Do you wake up at three in the morning
the day of a national holiday thinking,
Dang! I missed another opportunity to alert
my list with a holiday email to sell?
Don’t fret. You aren’t alone. It is often a forgotten tactic. Never fear, it is one that is easily remedied. You can even create these all at once and schedule them at the beginning of the year. Imagine never forgetting a holiday again.
Each month has holidays that are nationally recognized. Even the slower months like March (St. Paddy’s Day) or June (Father’s Day) have noted dates that you can use. Matter of fact, National Donut Day or National Pancake Day or whatever else are good excuses to be in touch! With creativity, you can offer content that will give folks a chuckle or a reminder that it is time for them to re-engage with you, refer you to a friend or family member or simply keep you at the top of their brains.
Here are some ways to be sure your holiday emails will be opened and clicked-on as your way of wishing them a happy holiday.
- Try different subject lines. Grab their attention with something different with information they may be wondering about. Be careful also not to get too cute, or they won’t know what you are talking about and will hit delete faster than you can say Kim Kardashian.
5 Ways to honor the veterans in your family that they’ll never forget. (Veteran’s Day)
New Safety tips for your Independence Day backyard picnic from MyBusiness.com
- Use important attention-grabbing information in the first two lines of your email such as a headline or call to action.
Hurry in for your free consultation and get the New Year started on the right foot.
- Use powerful images. Photos inspire people and appeal to their emotions. If you are aiming to get your folks into your office to iron out a lagging problem, show a photo of someone appearing worried while the rest of the family enjoys the holiday season. The Internet is full of free images.
You can find inexpensive images on Shutterstock as well as other image purveyors online. You need only search what you are looking for with keywords that make sense to find these images that will help you tell your story. Avoid taking photos from Bing or Google as despite the fact that they are free, you could be using a photo that is owned by someone else.
- Remember a powerful call to action. If you are aiming for them to schedule a consultation. Make it simple for them to click and schedule a time with you right from the email. If you don’t have a direct sell, include your website with a link for them to “learn more”.
- Remember to create scarcity by putting a limited time offer with your call to action. A sense of urgency will move them to take action which is what you are aiming for.
The first 25 people to respond to this email will receive a special gift.
OR
We are scheduling free consultations through midnight tomorrow (a $400 value)
- Be sure your email is mobile friendly. More people are looking at their emails from their phones. If your offer or powerful links are not visible, your holiday email will be deleted.
The more time and effort you invest in your holiday email program throughout the year, the more value you will draw from it. Just as any planning helps ensure success, your holiday email strategy is no different. What’s more, the better planned it is, the simpler it will be to marry other tactics that dovetail with it such as direct mail, Shock and Awe packages, social media ad campaigns etc.
Perhaps you have already identified portions of the year that are slower or when leads seem to fall off. Take the time to determine when those times are and identify which holiday or designated day is near that time on the calendar. Arrange for your company to design a campaign to help move your folks who are waiting in the wings to try your services.
