Celebrating Christmas and having some fun with your brand, doesn’t have to be reserved for those in hospitality or product-based services. Accountants, Solicitors and other professional service providers can get in on the holiday action too!
Here are a few quick and simple actions you can take to add a bit of Christmas magic to your brand…
1. ‘Christmasfy’ your Logo
Any logo can be adapted to get you into the Christmas spirit. Temporarily set your logo on your social media profiles and website to one with a snow scene, Christmas hat or festive robin. You can do this for free on certain apps or programs, but if you want something to use in high resolution, then speak to a designer who can produce something for you. Remember this can then be re-used every year.
2. Decorate Your Office
This can help boost staff morale and create a welcoming, festive environment for your clients too. If you have a high-street location, then a beautiful tree or some lights can really draw attention to your building for the entire month of December. You could even host a local Christmas lights competition!
3. ‘Tis the Season of Giving
Can you tie in a Christmas or New Year offer into your pricing? This can be more of a challenge for professional services, than retailers. However, you could offer something like a discounted Will if an appointment is booked before New Year. Or 10% off your fixed fee meetings. This might help swing a new client in your direction if they are cautious of the cost leading up to Christmas.
4. Social Media Ads
Social media usage rises in December, with people enjoying some time off work and sharing festive posts with their friends and family. So why not capitalise on this and launch a Christmas campaign?
5. Get Out and Socialise
Many businesses and professionals will be hosting Christmas drinks and events over the coming weeks. Make sure that your key fee-earners are all doing their part to network and build their connections this December. Relaxed networking is always the best type to build meaningful relationships.
6. Create a Gift List
Christmas shopping can be a nightmare. But if you have a niche audience or some insights, you could offer a curated list of gift ideas. “What to buy for busy business owners”, “Entrepreneurs Gift List”, “Suitable Gifts for People with Dementia”, or even, “What to Buy for Someone Recently Divorced” perhaps? Top tip: We can create your content for you so you don’t have to spend hours coming up with ideas!
7. Countdown Campaign
The first-ever Advent Calendar was created in Germany in the early 20th century. Using an advent calendar or Christmas countdown is a great way to boost your brand awareness and messaging for an entire month. Branded chocolate advent calendars are great giveaways. But you can also get creative with online campaigns, emails and competitions.
8. Nurture Your Database
If you find yourself with a bit of spare time on your hands over December, this can be a good opportunity to have a clean-up of your databases, cleanse your mailing lists and segment your data so that you can improve your comms for next year.
9. Christmas Competition
Everyone loves a competition or a giveaway. Christmas is a good time of year to hold a fun competition. Whether it’s a prize draw from your newsletter, a kid’s colouring competition or something online to boost your social media followers. It’s the season for some fun (that will also boost your engagement!)
10. Charitable Season
Christmas is the time to be charitable. Having a local presence is vital to many professional services firms. If you can help make a difference in your local community (and raise your profile) this festive season, it’s a great way to build on those relationships. You could get your staff involved in a campaign to collect for your local food bank, do a winter clothes drive or go carol singing in your local care homes.
11. Helpful Blogs
Are there some useful topics that you can write about over Christmas? With people spending a lot of time online in December and many people looking for professional services in the New Year, adding some fresh, topical content to your website in December could help boost your search engine rankings. Law firms can be writing about co-parenting over Christmas, employment law issues with Christmas parties and rising rates of RTAs. Accountants could be discussing tax-efficient gifting, budgeting and good financial habits for the New Year.
12. Go Green
Sustainability and climate change are incredibly high on most people’s agendas. A good way of sharing that you are doing your part to reduce your carbon footprint is to swap the Christmas cards for an e-card, or instead use the money usually spent on Christmas cards to donate to a good cause. If your firm has a long-standing tradition of sending Christmas cards, consider green, recyclable options.
13. Free Toolkits or Checklists
Are there important changes or deadlines approaching in your sector? Could you create a handy checklist of things that your clients or prospective clients need to think about before the end of the year? Or coming up in 2025?
14. Sponsor a Christmas Event
There are lots of wholesome events that you can host or sponsor at this time of year. This might be something to consider for next year when you have more time to plan. From pop-up outdoor ice rinks, pantomimes and Christmas Markets to Santa’s Grottos, Christmas light switch-ons and wreath-making workshops – there are lots of lovely events you can put your company name to or use to thank/socialise with your network.
15. Delight and Surprise
Do something different! There is a lot of ‘noise’ around Christmas. Can you take time to do something more personal for your clients and contacts? Recording a personalised video message, customised gifts or even a surprise visit with some mince pies can be a nice way of showing people that you care this Christmas.
Our team specialise in marketing for professional services firms and suppliers to the professional services sector.
If you would like help with a marketing campaign or would like a no-obligation discovery call to discuss your marketing for 2025, then please get in touch with Hannah Perryman by emailing hannah@consortiumbiz.co.uk or calling 07523268731.