For many Herts businesses, September is a sensible time to start planning Christmas advertising. Some campaigns will benefit from earlier preparation, while others can still be planned later in the autumn—not because every business needs to run a Christmas advert immediately, but because deciding what the advertising should achieve takes time.
Planning and advertising are not the same thing. A business may sensibly begin planning in September without needing its Christmas advert to appear immediately.
If you are only starting to think about Christmas advertising now, that does not mean you have missed the opportunity. It means focusing on what is still realistic for your business, choosing one priority and avoiding a rushed advert that tries to say too much at once.
The key question is not simply when to run an advert. It is when you want a customer to book, buy or get in touch.
The right planning point depends on what you want a customer to do. Start by deciding the outcome you want, then work backwards from the point when that customer is most likely to act.
For an independent business serving a particular town, village or group of Herts postcodes, the advertising window can look very different from that of a national retailer.
| If your aim is… | What to plan first |
|---|---|
| Filling appointments before Christmas | Deciding which service, dates or availability you want to promote before your busiest period begins |
| Selling gifts, vouchers or seasonal products | Making the offer and buying process clear before people settle on where they will shop |
| Generating winter enquiries | Being visible before the weather, an event or a household problem makes the service relevant |
| Building January bookings | Preparing a message that can be seen during December, when people may be thinking ahead to the new year |
A retailer with a Christmas product range, a beauty therapist offering gift vouchers and a local service business preparing for January enquiries will each have a different planning window.
The important point is to work backwards from the customer decision. If you want someone to act in December, give yourself enough time beforehand to choose the message, prepare the advert and, where appropriate, give customers more than one opportunity to notice it.
Christmas can make it tempting to advertise everything: all services, every offer, festive opening hours and a long list of reasons to choose the business. That usually makes the advert harder to understand quickly.
Start with the one outcome that would make the advertising worthwhile. It might be more bookings before Christmas, more gift-voucher sales, enquiries for winter work, sales of a particular product line or appointments booked for January.
Once that purpose is clear, the advert has a job to do. A beauty therapist hoping to sell gift vouchers, for example, does not need to give equal prominence to every treatment offered throughout the year. The message can centre on a simple gift idea, explain how to buy it and make the contact details easy to find.
A narrower message does not mean the business only offers one thing. It means the advert gives a reader one clear reason to respond at that particular time.
Christmas planning works best when it reflects the customer’s timetable rather than the business’s calendar alone.
Some decisions are made gradually. A person may notice a local retailer or florist weeks before they intend to buy, then return to that business when gift shopping begins. Other decisions happen closer to the moment: someone may only start looking for a venue, caterer or cleaner once plans are confirmed.
The timing can also be different from the service itself. A business that wants January appointments may benefit from being visible in December, when people are beginning to think about routines, budgets and plans for the new year.
This is why planning ahead matters even when the customer action is later. You are not trying to force everyone to respond immediately; you are making sure the message is ready when the relevant decision starts to feel timely.
An advert is easier to produce when the business has already decided what it is asking the reader to do.
Without that decision, the conversation tends to begin with vague wording: “We need something for Christmas.” From there, every service, offer and detail can appear equally important. The result may be an advert that is busy without giving the reader a clear next step.
A clearer starting point is: “We want to fill Thursday and Friday appointments in the run-up to Christmas,” or “We want local customers to know gift vouchers are available.” Those aims give the wording, image and call to action a direction.
It also leaves time to check the basics that often matter most: the business name, phone number, website or social page, service area, opening information and any terms attached to an offer. A seasonal message is less likely to work if a customer cannot quickly work out how to act on it.
The answer is not only about creating the artwork. Preparation includes agreeing the wording, checking the details and deciding when and where the advert should appear.
The PhoneFile produces editions for five local areas each quarter, with each edition delivered to 2,000 homes. A business hoping to fill final pre-Christmas appointments may plan differently from one aiming to be visible before January bookings begin. That makes it worth considering whether one local edition suits the message, or whether visibility across more than one edition better matches the customer’s decision window.
The PhoneFile has been helping local businesses advertise since 2001. Advertisers who have agreed on the message but need help producing the finished advert can also use its free advert design service.
A person does not always contact a local business the first time they notice its advert. Sometimes advertising’s job is simply to make a business familiar before the customer has a reason to act.
A party planner may want to be visible before people begin arranging celebrations, comparing venues or confirming guest numbers. A cleaner, decorator or other home-service business may be more relevant once households start preparing for visitors. An accountant may want local businesses to recognise the name before January tax and planning questions move up the agenda.
At that point, the earlier advert can make the business feel familiar. The person may remember the name, look for it again or search online to check availability and prices. They may then contact the business directly, visit its website or look at its social media before deciding.
The advert has not necessarily created the need. The event, gift-buying decision or personal plan created that. But being visible beforehand may mean the business is already one of the options the customer considers when the need appears.
That is also why a clear name and contact route matter. Recognition is only useful if the next step is straightforward once someone is ready to take it.
A printed advert does not have to do all the work. Someone may see a business name in PhoneFile, then search online before deciding whether to get in touch.
That makes it worth checking that the same service, offer or seasonal information is easy to find on the business’s Google Business Profile, website or social media. The wording does not need to be identical everywhere, but customers should be able to recognise that they have found the same business and understand the next step.
A printed advert may introduce a business to someone before they need it. When they are ready to decide, a Google search, website or social-media profile can help them check the details and take the next step.
Before committing to a Christmas advert, check that you can answer these questions:
Christmas advertising does not mean creating festive adverts months in advance. It means making the right decisions early enough that, when seasonal demand arrives, your business has a clear message, a clear objective and an advert that is ready to be seen.
If you are considering advertising in The PhoneFile over the Christmas period, begin by deciding what you want the advert to achieve and when you want local customers to see it. Once that is clear, we can help turn your message into an advert and discuss which edition or editions fit your timing.