Holiday Communications: 18 ways to bolster goodwill (and fill your clean energy pipeline)

Is your clean energy organization making a big Q4 push and seeking out organizations looking to spend what’s left of their budget? Here we offer the who, what, when, and where of how to communicate with your customers over the holidays.

Perhaps, like many B2B organizations, you’re nurturing your leads while waiting for the New Year. Staying relevant relies on holiday communications that create:

• Positive moments that are memorable or even better, viral.
• A consistent presence that serves up targeted messages.

With a complex sales cycle, Q4 is more about building brand awareness than sales. However, a slow season doesn’t mean your team should go into hibernation. Instead, roll out a seasonal campaign designed to build relationships and generate leads across all platforms.

Embrace the giving season.

Giving during the holiday season provides opportunities for positive PR, along with supplying a steady stream of content for your website, emails, and social media platforms.

1. Get involved with a local nonprofit by helping at a community event.
2. Designate a nonprofit for company-wide donations.
3. Participate in Giving Tuesday both in your office and online.
4. Share the love with your local community by helping promote Small Business Saturday.

Boost your email list.

Email open rates decline during the holidays. However, a Hubspot analysis of more than 4.5 million emails finds four ideal times for sending an email:

• 24 hours before Thanksgiving Eve
• One week after Thanksgiving
• One week before Christmas Eve
• Four days after New Years Day

Hubspot shares the best time to send business emails.

While other clean energy companies cut back this season, entice current and new leads with an email campaign centered around a free giveaway using recycled content, such as a whitepaper, checklist, or template.

5. Develop a landing page with a touch of holiday cheer.
6. Send a personalized email to current subscribers with the freebie attached.
7. Funnel new leads to your email landing pages with non-sales-y messaging.
8. Encourage recipients to share the content with other clean energy professionals.

Humanize your brand.

The holiday months are perfect times to show the human side of your clean energy organization while enhancing your reputation and directing the conversation. Inject a bit of holiday spirit by combining professional questions with seasonal storytelling.

9.   Showcase emerging energy leaders in your content.
10. Highlight staff members with short video interviews.
11.  Interview stakeholders about their holiday memories.

Thank your loyal customers.

Even in our digital world, clients still appreciate seasonal greetings. And a card with a real signature? Or personalized? It stands out. Try combining a reward for your loyal customers with an incentive to share with a friend. Now, you’re spreading the goodwill all around and getting a referral to boot.

12. Send traditional holiday cards.
13. Create a personalized video from those in your office.

Add spirit to your social media channels.

Lighten up your social feed and deliver cheer while sharing a variety of content from your clean energy holiday campaigns. You’ll boost brand awareness, increase your following, and add to your email list.

Ideas to increase engagement on social media include:

14. Change your profile and page images to reflect a change in seasons.
15. Ramp up your LinkedIn activity with behind-the-scenes posts.
16. Ask your audience to share their favorite stories or photos.
17. Develop a seasonal photo template that pulls together your campaign.
18. Participate in holidays of interest to your audience.

• STEM/STEAM Day (#NationalStemDay, #StemSteamDay)
• Kindness Day (#WorldKindnessDay)
• National Salespersons Day (#SalespersonsDay, #NationalSalespersonsDay)
• Small Business Saturday (#SmallBusinessSaturday, #ShopSmall)

Use holiday communications to fill your clean energy pipeline.

Complex sales cycles require clean energy companies to build relationships regardless of the season. By planning your holiday communications strategy before the slowdown, you’ll give your sales reps plenty of leads in the new year while promoting extra goodwill (and business credibility).