A year of misery? No, a year calendar!

And Easter is already over! Last Thursday I was sweating in an Easter bunny suit, and now I’m shivering outside my daughter’s school to pick her up.

Butttt, better weather is on its way, and with that better weather comes a number of holidays. Think of Labor Day, Pentecost, and Mother’s Day. It’s the start of a whole series of holidays we’re all going to have, without really being able to celebrate them properly on a terrace. Or maybe we can, but there’s certainly no clarity about it yet.

Despite that, it’s definitely a good time to make some preparations for all those upcoming holidays, so you can tailor your promotions and your takeaway or delivery range to them. Time for a year calendar!

I’d love to help you get started on creating such a year calendar, so here are a few practical tips:

Calendar tip 1:

Start by mapping out which holidays are coming up and whether you want to do something with them or not. Create a schedule with the dates and the holidays. Work on a weekly basis; that’s the most organized way.

Calendar tip 2:

Think about the promotions you want to run. Make it as concrete as possible. WHAT are you going to do, WHEN are you going to do it, and WHAT needs to be arranged for it? Make this especially specific for the coming month, where you’re almost certain that the COVID situation won’t change much yet. For the holidays after that, where there’s still uncertainty about opening doors or terraces, you can already put some rough ideas on paper based on possible scenarios.

Calendar tip 3:

Don’t make the promotion periods too long, but make sure to announce them to the public in time. Ensure you start these announcements a few weeks in advance and repeat them structurally so your message really reaches people. Communicating just once is useless.

Calendar tip 4:

Okay, really pay attention now, because this is where it often goes wrong: a promotion, whether linked to a holiday or not, must always result in EXTRA RESULTS. So: extra (repeat) orders, larger orders, or new guests.

If it doesn’t do this (“I’m just doing it because it’s fun”), then forget it—it’s a waste of your time. This means you should think in advance about what you want to achieve with your promotion. If you know what you want to achieve, how much you want to sell, what the margins are, and what needs to be done to reach this, you’re working much more from your objective instead of just “doing something fun.”

Calendar tip 5:

Finally: the best way to create a year calendar and its concrete content is through a free brainstorm, not from the current situation. Perhaps involve a good sparring partner or combine your brainstorm with an online get-together to make it a fun team “party.” You can also get some inspiration beforehand, for example from other businesses, retail (supermarkets), or by looking at what holiday promotions were organized in other years. An hour of free Googling often provides plenty of inspiration too.

I hope I’ve inspired you with these 5 tips! By the way, I’m also giving away 3 FREE year calendars, packed with suggestions, tips, and example texts. It’s a year calendar worth 115 euros and you can use it as a great basis for your own year calendar. Want one? Send an email to jaarkalender@suzannekuijpers.nl and who knows, you might be one of the lucky ones!

Happy holidays,

Best, Suus

“Hi! I’m Suus and I guide hospitality entrepreneurs – even now during the lockdown – to create more turnover by focusing on better (online) visibility and improving the ordering options.“