What Can You Blog About? Seasonal Topics

In this article we take a look at some key areas of inspiration to help trigger ideas for your next blog post – seasonal topics and how to use them in a more interesting way.

Some seasonal aspects are obvious – Holiday Season gifts … winter checks for your car … time to submit your tax return … etc. But there are more subtle uses for the seasons when it comes to choices for blog topics.

For starters, bear in mind that at these very obvious dates on your customers’ calendars all your competitors are going to be blogging about the same sort of things. To get seen and heard above the clamor, you need to say something fresh – something new about the same-old same-old.

Special offers do work quite well at these times of year – e.g. discount on purchases, free gift wrapping, discount on anti-freeze/winter tires, free half-hour tax consultation, etc. – but these obviously aren’t appropriate for all businesses.

How about more subtle connections?

Instead of – or in addition to – the more usual seasonal topics and offers you can put together for your business blog, you can also use special dates around the calendar in a more metaphorical way … still topical, but not so closely related. For example… (please note I have mentioned just few religion-based holidays and occasions but as you well know there are hundreds more!)

Fall/autumn – back to school, harvest, falling leaves, shorter days, Halloween, Bonfire Night (UK), Islamic New Year, Thanksgiving, Diwali, St Andrews Day (Scottish)

Winter – cold but cosy, snow and ice, skiing, skating, ice hockey, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year, Burns’ Night (Scottish), Valentine’s Day

Spring – new birth, growing plants, St David’s Day (Welsh), St Patrick’s Day (Irish), Easter, St George’s Day (English), the Oscars,

Summer – wedding season, summer holidays, schools closed, vacations, outdoor eating, camping, swimming, keeping cool, Ramadan, Rosh Hashanah

Year round – sports occasions e.g. major events in tennis, golf, football, soccer, car racing, ice hockey, political conventions, elections**, local events and occasions, etc.

And how do these work?

The link between what you want to blog about and the occasion or date can be pretty tenuous – after all, the idea is to catch your readers’/customers’ eye with the topical issue as a hook.

If you want to share some short case histories, you might schedule a post for March 17^th headlined “St Patrick’s Day special: how (YOUR PRODUCT) is helping farmers fight weeds in Ireland”

At the time of one of the major tennis tournaments, you could write “Advantage (YOUR COMPANY: (YOUR SERVICE) at match point to take over lead in (YOUR MARKET)”

In January, “Icy winter winds blow suppliers’ costs down – so we can offer you lower prices on (YOUR PRODUCT)”

In winter, if you have a car-related business … “Snow and ice are pretty, but deadly – here’s how to stop your car skating off the road in a skid”

At the time of the Indy 500 or F1 Grand Prix in your country … “Is your business on pole position to win your business race next year?”

**Before the days of blogging, when I was specializing in scriptwriting for corporate video etc., I did a hugely successful direct mail campaign to all my clients and prospects at the time of a General Election in the UK. I sent them each a brightly colored fabric “election” style rosette with “Vote For Suze’s Scripts” and my phone number printed at its center. Not only did I get a flood of new business in but also more than a year later I would still see those rosettes in pride of place on clients’ pinboards. So the seasonal/topical metaphor really does work!

And for more ideas on what to write about on your blog, give me a shout on [email protected].

While you’re here, don’t forget to stop by my Bookshop…books and eBooks to help you write better – and to give to friends and family…

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via photopin cc

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• What Can You Blog About? Health and Safety