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Guide to Seasonalizing Your Brand

Pumpkin spice lattes are brewing, the decorations are going up — the holidays are upon us! If you aren’t already thinking about how you can bring some seasonal cheer and warmth to your brand, now is the time to get started. Here are a few tips to help you seasonalize your branding efforts this year and dress up your business in holiday style.

Give your logo a seasonal revamp

A holiday-themed logo change is a great way to signal the start of the season to your customers. Take a cue from companies like Google and Facebook, and give your business logo a holiday twist. You can do something as subtle and simple as changing the colors of the design to reflect the holiday (think orange and black, red and green, or blue and silver), or you can crank things up a notch by adding fun seasonal embellishments like snowflakes, fall leaves, or a pumpkin. But remember, whether you enlist a design pro to give you a hand with your logo update, or you do it yourself, your seasonalized logo should still be recognizable to your customers. A logo is a critical part of your brand identity, and you don’t want your company’s voice to be drowned out by festive flourishes.

Add seasonal graphics and images to marketing emails

65% of people prefer marketing emails that contain images, which means that you shouldn’t be afraid to incorporate a few seasonal graphics into your emails to celebrate the holidays. High-quality, well-chosen visual content is bound to grab the attention of a potential customer. So go ahead — add that turkey graphic to your email header when promoting a Thanksgiving sale! If graphic design isn’t your forte, you can download free email, social, and creative assets and templates from VerticalResponse, or visit free photo editing sites like Ribbet to add seasonal filters and graphics to your photos. As long as the images you choose complement your marketing messages, you’re good to go.

Create a holiday event calendar

Celebrate the communal spirit of the season by scheduling charitable donation days and other holiday events, like toy drives, raffles, in-store parties, or live entertainment. You can post a calendar of events on your website and at your physical location, and then promote the festivities through your email newsletter and on social media. This may take more effort to organize than some of your other brand seasonalizing plans, but it’s often worth it. Holiday events are a unique chance to connect with new and returning customers on a person-to-person level, build brand loyalty, and, above all else, have a great time!

Give your social media accounts a holiday makeover

Social media is a perfect way to promote everything on your holiday event calendar, so be sure that your customers are greeted with festive imagery and messages when they visit your social pages. Swap out your usual Facebook cover photo or Twitter header for a holiday-inspired design with a warm, inviting message like “Come celebrate with us this holiday season.” Or consider featuring a company holiday photo or candid shots of customers at one of your seasonal events. Free graphic design programs like Canva have all of the professional tools and templates (with the correct image dimensions) you need to update your social media banners, icons, and headers for the holidays.

Create a holiday gift guide

Alleviate some of the holiday stress for your customers by taking the time to thoughtfully craft a gift guide. In an email (featuring your holiday logo and holiday-themed graphics, of course) or on your company website or blog, present your services or products as gifts tailored to certain people — mom, dad, teachers, and so on. A gift guide is the opportunity to turn your advertisement into a personalized experience for your customers. Come crunch time (mid to late December), stumped shoppers will be grateful for your advice.

Craft a festive phone greeting or outgoing voicemail message

One of the easiest ways to extend the spirit of the holidays to your brand is with a seasonal phone greeting. You could go with a classic greeting like “Happy Holidays,” or express your warm wishes to your customers in a way that’s more personal. Whatever you do, authenticity is key. If a cute message sprinkled with things like “jolly” or “‘tis the season” doesn’t fit with your brand, then stay away from that kind of language. The goal of a festive greeting — and ultimately all of your seasonalizing — is to make customers feel good about your brand, so that they’ll look to you during the holiday months.

Tips, Tricks, and Festive Facts for the Holiday Season

Fun facts to get people talking on social media:

  • All thirteen American colonies celebrated Thanksgiving together for the first time in 1777.
  • Congress didn’t declare the fourth Thursday of November as the official Thanksgiving holiday until 1941.

Check out these famous holiday logos

Many companies give their logos a holiday makeover. Use them for ideas and inspiration for your own holiday logo changes!

Google Logo
Facebook Logo
Barnes & Noble Logo
Food Network Logo
Target Logo
Google Halloween Logo
Youtube Logo
Twitter Logo
Google Thanksgiving Logo
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