How to Plan Your Q3 Content Calendars for Email
Planning your promotional Q4 content calendar in advance can help you focus and refine your marketing messages, which has become more important in today’s ever-changing landscape.
While most marketers make last-minute adjustments to their campaigns, a foundational approach centered around seasonal holidays builds a strong springboard into evolving content.
Historically, Q3 has been a time for outdoor activities and community celebrations, however, COVID-19 is expected to have impacts lasting through Q3 holidays in 2020.
Reviewing the following for each holiday will help you craft your email messaging for your Q3 content calendar:
- Are my customers celebrating this holiday at all this year? How has COVID changed the way they will celebrate?
- Will schools be re-opening for all of my customers? How will that impact their back-to-school shopping needs and timing?
- Will my customers have disposable income for additional purchasing? Have they gotten/used their stimulus checks?
- How have buying patterns changed for my brand recently? Use this to predict upcoming holiday patterns in conjunction with year over year data.
After careful consideration of the seasonal holiday relevancy for your contacts this year, take a moment to get inspired by these holiday ideas to build your Q3 holiday roadmap:
July 2020
- Canada Day (7/1) – Target your Canadian contacts with flash sales, BOGOs, and more for this important Canadian holiday. Queue the maple leaves!
- Fourth of July (7/4) – Even without the traditional festival feel, you can still bring eye-catching creative elements and promotions via GIFs, unique color combinations, and catchy copy. Think stay-at-home celebration themes and sneak peek sale teasers leading up to the long weekend.
- Blackout Day (7/7) – Consider joining many brands in pausing advertising for Blackout Day if your company isn’t a Black-owned business. For Black-owned brands, tell your story and share your brand identity this day.
- World Emoji Day (7/17) – Take the opportunity to create a fun campaign this day using emojis in a creative way to share your content. Emoji subject lines, anyone? ????
- National Tequila Day (7/24) – Age-appropriate brands can use this day to have fun with tequila stories, jokes, cocktail recipes, and more. With many people doing their drinking at home now, recipes and ideas are appreciated among customers.
- Amazon Prime Day (TBD) – Use Amazon’s biggest, global shopping event to celebrate online shopping via Amazon cross promos. Non-Amazon brands can offer competitive discounts using their unique value proposition.
- Back to School (TBD based on location) – Even with many locations likely using digital learning to kick off the school year, students will still be looking for their standard (and maybe uniquely digital) school supplies. Promote back to school sales for supplies, electronics, home office supplies, fashion, and more.
August 2020
- Sisters Day (8/2) – We celebrate our parents and grandparents, so why not our siblings? Use this day to promote friendship and women’s bonding through feel-good imagery and ladies night out items.
- Shark Week (8/9-8/16) – Create fun shark puns and discounts for this popular week. Take a bite out of your prices, create suspense with “da-dums,” or use iconic shark fin imagery to add some life to your campaigns.
- International Youth Day (8/12) – Highlight social justice and giving back campaigns while also adding special offers for products made for youth. Plan to feature your promos across social media for a well-rounded cross-promotion strategy.
- World Humanitarian Day (8/19) – Find ways to promote your brand’s social mission statements in this global holiday. Tie global awareness/ health themes to your brand’s dedication to contribute to those causes.
- Dog Days of Summer/National Dog Day (Last week of August, 8/26) – Feature deep discounts on end-of-season merchandise while offering previews of your fall collections. Don’t forget to pull in your favorite company pups for a fun and playful campaign approach.
September 2020
- World Beard Day (9/5) – Organize a beard-growing contest, shout out to the guys with beards in your life, or promote beard products on this fun holiday.
- Labor Day (9/7) – Celebrate American workers via charitable giving (exclusive to 2020). Offer Flash Sales throughout the three day weekend with last-minute reminders on Labor Day to shop.
- Grandparents Day (9/8) – Feature lifestyle imagery celebrating an older demographic to subtly link this holiday to promotional offerings. Kids brands can highlight gifts for grandparents.
- Working Parents Day (9/16) – Perhaps more relevant this year than most, take a moment to thank all of the hard-working work-from-home parents juggling life without childcare, or the front line parents putting themselves at risk for us all.
- Fall Equinox (9/22) – Launch autumn imagery, seasonal launches, and all things pumpkin. For outdoor brands, this is the perfect time to capitalize on end-of-season outdoor adventure.
- Halloween Preview (Late September-Early October) – Offer up advanced promos to help customers stock up on essential Halloween needs. Consider social distancing practices and alternative celebrations for 2020.
Even though holidays may look a little different this year, everyone is eagerly awaiting a reason to celebrate. Give your customers a sense of normalcy by approaching holidays with a Q3 content relevant to their 2020 needs.
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