End of Year Design Task to Start Now
Fall is a busy time for all of us. Businesses start planning for how to boost revenue for the fourth quarter, how to maximize their marketing budget, and set themselves up for the new year.
If summer is a slow time for you, get a head start on those end of year design tasks that sneak up on even the most organized teams. Here’s a shortlist of what you can start thinking about now.
1. Supporting graphics for end of year fundraising campaigns
It’s kick off time for end of year holiday giving for non-profits and that means thinking about what you need to design for #GivingTuesday and year-end-appeal campaigns.
Giving Tuesday, non-profits’ answer to Black Friday, is held each year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (mark November 27th on your calendars for this year, folks.) The #GivingTuesday movement makes it easy to get involved. Participating organizations are supplied with plug-and-play materials to ensure their social media and marketing techniques are consistent, attractive and – more importantly – effective, resulting in support for your cause. But that doesn’t mean you should wait to the last minute to gather collateral and tailor them to your brand. This might include designing new cover photos for your social accounts or creating social graphics for weekly posts that promote the day and engage your audience. Visit the #GivingTuesday website to check out the tools. (Pro tip: play off your year end appeal but don’t cannibalize it. While we want synergy between our campaigns, we don’t want to share all of our good stories at once. Use this to lead into year end appeals and other campaigns.)
Year-end appeals also require a lot of supporting graphics as there are many strategic pieces. For example, a printed campaign will likely need a letter, an enclosing envelope, and a donation envelope or slip. It’s also powerful to design some sort of leave-behind so that recipients can have a visual reminder of their contribution. Creating something unique that ties into your brand will leverage your past engagements with donors.
The end of the year poses great opportunity for tapping into supporters’ generosity so be sure your communications stand out and are visually pleasing. Be sure to check out our complete guides on #GivingTuesday and year-end appeals, below.
2. Design materials for end of year holiday messaging
The end of the year isn’t just for non-profit organizations. Many brands finish the year strong with marketing initiatives and design projects geared for the year end and holidays. Which holidays, if any, does your team and audience celebrate? If appropriate, create a campaign or graphic joining in on the celebrations.
Consumers like to spend during November and December so will you be offering any sales this holiday season? Will email marketing come into play? It should! Start designing a special holiday template to use and get ready to push send. Increase sales and incentivize your subscribers with coupons, introduce new products, run a Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, or New Year sale. Such campaigns will likely require email, social, and web graphics so get to brainstorming.
2b. Internal holiday items
Do you send your clients, users, or customers a holiday card of any sort? If you like to print and mail one, add designing it to your list! The sun might be shining but cold December comes up quickly. Maybe you prefer to send a personalized e-blast. There’s no harm in designing graphics and getting a draft email ready. And you can also start making any graphics you want to share on social. Maybe you’ll dip your toes into video marketing this year and create a fun holiday video for your audience.
3. Year in review reports
As you gear up to reflect on what worked and didn’t work in your business over the past year, you’re likely preparing some sort of report. Although there are a few months left to gather data, you might as well set up the report template now! Your board of directors or internal stakeholders want to see a well-designed and informative report on the year’s happenings. Both for-profit and non-profit organizations produce annual reports. An annual report is a comprehensive report on an organization’s activities from the preceding year that also discusses the view for the year ahead.
But how do you start the process? What actually goes into an engaging annual report? Read this recent blog for a few best practices and tips. Or download our handy checklist below.
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The end of year is fast approaching, and for most businesses it’s a busy season. So get ahead and start planning right now for any supporting materials in celebration of various holidays and for any reports that you will have to create. There’s no reason to wait for falling leaves and cooler weather! If you need help making the most of your year-end activities, let us know.
