and I design all of my products and watercolor. People love to watch the process of watercolor. Just like I love to watch a hyperlapse process of a jewelry artist putting a necklace together or a ceramicist creating a bowl on the wheel, or a candle maker pouring candles. No matter how boring and mundane your process might seem to you. I assure you that it isn't to your audience. I've done Hyperlapse videos of my screen like my computer screen while I type up podcast notes or edit podcast episodes is so boring to me. But people have enjoyed having a peek into my process. So I share it.
Now ideally, when you're sharing this process, whether it's a video or a series of images, you're making something that's actually for sale. So at the end of the caption or the carousel or whatever piece of content it is, you can say something like do you love how this turned out? It's available in the shop, and then link it up if you can. And bonus points here if you share details about your process. How does it work step by step what materials you use. How did you learn how to do what you do. This is just one item on the list but it doesn't mean that you should only create this kind of content ones. Process behind the scenes content is a beautiful way of reminding your ideal customer that your product is unique and special because it's handmade, and that's something worth reminding them over and over again.
My second idea on this list is packaging order with me. When you get an order simply film the process of packaging it up. This is another handmade is magic type of posts. Because I think we can all agree that there is a huge difference between buying something from a big corporation, unwrapping the box and from buying something from a small business and then unwrapping that box. When you're documenting this include every piece that goes with packaging it up from your packing slips to printing out the label, any pretty packaging materials you use, your business card, tissue paper, I think you know, anything that goes into packaging your product into a package that is beautiful experience to receive. Show this in your piece of content. Ideally video content like a reel, but you could also get some pretty photos of the final package item before you close the lid. Just like in the last tip, I'm hoping that whatever you're packing up is something that's available for sale online. Mention it as the PS or at the end of your caption to let people know how they can get it if it caught their eye when you were packing it up for someone else. Also, just a quick note here, hopefully it goes without saying, but when you film or document this kind of process video, make sure not to show a mailing address or a name or any other identifying information about the person who ordered.
Content idea number three is tips for using your products. How can you educate your audience on using your products, the key here is not to make it brand specific. So for example, don't say how to write a thank you card using Good Sheila's stationery, you would just simply leave it at how to write a thank you card. This makes it clear that it's intended to be helpful educational information related to the category of products that you sell, versus a straight up sales pitch. That's only useful if the person buys your product. We want this educational content to be helpful to our ideal customer, whether or not they buy from us. But the process of sharing this information and building trust with your audience will make them more likely to buy from you.
To give some concrete examples of what this kind of educational content looks like. Let's look at a few different maker categories. So greeting cards, that's me, a few how to type educational content ideas are, like I mentioned, how to write a thank you note, or eight people you can write to today, or how to make sure you never get behind on sending cards, or how to stay on top of all of your loved ones birthdays. For jewelry, you could write posts on how to take care of brass jewelry, or gold jewelry or silver jewelry, whatever you make, you could do a post on how to layer necklaces or test stack rings, how to mix different metals in a way that makes sense, how to dress up or dress down your jewelry, cute ideas for storing and displaying your jewelry in your bedroom. If you're in the ceramics category, you could do how to take care of your handmade ceramic mugs, how to safely store ceramics, 10 different ways to display a ceramic tray. If you're in the candles category, you could say how to style your candles on a coffee table or a mantel, how to prolong the length of your candles life, how to make sure that you're buying clean and safe candles. And hopefully you get the picture. And this goes on and on and on.
Idea number four is the story of how your business got started. We all have a story and we tend to undervalue the power of it. I know I do. But the fact is not very many people decide to go start their own businesses and those of us who do, we usually have a reason. Maybe we love the art form. Maybe we hate working for someone else. Maybe we want more time with our kids. Maybe we want financial freedom. Was there a moment that you decided to take the leap into doing your business? What did the process of starting your business look like? Is there a before and after you could describe from your early days in business until now? Where do you dream of your business going someday? There are so many stories in here and thus so many possible pieces of content you could create. But hopefully these questions have gotten your wheels turning a little bit.
Content idea number five, what impact do you want your business to make on the world? We all want to make money with our businesses. That is pretty much the definition of what a business is. But let's take it a step further. How do you want the world to be different as a result of your business? Maybe you donate to causes you believe in? Maybe you want to inspire your daughters to follow their dreams. Maybe you want to fill the world with a product that is kinder to the environment than what the mainstream products in your categories look like? There's no right answer here. But one thing I know from hearing from so many listeners is that most of you are looking to do something more than just making money. Share that with your audience.
Content idea number six, a roundup of best sellers, knowing what your best sellers are is powerful for so many reasons. And we can go into more of them in a future episode. But one of the most obvious reasons that I think is easy to overlook is simply to share these bestsellers with your audience, showing your audience which of your products are your bestsellers is helpful at all times of year. But particularly in the holiday gifting season. Most of us are going to be buying gifts for people in our lives and buying gifts is hard. But you know it makes it easier. When the brand can show you exactly which products people tend to like the best. It's just a probability thing. If these are the products that most people like the best odds are whoever you're buying for, will probably like it too.
People are social creatures and no matter how much we might try to be unique and individual, we tend to go with the flow. I can't remember the last time I picked a restaurant to go to dinner at without first checking the Yelp reviews to see what everyone else thought of the restaurant. And if they liked it what dishes seem to be most popular. I use this information to help me feel more comfortable giving it a try and the same goes for your product based business.
Content idea number seven, customer testimonials. Along the same lines speaking of what other people have to say about your business, consider sharing in your content, some social proof in the form of customer testimonials. And by this I mean a quoted customer review or testimonial, where they describe how much they love your products and why seeing someone else's super positive experience with your brand will help someone feel less risk in making a purchase from you themselves. If you don't have any reviews or testimonials, it's pretty easy to get them, you simply have to ask for them. You could reach out to people who have ordered from you in the past and say, Hey, I'm collecting customer feedback to share and if you're open to it, I would love to share your review. This is what I would like to know from you. And some people can even incentivize reviews with a discount in the future. Most people probably won't take you up on it, but you don't need everyone to respond. You just need a few powerful glowing testimonials that you're allowed to use with permission and then you can share them everywhere. Social media, your website, email, the list goes on.
Content idea number eight is user generated content. Here's one final suggestion on this social proof section of this list. And that is to share user generated content, sometimes referred to by marketers as UGC, user generated content is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, marketing content, usually social media posts where the user posts about your product. Maybe you make candles and someone tags your brand and a beautiful photo in a cozy corner of their room. Maybe you make jewelry and someone tags you in a photo of themselves wearing your pieces. Simply ask them for permission to repost this content. Most of the time, they will say yes, showing that other people are buying your products lends you credibility and helps people especially new customers, trust you more. Idea number nine is a gift guide or multiple gift guides. Tis the season for gift guides seriously, there's a lot of them floating around right now. But for good reason gift guides solve a real problem people have and that is the problem that buying gifts is hard. to design an effective gift guide think about who your ideal customer is, and who they might be buying for.
Now think about the type of products you offer and look for a good fit between who your customer is buying for and the products that you sell. There are a couple different ways to do gift guides. Sometimes the gift guide will contain simply a list of products that you sell only products you sell, or your gift guide will be a roundup of some of your products, maybe one or maybe more, along with other products from other businesses that would also be a good fit for that target group. I prefer the second option because I think it's more useful, but you can do it however you want. One note on gift guides is that the best gift guides are specific. A gift guide for a woman or a gift guide for kids are simply not specific enough to really call out to people. Here are some ideas for specific gift guides that will instantly call to someone buying for a person that meets that description. Gift Guide for the artist, gift guide for hikers, gift guide for nature lovers, gift guide for people who love Seattle, gift guide for dog parents, gift guide for a minimalist, a body positive gift guide, a feminist gift guide, gift guides for new moms, gift guides for foodies. The list goes on and on and on. But the important thing is to be specific. Your gift guide can be simply an Instagram post that mentions products. It can be an email with links, it could be an actual guide using Instagram guides. Or it could be a blog post whatever it looks like don't overcomplicate it, just put some ideas out there.
Idea number seven is behind the scenes, your mess. Okay, so here's one I really don't want to do. But I know it's one that will connect with people, share your mess. Unless you're one of those unicorns super neat makers and artists. Most likely when you make your product things get messy. For me, this looks like paint everywhere and a disaster of a desk. Maybe you're a fiber artist and there's little clippings of yarn everywhere. Or maybe you're a jewelry designer and there's little metal pieces strewn all across your desk. Let people see the unglamorous side of making. One of the reasons that people love buying handmade is the human element. Our products aren't made by machines that are perfectly clean and systematic. They're made by people who make messes share that idea.
Eleven is a day in the life. One of my most popular posts I've ever done on Instagram was a simple hour by hour of a day in my life as a small business owner. I'm talking as simple as 7am woke up and had peanut butter toast and coffee, 7:30am walks Puff around the neighborhood, 8am started painting for my new collection etc. The holidays are an especially interesting time to do this because most of our plates are really full. Maybe you're zipping around town running errands with your kids then spending several hours making your products, then dropping stuff off at the post office, then having dinner with your family, then jumping on your computer to catch up on emails and orders. Again, this seems really mundane to you, but people love buying from people and giving your audience the peek into your life to help them feel more connected to you.
Idea 12 is the story of a product. Do your products have stories? When you look at a specific product, what made you design it? Where did this product come from? Were you inspired by something or someone to create it? Here are a couple examples from my business. The first example is that I have a whole line of greeting cards called floral sentiments. In this collection, I painted a specific flower that symbolized whatever the meaning of that card was. So for example, there's a thank you card, and it's covered in the agrimony flower and the agrimony represents gratitude. So gratitude, thank you card. It's fun for me to tell the story of these different plants and what they symbolize as I present each of the products. Or I could tell a different kind of story about one of my products that has become a best seller, this product I created and literally five minutes, it is probably the least thoughtful product I've ever created. And that I whipped it up really fast, just because I had a deadline, and I needed a birthday card before an event. Well, it turns out people love to this one. And this taught me a lot about my tendency to think that only things that I deem as perfect should be released into the world. That's just not true. And in fact, many of the products that I think are much closer to quote unquote, perfect, have not sold nearly as well as that card that took me five minutes.
These stories offer a deeper look into the mind and life of an artist or maker who creates the products that your customers buy and enjoy in their lives. And again, of course, this is a great opportunity to link whichever product you're talking about and let people know where they can pick it up for themselves.
Idea 13, what your ideal customer needs to hear right now. This time of year is stressful for everyone, whether you're a business owner or not. What is your ideal customer needing to hear right now? I would guess that for most of our audiences, messages that helps to take some of the pressure off of the holidays would be a relief, but you know your customer best. Think about what life looks like for them right now, what's stressing them out? What do they have on their plate, and then deliver whatever message you think would be most helpful for them to hear. Maybe it's a quote or a mantra, maybe it's a reminder of what matters most maybe it's permission to just delete a bunch of things off their to do list. Whatever your ideal customer needs to hear, be the person that can say that to them.
Idea 14 is to support other small businesses. Here's a fun one. Create a social media post encouraging your followers to tag their favorite small businesses in the comments. This is such a simple type of post, but it really does a lot of different great things. For example, this post will remind people to support small businesses, it will train your audience to engage with your posts, it will get your audience to celebrate and lift up their favorite small businesses, it will generate a lot of engagement on your account, which tells the social media platform that people are interested in your content. And it will introduce a bunch of new people to you. Because everyone who gets tagged on your posts will most likely go check out your profile and see what you're all about. This is really a win win that will get more eyes on your business, as well as other people's businesses. And it's super, super easy to do.
Finally, idea 15 is to share a reflection on this year in your business and what's next. This is the time of year for reflecting on the year we're just wrapping up and making plans for the year ahead, both personally and also with our businesses. But a lot of these reflections and plans aren't things that we necessarily need to keep to ourselves. You can involve your community in your business journey by sharing these reflections with them. Now, I'm not saying you need to share your numbers or your tactical marketing plans, but big picture share things like what did you learn this year?
What went well? what didn't go well? What are you excited about in 2022? And what can your audience look forward to? Okay, so that's what I have for you friends, What do you think? are going to use some of these ideas over the next few weeks? I would love to hear from you tag me in your posts or just take a screenshot while you're listening to this episode, and tag me on instagram so I can cheer you on.
Now, I've been hinting at this for many weeks now and I'm finally ready to tell you more about making good happen. Something I know all too well is that it's one thing to learn the things we need to know to help our businesses thrive. And it's another thing entirely to actually take the actions we need to take to help our businesses thrive. It's the action that changes things for us, not the learning by itself. And that's what Making Good Happen is all about. Making Good Happen is a monthly membership designed to help you custom build a marketing plan for your business. And more importantly, to actually take the steps necessary to see the results you dream mouth. Making Good Happen includes a private members only podcast called you guessed it Making Good Happen. There'll be short and sweet episodes every weekday ranging from mini pep talks to journaling prompts to action items. It also includes deep work sessions. This is kind of like co working on Zoom, but there will be no video or audio to minimize distractions. Here we'll sit down together and get stuff done.
Making Good Happen also includes a guided process for creating a monthly marketing plan. An online community of other like minded small business owners accountability tracking of your most important deadlines that I will hold you accountable to, guest expert presentations each month, and more stuff that I don't want to share because I like surprises. And so we can all kick off 2022 with a bang, Making Good Happen is officially launching the first Monday in January. That's January 3rd 2022. If you're interested in joining or just learning more head to makinggoodpodcast.com/happen and sign up for an email with all the juicy details. I really hope you'll join me for Making Good Happen. Thank you for being here and we're focusing on making a difference with your small business. Talk to you next time.