How to Structure a Holiday Message Worth Sharing: A guide for Small Businesses

Every year, brands enter the holiday chat via an email and social campaign that either makes us smile with their cleverness or feels, well… obligatory at best.

Starbucks rolls out its annual Red Cup Day. UPS spotlights community impact with #WishesDelivered. And then there’s the businesses posting a “Happy Holidays from our team!” graphic that blends into the scroll and reinforces nothing about who they are.

You don’t want to be that business and we don’t want you to either. So how do you know if your business should publish a holiday message?

Like most things in marketing, it depends.

Let me walk you through answering that and how to do it well if the answer is “YES!”

Why So Many Holiday Messages Fail

If you have a placeholder on your content calendar for something like…

“Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season! ❄️”
[Imagine a stock graphic of pine branches and a bow]

…go ahead and remove it.

Audiences everywhere are consuming more content than ever, and they can sniff out a copy-and-paste sentiment instantly.

Generic greetings, even if they include a picture of your team, fail to:

1. Create connection
2. Reinforce brand values
3. Communicate anything meaningful about who you are or what your audience can trust you for

Instead, they just add to the noise.

Rule of thumb: If the message could come from any business, it does not need to come from yours. Save that open/click/like/comment for when it’s truly valuable to both the reader AND your business.

Questions to Ask Before Sending A Holiday Greeting

Before you get too wrapped up (🎁sorry 🙈) in whether to post holiday greetings, ask yourself a few grounding questions:

1. Does your brand voice naturally lean warm and human, or direct and no-nonsense? A heartfelt message from a brand that has never been warm can feel like whiplash.

2. Do holidays intersect with your customer journey? Some industries naturally touch planning, reflection, wellness, or year-end milestones.

3. Would your audience expect or appreciate a seasonal touchpoint? Expectations vary widely across B2B, B2C, nonprofit, and creative brands.

4. Does the season relate to your core services? Think: goal-setting, renewal, closure, celebration, evaluation.

If you can answer yes to most of these, a thoughtful message may be a brand-builder.

If instead:

➞ You’re only doing it because “we posted last year”
➞ Your brand voice isn’t naturally sentimental
➞ You cannot come up with a custom, meaningful message that ties to your values or business goals
➞ A holiday message would add stress to your (already maxed-out) capacity
➞ Your audience tends to be burned out on marketing messages in December

This is one season where silence is better than a forced, off-brand message.

Making Your Holiday Message Meaningful (And On-Brand)

If you determine a holiday message does make sense, crafting a good one is easier than you think. It just needs to do more than say “Happy Holidays.”

Here’s your quick checklist. A meaningful holiday message needs to do at least one of these:

✔ Reinforce your brand values
✔ Celebrate your customers or community
✔ Reflect on shared wins or growth from the year
✔ Offer clarity or guidance for what’s ahead
✔ Provide a resource, story, or spark of inspiration
✔ Warm your audience toward the new year in a way that feels aligned & human

If it does none of the above? It’s optional, not required.

So, what does this look like in practice? Examples:

➞ A creative brand might share a reflection + a spark of inspiration for the year ahead.
➞ A strategic brand might offer a small planning prompt or a year-end checklist.
➞ A community-driven brand might highlight collective wins, partnerships, or impact. (Example)
➞ A no-nonsense B2B brand might simply post holiday closures + genuine gratitude.

The key is to stay rooted in who YOU already are.

The Middle Path: If You Don’t Want to Send a Message, But Also Don’t Want Silence

A full holiday social post or email isn’t the only option. You can still acknowledge the season without straying from your brand voice.

Try:

➞ Updating your out-of-office message with a bit of festive personality
➞ Adding seasonal language or emoji to email subject lines (sparingly + intentionally)
➞ Including soft references in captions or newsletters already planned
➞ Sharing a brief year-end thank you inside regular content rather than as a standalone post

Think of it as “season-adjacent” rather than a full holiday moment.

Intentionality Wins Over Obligation

Holiday communication needs to be a brand choice, not a checkbox “because others are doing it.”

Send seasonal greetings because it supports your brand’s relationship with your audience.

The most powerful holiday messages are the ones that feel human, specific, and true to your values rather than ones that simply acknowledge the calendar.