Christmas in August…huh?

British businesses spend on average £1 billion on festive corporate bashes each year; and at the end of 2015, it was estimated that Christmas Bookings in the UK had risen by 202% since 2012.

With 59% of Christmas parties and dinners being planned at least three months ahead of the Festive Season. It’s crucial to begin promoting your venue online in the summer season to catch those early bookings.

Be prepared:

First things first, before you can think about generating Christmas content online and taking bookings – make sure you have a clear idea of what you’re offering is offline. People want to know what they’re going to be getting, before they commit to making a reservation.

Whether you’re targeting local businesses for corporate bookings, your regulars and their family and friends, or if you’re trying to capture entirely new customers. Innovative menus, special offers for early bookings, and discounts to local businesses are a great way to attract customers. Make sure you shout about your activity and entice customers with interactive, engaging content on your website and social media platforms.

Speak out across all platforms to reach the widest audience possible. It’s not enough to simply have a website, customers need to be able to find you. You can’t expect to maintain a loyal customer base without reaching out via email marketing. And every step of the way, whether it be through social media or managing your online reviews, each interaction should reinforce the customer relationship and encourage your customers to book.

Christmas focused PPC campaigns are a tried and tested way of reaching out to a larger audience. Take the hassle out of Christmas – don’t leave it up to your customers to find you, be there ready for when they are searching terms like ‘Christmas Office Party’ or ‘Christmas Parties London’.

Managing your Christmas bookings is crucial. Creating a bespoke Christmas form on your website which feeds through to a dedicated email address like ‘christmas@’ is a sensible way to keep track of your bookings. By collecting all your customers’ details, menu selections, dietary requirements or deposits in the initial enquiry, you can help to simplify the booking process for everyone.

We can’t quite believe it ourselves, but we’ve had 15 years worth of Christmases here at Propeller!  We’ve put together a range of solutions and packages which we can tailor to a client’s specific needs including Christmas mailers, website pages, banners etc. helping you to market your business online leading up to the festive period.

Get in touch with your Account Manager to find out more here.