Twixmas Tactics: Marketing When the Country Half-Switches Off

Most UK small firms treat the days between Christmas and New Year like a locked room. The office is half-empty, the inbox is a wasteland, and everyone assumes nobody is paying attention. So the shutters come down, the social posts stop, and marketing gets filed under “January”.

That is a missed opportunity, but not in the way the growth hackers would have you believe. You do not need a Boxing Day bonanza or a Twixmas flash sale. What you need is a handful of low-effort moves that make your business easier to find, easier to trust and easier to buy from when normal life resumes.

Call it the dead zone if you like. I prefer to think of it as the week when the noise drops and the basics finally get a look-in.

Why the lull is not a lost cause

Attention between Christmas and New Year is odd. It is not absent; it is scattered. People are half-checking their phones while pretending to watch a film, Googling “is [local shop] open today?”, and vaguely wondering whether they need to book anything for January. They are not in buying mode, but they are in noticing mode.

That makes it a poor week for a big launch and a very good week for maintenance. The sort of marketing that usually gets pushed to the bottom of the list because it does not feel urgent: tidying your Google Business Profile, writing one proper email, and quietly preparing something useful for January.

None of this requires a heroic effort. Most of it can be done in short bursts with a cup of tea nearby and one eye on the leftovers.

First job: make your Google Business Profile look loved

If a customer searches for your type of business over the holidays, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing they see. And if it still shows last year’s festive opening hours, a photo from 2022 and an unanswered question about parking, that is the impression they get.

Spend twenty minutes on the basics:

• Update your opening hours for the Christmas and New Year period, including any odd days when you are closed but normally open. If you are a service business without a shopfront, make sure your service area and contact details are correct.
• Add a seasonal photo or two. Not a stock image of baubles. A real photo of your team, your door, your van, your workspace, or your product in situ. It signals that a human is behind the listing.
• Answer any unanswered questions. Even a simple “Yes, we have step-free access” or “No, we are closed on 27 December” saves someone a phone call and makes you look switched on.
• Reply to recent reviews. A short, human response to the good ones and a calm, professional response to the less good ones goes a long way. It is the cheapest trust signal you have.

This is not glamorous marketing. It is the digital equivalent of sweeping the step and putting the lights on. That is exactly why it works.

One email, no pitch: the thank-you that earns its place

If you have an email list, send one short message between Christmas and New Year. Not a newsletter. Not a discount code. A genuine thank-you.

Keep it brief. Write it as yourself, not as “the team”. Mention one specific thing you are grateful for this year, whether that is repeat customers, a patient client, or people who recommended you. Then say what is coming in January in one line, if you have something worth mentioning, and leave it there.

A useful structure looks like this:

• A friendly opening that acknowledges the time of year without being cheesy.
• Two or three sentences of genuine thanks.
• One practical line: “We are back on 5 January and will have [brief, plain description of January offer or news].”
• A simple sign-off with your name and a way to reply.

Do not add three calls to action. Do not use a countdown timer. Do not pretend the email is urgent. The whole point is that it is not.

People remember the firm that sent a decent note when everyone else was shouting. It also keeps your domain out of the spam folder and your name in the back of someone’s mind.

Plant a January offer quietly

The dead zone is a terrible time to sell. It is a brilliant time to prepare to sell.

If you know you want to run a January offer, build the pieces now while it is quiet: a simple landing page, the email you will send on 2 or 3 January, the social posts you will schedule, and a clear answer to “what exactly is included?”. Keep the offer plain and useful. “Book a January MOT slot and we will include a free vehicle health check” beats “New Year, New You” every time.

You can mention the offer softly in your thank-you email, but you do not need to push it. The people who are interested will click. Everyone else will appreciate not being chased through the mince pies.

This also gives you a useful test. If you cannot explain the January offer in two sentences before New Year, it is probably too complicated. Simplify it now, while nobody is watching, rather than discovering the problem on 2 January when the phone starts ringing.

What not to do in the dead zone

A few things are best left alone. Do not panic-discount. Do not send a “last chance” email for something nobody was buying anyway. Do not post a festive meme just to keep the algorithm fed. And do not assume that because your competitors are quiet, you need to fill the silence with noise.

The businesses that look sharp in January are usually the ones that used the quiet week to tidy up, not the ones that tried to turn Twixmas into a sales event. Customers are not stupid. They know when a message is there to help and when it is there to hit a target.

A simple Twixmas timetable

If you want a gentle structure, try this:

• 27 December: Update your Google Business Profile hours, photos and reviews. Twenty minutes.
• 29 December: Write and schedule one thank-you email. Fifteen minutes.
• 30 December: Build or finalise the January offer page and the first email for the new year. One hour, max.
• 31 December: Close the laptop. You have done enough.

The dead zone does not need a campaign. It needs a bit of care, a clear head and the discipline to do the small things while the rest of the market is half-asleep. That is not a glamorous advantage, but it is a real one.