Planning Your Holiday Video Content: A Guide to Perfect Timing

Ana Nazaruk

Sep 18, 2023

5 min read

Updated: Oct 5

The festive season is undeniably one of the busiest times for businesses. The lights, the joy, the anticipation – it all culminates in a rush of customers eager to indulge. But for this rush to convert to tangible results, advance planning, especially for video content, is paramount. So, when should you start? Let’s delve into the ideal timelines.

Start Months Ahead

You might be wondering: is end of summer too early to think about Christmas or the New Year? No! Starting your planning 3 to 4 months ahead gives you ample time to strategise, get feedback, make revisions and ensure the video aligns perfectly with your brand message.

But rather than starting with the filming date, start with the date you actually need the content.

If you want a Christmas campaign running from the beginning of December, you don't want to receive the finished video on 30 November. Ideally, you'll want it ready beforehand so your marketing team has time to schedule social media, prepare email campaigns, update your website or set up paid advertising.

And if Black Friday is part of your campaign, your deadline moves even earlier. Work backwards through delivery, feedback, editing, filming and pre-production, and suddenly starting the conversation in September or October doesn't seem quite so early.

Decide What You Actually Want to Say

Festive marketing doesn't have to mean putting a Christmas tree in the background and adding some jingle bells... Perhaps you want to thank your customers for their support during the year. Maybe you have a Christmas offer or product range to promote. You might want to share something light-hearted from your team, tell a customer story or create useful content that happens to have a festive feel.

Christmas is naturally a more emotional time of year, so it's also an opportunity to show some of the personality behind your business. Not every festive video needs to be a hard sell. Sometimes a genuine thank-you, a glimpse behind the scenes or a message from your team can do far more for the relationship you have with your audience.

Having that conversation early gives you time to come up with something that feels right for your brand rather than creating festive content simply because December is approaching.

Think About Everything You Want to Capture

One filming day can potentially give you much more than one Christmas video:

Could you capture your main festive campaign alongside some short social clips?
Do you need vertical Reels as well as a horizontal website video?
Could you record a New Year message while everyone and all the equipment are already there?

Some of the footage you capture may be useful long after the decorations have come down, like an interview, testimonial, product demonstration or behind-the-scenes footage can be edited into evergreen content as well as being incorporated into your festive campaign.

Thinking about the full content opportunity before filming means you can get far more value from the day.

It also gives your production team the opportunity to plan for different formats properly. A horizontal video can't always simply be cropped into a vertical Reel afterwards, so knowing where your content will be used before filming can make a considerable difference to the final result.

Stakeholder Synchronisation

Every company has different decision-makers or stakeholders who’d like their input considered. While we always remain flexible, offering discovery calls and filming dates that cater to your convenience, aligning multiple schedules can be challenging. Starting early gives everyone more choice and means you're less likely to end up choosing a filming date simply because it's the only one left.

Editing Takes Time

Great video content is as much about filming as it is about editing. We usually allocate three weeks for this phase. This includes everything from cutting, sequencing, sound design, to adding special effects.

There's also the feedback process to consider. Once you receive your first draft, everyone who needs to approve the video needs enough time to review it and provide their comments. This can take longer when several stakeholders are involved, so allowing a realistic feedback window prevents decisions being rushed simply because the campaign deadline is approaching. And if your filming day is producing several pieces of content rather than one video, that needs to be factored into the editing schedule too.

Ideal Filming Date

While we work diligently to offer dates that suit your team, it's essential to consider the availability of our team, too. This way you’re more likely to secure a date that’s convenient for all parties involved, ensuring a smooth shoot without hasty decisions.

Buffer Time: Expect the Unexpected

Unexpected challenges can crop up. Maybe a scene needs to be re-shot, or perhaps there's a delay in receiving approval from a department. Someone might become unavailable. The weather might not cooperate. A location could change or a product might not arrive in time.

Building some breathing room into the schedule means a small delay doesn't suddenly put the entire campaign at risk. More importantly, it makes the whole process considerably less stressful. Nobody wants to be approving Christmas content at 10pm because it needs to go live the following morning...

Promotion and Distribution

Once your video is ready, it’s not just about releasing it. Planning its promotion, be it on social media, through email campaigns or on your website, requires time. Think about this before filming too because you may need different edits or aspect ratios for different platforms, or shorter clips that lead people towards the main campaign.

You can also release content gradually rather than publishing everything at once, helping your festive campaign build momentum over a longer period. And once the campaign is running, pay attention to what performs.

Which videos are people actually watching?
What gets shared?
What generates clicks or enquiries?

These insights can help shape not only the rest of your festive campaign, but the content you create next year too.

Festive seasons are replete with potential, and video content can significantly boost your business during these times. But the key lies in timely planning. By setting the wheels in motion months in advance, you not only ensure premium quality but also that your content reaches and resonates with your target audience

So, When Should You Start?

For a Christmas campaign, we'd generally recommend starting the conversation in September or October. For larger campaigns—or if Black Friday is part of the plan—earlier is even better.

That doesn't mean it's impossible to create something later in the year. Sometimes diaries align and a project can move very quickly. But the more time we have to plan, the more options you'll have and the less likely you'll be making compromises simply because Christmas is suddenly three weeks away.

Festive seasons are full of potential, and video content can significantly boost your business during these times. But the key lies in timely planning. By setting the wheels in motion months in advance, you not only ensure premium quality but also that your content reaches and resonates with your target audience.

So if you're reading this thinking, "It's far too early to talk about Christmas..." it probably isn't. If festive video content is on your marketing plan this year, now is the best time to start!