When to start your Christmas content, and why late summer is the moment
Christmas comes around faster than anyone in hospitality would like. By the time the decorations go up, the venues that go on to have a strong season have already done the hard part. They planned early, shot their content in good time, and started putting it in front of the right people while everyone else was still thinking about it. If you are reading this in late summer, you are right on time.
Start before the Christmas rush
Shooting Christmas out of season is not without its challenges. Props and decorations tend to be tucked away, and you may not even have settled your theme yet, since trends change from one year to the next. So we keep it subtle. Small gestures and nods to Christmas rather than full tinsel and green trees. Done well, that gives you content that feels festive and on brand without committing you to a theme you have not finalised, and without looking dated the moment styles move on.
When you get this right and get it early, you should see steady bookings come through, provided the product itself is up to scratch. Drip feeding the idea of Christmas well ahead of time gives customers longer to consider it, picture themselves there, and book their Christmas with you rather than someone else. That head start is the whole game, and Christmas trade is too valuable to leave to a scramble in November. So if you are reading this in late summer, now is the moment: pull together every Christmas package you are running, decide what content each one needs, and get the shoot booked while there is still time to do it properly.
Map your content to every offer
The venues that do this well look at every part of their Christmas offer. Private parties, joiner parties, Christmas dining, Christmas stays, whatever you run, start by categorising each package and then work out what content each one needs.
This is where we come in. We are good at helping you decide what content each objective calls for, and then creating it. Party nights need food menus and strong food photography, plus party imagery and video, and for hotels the bedrooms and the decoration around the building. A full guest journey, think Christmas Day breakfast and lunch, means looking at every stage of the experience and how each part of it becomes festive. Getting that map right early means nothing gets forgotten in the rush.
The trick to shooting Christmas in August
Shooting Christmas out of season is not without its challenges. Props and decorations tend to be tucked away, and you may not even have settled your theme yet, since trends change from one year to the next. So we keep it subtle. Small gestures and nods to Christmas rather than full tinsel and green trees. Done well, that gives you content that feels festive and on brand without committing you to a theme you have not finalised, and without looking dated the moment styles move on.
When you get this right and get it early, you should see steady bookings come through, provided the product itself is up to scratch. Drip feeding the idea of Christmas well ahead of time gives customers longer to consider it, picture themselves there, and book their Christmas with you rather than someone else. That head start is the whole game, and Christmas trade is too valuable to leave to a scramble in November. So if you are reading this in late summer, now is the moment: pull together every Christmas package you are running, decide what content each one needs, and get the shoot booked while there is still time to do it properly.
Late summer is the moment
Pull together every Christmas package you are running, decide what content each one needs, and get the shoot booked while there is still time to do it properly.
If you would like a hand planning and creating your Christmas content, we would love to talk.
Book a discovery call and we will map it out with you.
