Why bother sending a newsletter on Christmas Eve?

You’re not going to be making or dispatching any orders on 24th December, and customers are going to be done with their Christmas shopping. So why would you take the time to send an email to them?

Connection. Loyalty. Authenticity.

Building your brand, your marketing content, and your business isn’t about making the sale every single time.

In fact, taking the time to thank your customers for their support this year and wishing them a Merry Christmas demonstrates that you’re a thoughtful human being behind a lovely creative business.

And it doesn’t have to be long or complicated. It doesn’t need to take you hours or write it or set it up.

Here’s my quick-and-easy Christmas Eve newsletter content checklist:

  • Subject line: Merry Christmas from {brand name}
  • Headline: Thank you for being here
  • Paragraph: Share your thanks for all their support and what it’s meant to you
  • Photo: Include a photo of you in a Santa hat or some key Christmas products
  • Sign off: Wish them a happy new year

Bonus points:

  • Share a couple of fun stats, like how many baubles you’ve made this Christmas (this increases your authority and integrity as a business), and how many mince pies you’ve eaten so far (this makes you relatable as a human!)
  • If you have a free printable colouring page or old blog post they might like to read, link to it

Keep it really simple

I know how things can go. You’ll read this and think “YES, Jenny’s right, I should send a Merry Christmas email, and I’ll create a fully animated stop-motion video for it, and then I’ll link it to some stupendous (but not currently planned or made) January sale and new product launch, and I’ll share a huge list of makers I want to recommend… Ooh, and I could create a whole new freebie too…”

NO.

Just draft and schedule a short and sweet email now using things you already have.

And feel free to let me know how good it feels to schedule something that’s going to have a big impact on your customer love.

Are you a leading lady? Or are you a best friend?

If you’re reading this, chances are you WANT to be the leading lady in your business, and in your life. But maybe you haven’t quite made that leap yet, or perhaps you’d like to feel more empowered, stepping into that Proper Business Owner role…

Today, I’m sharing inspiration from festive favourite The Holiday to give us some clarity and some gumption (great word) as we start to embrace our title role in our own lives.

I’m not ashamed to say I’ve watched The Holiday a LOT. I can recite scenes, and there are lines I know by heart. This is one of them:

You’re supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for god’s sake.

Iris, played by Kate Winslet, has a tear-inducing lightbulb moment when retired movie writer Arthur tells her she’s being more best friend than leading lady. It’s a lightbulb moment for all of us!

First of all, no shade to best friends. We all need best friends. And in real life (not the movies) we are meant to support each other in being the leading ladies of our own lives. My best friend, Kelly, is the leading lady of her life, and I support her journey. She also supports mine. And in a beautiful way, this happens in our businesses too. I’m a client of hers, and she’s a member of the Better Business Collective – and we lean on each other for different things.

But back to the point, here. Maybe you can relate to this…

In my early twenties, I was being a best friend. Not to one specific person, but to most other people and figures in my life. My boss at work, my family and friends, even the people on the tube, all had more importance than me. I would bend and flex to meet their needs, rather than asking for what I needed for my own sparkling storyline.

By my late twenties, I was a leading lady. Strong in my convictions, I stood up for what I thought was right, for what worked for me. I started my business, I put myself in the centre of my life, and it allowed me to contribute to my relationships, clients, and the things that mattered.

Now, in my (gulp) thirties, I have children, a marriage, a mortgage, and a business. The responsibilities are more complex than they were 7 years ago. I am in a new phase of being a leading lady, one that requires grace but also integrity. It requires putting myself at the centre of my story, even when mum guilt and society tell me to just play it small and quiet.

So how do we put being a leading lady into practice?

It’s a good question. Let’s use the movie metaphor a bit more…

In a movie, everything that happens – every action, scene, dialogue, piece of information – ultimately tells us more about the leading lady’s story. Anything that doesn’t move her narrative and development forward is superfluous.

So her best friend is there to provide insight. A challenging situation or accident or any external action is there to show us how she responds to it. Her enemy or antagonist is there to challenge her, help her grow, change her for the better.

I’m not suggesting we all turn into raging narcissists where everything is about us – far from it. I AM suggesting we consider our own storyline and development, noticing the things that take up our time and energy, and assess whether they are fuelling the story or getting us off-track.

✨ How does x thing (an event, a story, a person, a conversation) impact you? Is it helping you to move forward and grow, or is it holding you back?

✨ Are you holding your head high, knowing you belong wherever you go? Or are you apologising before you even enter the room?

✨ Do you recognise that your responsibility to yourself is greater than your responsibility to others? That, in fact, no-one else can be the boss of your life?

✨ What if you let yourself be the leading lady for the day, the week, a month?

✨ And are you willing to let your dream, your success, steal the show?

The thing is: being a leading lady is really about stepping into leadership, and I love that Arthur in The Holiday makes that something we can relate to. Because leadership can sometimes sound like suits and boardrooms and hotel conferences.

But what if leadership is being a leading lady? Commanding respect. Feeling empowered and empowering others. Taking actions that demonstrate your commitment to your dreams.

That’s the kind of leadership I can get on board with. I hope you will, too.

What’s next? Black Friday vs Valentine’s Day

If you’re a maker or creative business owner in retail, the next few weeks are pretty much the most intense of the year. If you hadn’t noticed, it’s Christmas, and this year, things are even more unpredictable.

In this blog post, I’m making it really easy for you to market your products right now, and plan ahead for future success. To read this and do all the things I mention, you probably need about 30-45 minutes. Doable, right?

So let’s pretend for a moment that fulfilling orders is a breeze, you’re totally on top of that, and you have no worries in that area.

In fact, let’s pretend that your only job right now (imagine, my dear solopreneurs and tiny teams! just one job…) is marketing.

As the Marketing Manager for your business, you have a few things on your mind:

  • Black Friday
  • The rest of December
  • Valentine’s Day

Partly, you’re bringing in sales right now – that is your urgent job – but you’re also thinking strategically about the future – that is your important job.

Let’s look at how to balance the two:

Black Friday

Black Friday is next week, the 27th November, with Cyber Monday on 30th November. These are big online shopping days, not just for those looking for discounts, but also in general: November payday happens, and we as a society actually acknowledge that Christmas is coming.

In good news, this year there’s a huge movement for shopping small and shopping early. Royal Mail are sharing the message, and Google are running tv ads about supporting small businesses.

Black Friday can be noisy – lots of big brands and businesses now rely on a Black Friday week to generate discounted sales. And that can be off-putting for small businesses who feel their voices are too quiet.

As I’ve said in my Tuesday pep talks over on Instagram, it’s still worth sharing your products over Black Friday weekend, even if you don’t discount. People are still looking to shop.

Here are my top tips for Black Friday weekend (and the rest of December):

  • Post regularly on social media, ideally scheduling ahead of time
  • Send out an email (two if you’re running a discount) – read this blog post for a content rundown
  • Be really clear about how people can order from you (this is especially good in IG Stories, but also on your feed):
    • Where do they need to go?
    • When do they need to order by?
    • What’s your experience with delivery right now? Even if it’s good, say so!
    • Can you gift wrap and send direct to their recipient?
    • Make it REALLY EASY to place an order!

Valentine’s Day

But here’s the thing: Valentine’s Day is hot on the tails of Christmas. Urgh, I know. The Worst.

As your business coach and mentor, I am morally obliged to remind you that 2021 is coming, and you, amazing human, deserve to succeed in the coming year, as well as in the coming weeks.

So absolutely take care of yourself and your orders and maximise this opportunity. AND let’s think long-term, too.

Here’s how to spend 15 minutes on Valentine’s Day that will pay off big time:

  • Book a photoshoot in January. Seriously. Do it now. Whether it’s your own time or with a professional. (I recommend Girl Behind The Lens for remote product photography.)
  • Plant the product development seeds in your creative brain. You don’t have to design everything before Christmas, but maybe jot down some ideas of what you’d like to share for Valentine’s Day.
  • Mark some key dates on your calendar, like when you’ll open your Valentine’s Day shop (I recommend 25th January), and when you’ll need to upload your listings (probably the week before!).

I have made all this take even less time and feel even easier with the Valentine’s Day Launch Plan, which not only has a printable calendar for you, but also then has all the marketing content templates for email, Instagram, and Facebook from pre-launch to last order dates. (Seriously, I just want to remove the obstacles getting in your way.)

So there’s a quick rundown of how to juggle immediate and long-term success. Let me finish with a reminder that I absolutely believe in you AND you are worth taking care of. Sleep. Water. Good music. Great snacks. Ask for help.

You’ve got this.

Jenny x

PS That link again to the save-you-time, make-you-money Valentine’s Day Launch Plan.

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Enter The Forge

Life's too damn short to chase someone else's definition of success. I'm here to give you the courage and tools to forge your own path.