Get ready for the rush

 approx 5 minute read

Your Black Friday to New Year marketing checklist

There are 35 days between Black Friday on 27 November and New Year’s Day on 1 January 2027. For a lot of small businesses, that stretch decides how the year ends and how the next one starts.

The businesses that do well in it made their decisions early. Offers are agreed, emails are written and opening hours are already on Google before the rush arrives.

This checklist takes you through the season in order: the Cyber sales weekend, Christmas, and the start of January.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday: decide now if you’re in

You don’t have to discount. Plenty of small businesses sit Black Friday out and do fine.

The mistake is deciding on Thursday 26 November and throwing together a 20% off code at midnight.

Make the call now. If you’re in, pick an offer that protects your margin:

• A bundle rather than a straight discount (two services for the price of one and a half)
• A bonus with every order over a set value
• Early access for your email list 24 hours before everyone else
• A gift card offer that brings people back in January

Then get the groundwork in place:

• Build a landing page for the offer and test it on your phone
• Write two emails: one announcing the offer, one last call on Cyber Monday evening
• Schedule social posts for Friday, Saturday and Monday
• Add the offer to your Google Business Profile as an Offer post
• Set a clear end date and stick to it

If you’re out, say so. A short post explaining that you keep fair prices all year can win you customers who are tired of the noise.

Trades and professional services: you don’t need a discount to use this weekend. Everyone is in buying mode, so put a booking offer in front of them instead.

• Book before 30 November and keep this year’s prices for work done in the new year
• A free survey, quote or review for anyone who books a January slot
• Gift vouchers for services people buy for others: a valet, a deep clean, a garden tidy-up
• An email to past clients reminding them it’s time to book their annual service, check or review

Christmas: answer the questions before customers ask them

In December, customers want three answers fast: are you open, can I still order, and will it arrive in time.

If your website and Google listing don’t answer them, the phone rings or the customer goes elsewhere.

Google Business Profile

• Add special opening hours for every day you close or change hours, from Christmas Eve to 2 January
• Post a festive update with your cut-off dates
• Swap in a few fresh photos of the shop, the team or seasonal stock

Our Google Business Profile guide walks you through each of these.

Your website

• Put your last order date and holiday hours on the homepage, above the fold
• Check your delivery service posting dates and set yours a day or two earlier
• Run a test order on your phone from start to finish
• Update your contact page and any auto-reply emails

Email

Plan three sends now: a gift guide or Christmas offer in early December, a last-order reminder a few days before your cut-off, and a thank you between Christmas and New Year. Write them now and schedule ahead of time.

Social and ads

Schedule your posts in batches so December isn’t spent writing captions at 10pm. If you run ads, put a little more budget behind the week before your cut-off date, when people are buying with a deadline.

Print and signage

Your window and counter do the same job as your homepage. A window graphic, poster or counter card showing your holiday hours and last order date saves you answering the same question all day. Keep the dates and offer identical to the website so nothing contradicts.

Trades and professional services: your customers aren’t asking about delivery dates. They’re asking whether you can fit them in before the family arrives, and who to call if something breaks on Boxing Day.

• Publish a last booking date for pre-Christmas work on your website and Google profile
• Say clearly whether you offer emergency call-outs over the holidays, with the number to ring
• Set an out-of-office reply that gives your reopening date and who to contact in the meantime

• Send clients a printed Christmas card with your holiday hours on it. It stays on the mantelpiece until January, with your number in view

New Year’s Day: plan January before December starts

New Year’s Day falls on a Friday, which gives most people a long weekend to think about the year ahead.

That’s when they book, sign up, start searching and make the changes they promised themselves.

If your January marketing is ready before you close for Christmas, you’re in front of them on day one.

• Decide your January offer now. New year bookings, a fresh-start package, a loyalty reward for December customers or a reason to redeem gift cards.
• Schedule a New Year email to send on 1 or 2 January, while inboxes are quiet and people have time to read.
• Update your Google Business Profile with your reopening date, so nobody assumes you’re still closed.
• Open your booking calendar for January and February before the break, if you take appointments.
• Line up social posts for the first week back, so you’re not starting from a blank page.
• Book in your website updates. January is the time to refresh prices, photos and services pages, so put it in the diary now.

The businesses that start January busy are the ones that wrote their January emails in November.

Trades and professional services: the Christmas break is when people sit down and plan the year. Kitchens, extensions, gardens, new accountants and business advice all get discussed over the turkey leftovers.

• Build a “book your spring project” page with a simple enquiry form, live before you close
• Accountants and bookkeepers: the Self Assessment deadline is 31 January, so your New Year email writes itself
• Send past clients a reminder that annual services, reviews and renewals are due

• Ask December’s happy customers for a Google review while the job is fresh, so January searchers see it

Your 10 jobs for right now

1. Decide whether you’re doing Black Friday, and whether it’s a sale or a booking offer
2. Build and test your offer landing page
3. Write your Cyber weekend emails
4. Set special hours on Google from Christmas Eve to 2 January
5. Put your last order or last booking date on your homepage
6. Write and schedule your three December emails
7. Order window graphics, posters or client Christmas cards showing your hours and cut-off
8. Decide your January offer
9. Schedule your New Year email
10. Book January website updates into the diary

Tick these off right away and December becomes a month of serving customers instead of scrambling.

Want a hand? Your local Nettl studio can update your website, improve how you show up in local search, run your social media and ads, and print the signage for your window. Find your nearest studio and get it booked in before the rush.