December is a busy month for food content creators and the last big push in Q4. There’s no shortage of email newsletter ideas for food bloggers and food content creators. People are looking for entertaining ideas, last minute tips and recipes, homemade gifts, ideas to keep kids busy and more!
There’s more than enough ideas to keep you busy with food inspired newsletter content for December. I think we could easily send out an email a day in December and still have lots of ideas left over.
But, if you’re struggling with ideas for your food newsletter or you’ve just got too many things on your mind to brainstorm content for your newsletter audience, I’ve got a wealth of suggestions for you.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2023
Hanukkah: evening of December 7 to the evening of December 15
Christmas Eve: December 24th
Christmas Day: December 25th
Boxing Day and/or St. Stephens Day: December 26th is a statutory holiday in many countries outside of the US. It’s a popular day for shopping, televised sports and hosting open houses and drop-in gatherings.
Kwanzaa: December 26-January 1st
New Year’s Eve: December 31st
New Year’s Day: January 1st
ENTERTAINING
open houses, cocktail parties, dessert tables and buffets, brunches (another great buffet opportunity), Christmas dinner, skating parties, holiday light viewing walks and rides, New Year’s eve…
think about appetizers, desserts, drinks, items that can be made ahead of time (breakfast bakes and casseroles are very popular this year!)
entertaining on a budget
entertaining for different sized groups – from 3-4 people to big groups
recipes for festive drinks that can be made in large batches for a crowd (alcoholic and non-alcoholic options)
GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN
recipes for spice mixes, hot cocoa mixes, soup mixes, cookie or pancake dry mixes (you can layer all of these in pretty glass jars)
cookie and bar swap or platter recipes
recipes for candied nuts, jams and jellies, chocolates and candies
tutorials on how to put together an attractive cookie or bar platter
templates to make your own gift tags or tutorials on how to decorate and wrap the jars of spice mix, hot cocoa etc.
KID FRIENDLY CONTENT
Lots of parents will have littles at home over the holidays and will be looking for things to keep them busy…
recipes kids can help with
cookie and bar decorating
homemade gifts from the kitchen kids can help with (assembling spice mixes, dry ingredients for soups or baking mixes, etc)
LEFTOVERS
recipes that use up leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables
create a “leftovers” charcuterie board or turn leftover appies into a fun dinner night.
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER EMAIL
Ok this one is a bit different but hear me out. You could send an email to your list that has nothing to do with food. Everyone is stressed this time of year for a wide range of reasons.
Send an email reminding them they’ve got this! Offer up…
some relaxation or meditation techniques (going for a walk, some easy stretching, a relaxing activity that uses their hands like knitting or colouring, using a meditation app)
ways to cut corners while still having a fabulous holiday
sure fire, easy recipes that are impossible to screw up
how to combat loneliness – not everyone has family around at Christmas
ideas for giving back
something that reminds them it’s ok… it doesn’t have to be perfect!
some funny memes can also go a long way!
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES
While you can’t post Amazon affiliate links in your emails, you can share a link to your Amazon affiliate shop (if you have one) or to blog posts that contain amazon affiliate links.
Other affiliate programs usually let you share their links in your emails so don’t just focus on Amazon.
Last minute gift ideas and stocking stuffers are great gift guides to share in December.
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Plan to start dripping out your New Year’s even content just after Christmas. I strongly recommend having this content prepped and scheduled in advance. The week between Christmas and New Year’s seems to exist in an alternate reality where we lose track of dates and time. If you’re anything like me, you probably spend a lot of it in your PJs!
You don’t want to feel pressure to do some work but there is a limited time to get New Year’s content out so prepping and scheduling is the way to go!
SEASONAL FOODS
The next few months are a bit rough when it comes to seasonal foods but here’s what to look for:
TAILOR YOUR DECEMBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
As always, these are ideas to help you brainstorm. Adapt them to fit your audience and your niche, which you know better than anyone else.
Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to this time last year. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience is mainly young singles, skip the kid content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your December newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
Want More Tips?
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
November brings us into the heart of Q4 and there is an wealth of email newsletter possibilities for food bloggers and food content creators as people are not only looking for Thanksgiving ideas but they’re also starting to prep for Christmas and other December holidays.
As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletter idea posts, a lot of food content creators up their email send frequency as we get into Q4 – especially if their audience is focused on baking or entertaining. It’s a great way to give your traffic an additional boost through the season where RPMs tend to be at their highest.
This month, don’t forget Black Friday/Cyber Monday!
If you have products – digital or physical – plan your promotions and the emails and social media content to go with them now! Get it done and scheduled to make your life easier.
SEASONAL HOLIDAYS & IMPORTANT DATES:
Diwali: November 12 (this is actually a 5 day festival) American Thanksgiving: November 23 Black Friday: November 24 Cyber Monday: November 27
AMERICAN THANKSGIVING:
Turkey: all things turkey – how to cook one, how to brine it, smoke it, air fry it, slow cook it, defrost it, stuff it, or cook it in the instant pot. Don’t forget leftovers for the week after Thanksgiving
Side Dishes: turkey’s great, but for many, it’s all about the side dishes. If you’re a niche blogger, dive in here with dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, keto-friendly etc
Dessert: all things pumpkin and a lot of pie!
Turkey Alternatives: turkey isn’t for everyone. Vegans, vegetarians and small families are looking for other options
Friendsgiving: If you’ve got Chandler Bings in your life, you know what I’m talking about!
Leftovers: anything that helps use up leftovers and avoid food waste
Entertaining & Decor Ideas: y’all… pumpkin centerpieces are so flipping popular this year! Centrepieces, tableware and decor, cocktail presentation, appetizers, DIY tutorials etc
If you’re not American, you can start moving into Christmas and/or Hanukkah content. A lot content this time of year can double for Thanksgiving and the holidays: appetizers, sides, cocktails, baking etc.
SPORTS:
Thanksgiving is a big football holiday. Pull out your game day recipes: snacks, dips, wings, finger foods, chili – all the favourites!
**Don’t forget to add in vegetarian and vegan options as well as some alcohol-free beverages – all of these are continuing to grow in popularity and it’s rare to host a gathering these days that doesn’t include meat and alcohol-free guests!
COOKIES, BARS, CANDY AND FOOD GIFTS
There are things that everyone starts planning for early and they include:
their annual cookie platters
cookie swaps (bars are often included in these)
homemade gifts from the kitchen: candy, jarred baking and beverage mixes, jams, jellies and more
holiday baking: fruit cakes, bars, pies and other seasonal items that can be baked ahead of time
Start dripping out recipe content for these in November. I’d start the first week!
You can also do related email content:
how to host or plan a cookie swap
how to create a cookie platter to gift
how to create your own labels for jams and jellies or boxed candies
how to package food for gifting (or shipping!)
baking pantry checklists
HOLIDAY ENTERTAINING
People start planning early! They are pinning content so make sure to include some easy “pin now” button in your emails for recipes they might like to save for later.
party prep
party ideas
decor
appetizers
cocktails
open houses and buffets
Think of ways you can put a spin on these for your audience:
TAILOR YOUR NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
As always, these are ideas to help you brainstorm. Adapt them to fit your audience and your niche, which you know better than anyone else.
Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to this time last year. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience doesn’t care about sports, skip the sports content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your November newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
This quick tip works equally well for email newsletters and product pages or product marketing launch pages. We’re talking about buttons – with a strong call to action.
I’m always looking for quick, easy ways to improve click throughs in emails or on product pages. Because sometimes, the simplest tweaks can result in the biggest rewards. And it’s always fascinating to me how the smallest change can completely alter a person’s behaviour!
So today, let’s talk about buttons. Particularly buttons with a strong call to action!
WHY YOU NEED TO USE BUTTONS IN YOUR EMAIL MARKETING
Most people who read your emails or scroll your product listings are probably doing so on their phones . ***
Clicking on text links on our phone is always a little more challenging than clicking while on a desktop or laptop – or even a tablet.
Big thumbs, small screens.
This is especially true when the links are short, one or two word text links.
If you’re not already, start using buttons in your emails and on web pages where you have an important call to action you want the reader to take.
They’re big, they’re bold, they stand out and, they’re easy to click when you’re holding a phone.
And unlike 5 or 10 years ago where including a button meant doing some coding, now they’re as simple as drag and drop so there’s no reason not to.
BONUS TIP: USE STRONG CALL TO ACTION LANGUAGE.
When you use a button, it’s important to use strong call to action (CTA) language that makes it clear what clicking the button will do.
Strong CTAs you might want to use include:
BUY IT NOW
GET YOUR EBOOK NOW
READ THE BLOG POST
GET THE RECIPE
SUBSCRIBE NOW
You can also use an arrow icon on the button to make it even clearer that something is going to happen when they click that rectangle.
Not that long ago I started transitioning clients from using the name of the recipe on a button to using a strong CTA.
So this…
Changed to this:
Every single one of them saw an uptick on click throughs by changing the CTA on the buttons. It was amazing what such a small change could do.
If you’re not already, try using buttons in your emails and on your website when you need the reader to take action.
If you are using buttons, make sure you’re using simple, strong language that directs the reader to take action.
Track your results and see the difference!
*** Not all email lists are the same. Don’t assume your readers are mostly mobile users even if that is the industry norm. Always check your data to see what your list is doing and tailor your emails accordingly!
Want more quick tips to help you with your email and digital product marketing? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
October is just the start of the busy holiday season. Work ahead with these October email newsletter ideas for food bloggers and food content creators.
October is when things really start to get busy for food bloggers and content creators and you will have no shortage of content ideas.
A lot of food content creators up their send email send frequency as we get into Q4 – especially if their audience is focused on baking or entertaining. This isn’t necessary – especially if you’re already emailing multiple times a week – but it is a great way to give your traffic an additional boost through the season where RPMs tend to be at their highest.
But, you’ll definitely want to plan for this. As we’ve talked about before, repurpose your older content in your emails – the more of it you have, the less work you’ll have to do! Work as far ahead as you’re able to – it will be less work in December!
SEASONAL HOLIDAYS
Canadian Thanksgiving: October 9th (2023) Halloween: October 31st
Canadian Thanksgiving is a huge food holiday so even if you’re an American content creator, it’s worth making mention of it – perhaps you could put together a mini guide of links to your most popular Thanksgiving content and pop it in one of your emails.
Halloween – more down below (it deserves it’s own section!)
Diwali runs from November 10-15th (2023) and late October is a great time to start trickling out content if this is a good fit for you.
If you have digital products (ebooks, shopping lists, menu planners etc,) around preparing for any of the remaining holidays in the year – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, or New Years now is the time to be actively promoting them to your list every week for the remainder of the year.
HALLOWEEN
Halloween content is becoming almost as big as Christmas and people are looking for a lot of fun ideas and activities. This is a great time to flex your creative muscles with spooky content:
Pumpkin: It’s all things pumpkin from now until… well… the end of the year really! Don’t just focus on sweets. Remember savory applications, beverages and using up all the remains of the pumpkin to avoid waste and jack’o’lantern ideas
Party foods: the spookier, creepier and more fun, the better: Halloween charcuterie boards, anything with eyeballs in it (pasta, punch, brownies), ghoulish cocktails – let your imagination go to town!
Halloween with kids: this is a great time to get kids in the kitchen and people are looking for tutorials and easy, fun recipes kids will want to help with.
School treats: cupcakes, bars, cookies, alternatives to sweets, nut-free
Entertaining menus: horror movie night, pre-trick or treating fuel, trick or treating after parties, fireworks block parties, adults only costume parties, party goody bags, budget friendly ideas
Cakes: more and more Halloween cakes are showing up as showstoppers for a party
Leftover candy recipes… so much candy… 🤣
SPORTS
It’s tailgate season! Sports are in overdrive in the fall: hockey, college football, NFL, CFL, World Series baseball… that all adds up to a lot of game day weekends!
Pull out your game day recipes: snacks, dips, wings, finger foods, chili – all the favourites!
Canadians, don’t forget Grey Cup is in November – I know from my own food blogging days that a lot of people search specifically for Grey Cup recipe ideas and it’s an underserved niche.
**Don’t forget to add in vegetarian and vegan options as well as some alcohol-free beverages – all of these are continuing to grow in popularity and it’s rare to host a gathering these days that doesn’t include meat and alochol-free guests!
PIE SEASON
Some may not agree but I think pie season is the best season!
Apple, pear, pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, mince… and don’t forget the savoury ones! There’s also tarts, galettes, lattice tops… can you tell I love pie?
With pie comes pastry so pull out your pastry tutorials and videos and includes those in your emails too.
COMFORT FOOD
It’s full on comfort food season and comfort food email content always does well, regardless of your food niche.
casseroles
soups
hearty pasta dishes
roast dinners
breads, buns and biscuits
potato dishes
anything with melted, bubbly cheese
Think of ways you can put a spin on these for your audience:
budget-friendly
diet specific: gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, etc
meal planning and prepping, batch cooking
meat-free
easy, weeknight friendly, under 30 minutes, etc.
SEASONAL PRODUCE
Almost all the typical North American summer produce is finished by October and we’re heading into the season of root vegetables, squash, hardy greens and alliums (onions, garlic, leeks etc)
apples, crab apples, quince
pears
cranberries
pomegranates
carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets
winter squash, pumpkins
potatoes and sweet potatoes
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower
leeks, onions, fresh garlic
kale, Swiss chard, cabbage
TAILOR YOUR OCTOBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
How you proceed with your emails for October will depend on your audience. You know them better than anyone else. Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to last fall. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience doesn’t care about sports, skip the sports content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your October newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
Want More Tips?
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
