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It’s Christmas – you must read our blog! (or: are seasonal hooks so last season?)

Sick of reading Christmas-themed content? Well get ready for a barrage of New Year emails, followed by Valentine’s Day messages, with Easter promotions hot on their heels. Then of course, there will be the “get ready for summer” emails, closely followed by the “back to school” content and Halloween, before we’re right back round to Christmas again.

The latest theme that’s been done to death is the credit crunch. Emails and promotional content linked to credit crunch diets, credit crunch sales, credit crunch cooking, credit crunch parties … it’s all getting a little tired.

With the average person receiving dozens of promotional emails a week, choosing a theme which goes against the grain – or at least shows a little originality – could be better for grabbing attention and standing out in a crowded inbox.

So how do you find innovative ideas to give your promotional hooks a compelling twist? We’ve come up with some places you can look for inspiration to give your emails or topical web content a new twist.

Of course, these aren’t the ideas so much as ideas about where to find ideas. You know your own market and customers, and it’s down to your ingenuity and planning to make these work for you. And any idea has to work with the medium: however clever your idea, you still need instantly understandable titles, headings, subject lines and all the rest.

1. Subscribe to European and US magazines
This will give you ideas for a different take on common issues and themes.

2. Check out the “most read” and “most emailed”
Visit the BBC, the Daily Mail and other news sites to find out which stories have been capturing people’s attention.

3. Keep your ears open on the bus, in the pub and at the water cooler
What are the real hot topics of the moment? A reference to the fact that everyone seems to have the lurgie at the moment is more original than “get ready for Christmas”.

4. Celebrate the birthday of a famous person
Why not stand out from the usual Halloween emails by saying Happy Birthday to Picasso (October 25th) instead?

5. Tune into special days and awareness campaigns
A common PR to raise awareness for a product or issue when there’ no obvious reason to is to create a special day or week. Calendars of awareness campaigns are easily available online and with a little imagination it’s easy to tie in your promotions. For instance, Farmhouse Breakfast Week could be a great way to promote UK bed and breakfast breaks. Work Your Proper Hours Day might lead nicely into an offer on cinema ticket or two-for-one meals. National Day of the Cowboy is an obvious trigger to discuss cheap flights to the US…

6. Put a twist on well-known hooks
If you’re keen to highlight special offers on winter sun breaks, why not teach your customers “Happy New Year” and a few other useful phrases in the destination language? Why not write your copy in rhyming couplets on National Poetry Day or send a satisfaction survey out during National Customer Service Week?

7. Visit Digg and StumbleUpon
Check out Digg and StumbeUpon’s news pages for alternative popular stories.

8. Use quotes and proverbs
Chosen well, an entertaining or thoughtful quotation from a film or a centuries-old Chinese philosopher can be a great way to introduce a topic.

9. Spot trends in advance
Subscribe to the blogs of social commentators, celebrities with strong views and consumer champions like Martin Lewis. These people have their finger on the pulse, and if they’re talking about something… soon everyone will be.

10. Go counter-seasonal
Go against the trend and cover less obvious such as Chinese New Year or Hanukkah. Or why not highlight offers on gym membership in May? According to research, May is the time of year that people are more likely to stick to new resolutions. (Which may or may not be true, but it’s a great hook…)

Got any more ideas for generating ideas with a twist?

Posted by Claire Bussey to marketing, writing for email