How to Create a Holiday Gift Guide for Your Design Firm

Have you ever created a “holiday gift guide” blog post? Or seen other interior designers do it and wondered what the hype was all about?

Well, here’s the thing… at a glance, a holiday gift guide can come off as a trendy, seasonal, or fluffy topic. But you know me — when it comes to blogging for your business, I am not a fan of fluff. If the topic is not going to help you attract and connect with your dream clients, I think it’s a waste of time and energy. So why am I suggesting a post like this?

Because, done right, a holiday gift guide CAN speak to your dream clients and create a connection with you. In fact, it offers more than a few benefits to your dream clients and to your business…

Keep reading, and I’ll be sharing 7 reasons a holiday gift guide falls into the categories of strategic, intriguing and relational blog content. Plus, how to do it right.

1. A Holiday Gift Guide Lets You Speak Directly to Your Dream Client’s Interests

When creating your holiday gift guide, you could just pick a few of your favorite things, OR you could think about what your dream clients really love. Better yet, create gift categories based on their interests and lifestyle.

For example, maybe you have clients who love to travel, try new restaurants, go sailing, visit museums, or get their hands on all the latest gadgets. Maybe your clients are fellow design lovers, CEOs or executives, busy parents, or avid wine collectors.

When you know what your clients love and how they like to live, you can select gifts specific to these things. This helps your dream client identify themselves, feel understood, and get value out of your selections.

Note: I wouldn’t recommend more than 3-4 gifts for each group. If your post is too long, not only will it be a headache for you to format (I know from experience), but it might look like a product dump instead of a carefully curated selection.

2. You Can Connect with Your Dream Clients Over Shared Interests & Style

I’m willing to bet that you share at least 1 or 2 of your dream clients’ interests (like your style)… which makes these categories prime opportunities to tell personal stories with your product selections.

For example, do you love to read? Share books that surprised, delighted or inspired you — and share why. Do you walk by your local chocolatier every day on the way to your studio? Write a sentence or two about how the aroma stops you in your tracks, or how you like to treat yourself on Fridays. Do you know that your clients love the same classic or modern style that you’re so good at? Offer up finds that you genuinely love and share why you love them.

When you share short, personal stories about each gift, your readers will feel an extra special connection to you… and to the gift if they buy it!

3. You Can Promote Your Online Shop or Affiliate Links in Your Holiday Gift Guide

Here’s another step that is optional but favored by many in our industry: affiliate links. Here’s how they work…

You can sign up for an account with a vendor who is offering affiliate sales. You generate an affiliate link for a product. Someone clicks your link and makes a purchase. You get a small portion of the product sale.

By far the easiest way to take advantage of affiliate links is through Amazon. You can sign up for Amazon’s affiliate program here. Just be sure to tell your readers that you make a tiny profit from any sales — so it doesn’t feel sneaky.

To support and recommend local businesses, you could consider reaching out and asking if they’d be open to offering your clients and followers a discount or affiliate code.

Pro Tip: Set the link to open in a NEW TAB, so that potential clients aren’t accidentally being directed off of your website.

4. You Have the Opportunity to Use Location Keywords for SEO

Speaking of local businesses, I am a BIG proponent of supporting the other hard-working business owners in your area. Not only is it a kind thing to do, but talking about your area or region in blog posts is also great for SEO. So include their location in the post!

Pro Tip: When you recommend their product or service, link to your fellow business owners’ websites so your readers can easily find it. This provides a good experience for them, and again, is good for SEO. And again, be sure to set the link to open in a NEW TAB, so that potential clients aren’t leaving your site before they want to.

5. You Can Include Your Services within the Holiday Gift Guide

It is not overly self-promotional to include your services within your holiday gift guide. Invite your reader to spoil themselves with a design consultation that will help them transform their home in the new year. Suggest that your reader to forward the gift guide to their spouse to give him/her some great ideas, and add a wink. 😉

You could even create an online gift option and integrate a purchase feature into your site. Gift Up! is one. I have not used it myself, but it looks straightforward and integrates with WordPress and Squarespace, which is a big plus.

As an alternative, you could simply invite your readers to reach out via your contact form to purchase a virtual gift card personalized to the recipient (and make something classy in Canva!).

And there you have it — 5 reasons a holiday gift guide can be the perfect blog post topic for combining strategy, connection, and the excitement of the season!

If you’re looking for more great blog post topic ideas (for any month of the year), you can download our Content Strategy Workbook below. It will take you through our 5-step process for ideating topics that are unique to your business goals and your dream clients.

OR, if you’re looking for a professional Blog Content Strategy for 2021, get on our calendar!

Xoxo,
Jaquilyn