There’s a lot marketing managers need to do to get ready for the festive season. To help, here’s our overview of the key milestones for planning your B2B corporate communications around the Christmas period.

1. YOUR B2B CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
SOME OF THE TIMINGS MAY DEPEND ON YOUR
SPECIFIC BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY!
CALENDAR
BY THE END OF OCTOBER
Review and update your contact lists
Decide which customers will receive Christmas gifts, physical cards,
or an EDM
CHRISTMAS GIFTS
Say thanks to all your loyal customers for their business this
year. Remember: it’s the thought that counts! A bottle of wine
is nice, but if you put a bit more thought into your gifts they’ll
be more memorable to the recipient. Let us know if you’re
looking for creative corporate gifting ideas this Christmas –
we’ll be glad to advise!
CHRISTMAS CARDS
We still love receiving ‘real’ Christmas cards. Especially when
there’s a personal message from the company sending them,
it makes us feel like a valued customer.
Show your CSR credentials by printing on recycled
stock – why not add a message on the back to say how much
money you’ve raised throughout the year on your CSR
activities?
CHRISTMAS EDMS
A great way to round up the year and share highlights! It’s also
a good channel to communicate if you’re going to change or
reduce your office hours, or if your services will be affected by
the holidays in any other way.
MAKE SURE YOU:
Set budgets, choose gifts and card
designs, and think about what you’ll
communicate through the different
channels.
Consider messaging – would some of
your contacts prefer to receive ‘Happy
holidays’ or ‘Season’s greetings’ cards
rather than ‘Merry Christmas’ cards? Are
gifts containing alcohol inappropriate for
anyone?
Consider if you’ll be running your social
media channels during the holiday
season and what kind of content you’ll be
sharing.
Clearly establish who in your business
will send out Christmas
communications – if you’re a bigger
company, some departments may send
out their own cards. Coordinate internally
to make sure everyone knows who’s
doing what.
2ND WEEK OF DECEMBER
(BEFORE PEOPLE GO ON HOLIDAY)
Send your gifts and cards
Send the EDM
Use your social channels to
communicate if your office closes /
reduces opening hours during
the holiday period.
Everyone else will be busy recovering from Christmas,
so this is a great time to re-engage with customers who
may have lapsed trading with you over the last few
months – send them a New Year’s card to remind
them that you’re missing them!
1ST WEEK OF JANUARY
3RD WEEK OF DECEMBER