Christmas is the culmination of December holidays for retail marketers, but little-known occasions can attract shoppers, too.
Content marketing is the art of creating, publishing, and promoting articles, podcasts, and videos to attract, engage, and retain customers.
Think about using the following ideas in email campaigns. December emails often lead with promotions, but a message with helpful, informative, or entertaining content might be just what shoppers need.
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Repeal Day
Repeal Day celebrates the end of Prohibition.
December 5, 1933, marked the end of Prohibition in the United States — the period from 1920 to 1933 when the 18th Amendment banned the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.
Despite good intentions, Prohibition led to the rise of bootlegging, speakeasies, and a thriving black market for alcohol.
The 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th, restored Americans’ legal privilege to purchase and consume alcohol.
Since 1933, Repeal Day has become a celebratory holiday for bars, distilleries, and enthusiasts, who toast the return of the freedom to imbibe.
Content marketers could combine responsible alcohol consumption and the holiday season for how-to articles, Christmas party theme ideas, and even last-minute gift-giving ideas.
Here are a few example titles.
- Men’s clothing shop: “What to Wear and Drink This Christmas”
- Home decor store: “Need a Christmas Party Theme? Try Repeal Day”
- General merchandise store: “How to Celebrate Repeal Day and Christmas in Style”
Christmas Card Day
Content marketers can build on the tradition of sending holiday cards.
Americans send roughly 1.5 billion Christmas cards annually, mainly via the U.S. mail. But not everyone who intends to send a card does. Shoppers get busy and forget.
Enter Christmas Card Day on December 9, which aims to help us remember to gather stamps, envelopes, and cards and start sending the holiday cheer.
Content marketers can use Christmas Card Day to nudge their audience of shoppers not just to send cards but to buy the right gift, too.
Here are a few potential titles.
- “10 Reasons to Add a Gift to 2024 Christmas Cards”
- “15 Gifts That Are Way Better Than a Christmas Card”
- “The 2024 Christmas Card Readiness Guide”
White Elephant Day
The king of Siam (now Thailand) apparently gave white elephants as gifts.
Celebrated on the second Wednesday in December, White Elephant Day falls on the 11th in 2024. It is an opportunity to give odd, extravagant, and — to quote Wikipedia — “useless” gifts.
The pseudo-holiday’s origins are unclear, but a theory goes something like this: When the king of Siam wanted to discipline or punish a courtier mildly, he would give that individual a rare albino elephant. These animals were a treasure and treated like art, making them expensive to maintain and useless for work or transportation.
From the content marketer’s perspective, one could publish:
- A white elephant gift guide,
- An article about setting up a white elephant exchange,
- A post about the history of white elephant gifts.
National Free Shipping Day
National Free Shipping Day is an opportunity to set reasonable shipping expectations.
December 14, 2024, is National Free Shipping Day. The founders of FreeShipping.org and Coupon Sherpa created the event in 2008 to promote ecommerce. At the time, shoppers feared online purchases after about December 10 would not arrive by Christmas. Offering free shipping would extend ecommerce orders.
But consumers in 2024 believe they can order just about anything at seemingly any time to arrive in 24 hours or less.
That is largely true unless a purchase is for, say, print-on-demand services or drop-shipped goods via DSers or elsewhere. Those items won’t arrive by Christmas day if ordered much past the 14th.
Content marketers can use National Free Shipping Day to make last-ditch pitches to shoppers, publishing articles about deadlines or explaining why print-to-order is good for the environment but not last-minute shopping.
National Whiner’s Day
National Whiner’s Day recognizes that some of us are sad the day after Christmas.
Content marketers usually focus on utility and information, leaving entertainment to influencers and creators. Yet National Whiner’s Day on December 26 is an opportunity to entertain.
National Whiner’s Day recognizes that some folks are sad the day after Christmas. It aims to poke fun at the many things we whine about despite being very blessed.
The goal is humor. Here are some example titles.
- “The Whiner’s Guide to Appreciating the Christmas Haul”
- “The Subtle Art of Regifting”
- “Socks Again?”
