AI Summary:

The Australian holiday season demands an organised marketing strategy, clear team communication, and pre-planned campaigns, especially for purpose-led businesses with VAs or marketing doers. This guide covers everything from Christmas and Boxing Day campaigns to client communication, updating operating hours, managing offshore VAs, and using quiet periods for systemisation, automations, and 2026 planning. Includes ideas for e-commerce and service-based businesses.

👉 Choose a time to chat or take the Marketing Gap Quiz to find your marketing gaps before the new year.

 

Featured Snippet Answer (Google-Optimised)

What is the best holiday marketing strategy for Australian businesses?
The best holiday marketing strategy includes planning Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year campaigns early, updating operating hours, communicating holiday closures, managing team leave (including offshore VAs), scheduling holiday content, and using quiet January periods to clean up systems, automations, and marketing assets while planning for 2026.

 

The Australian Summer Holiday Shift

In Australia, December isn’t just Christmas.
It’s teachers’ gifts, beach trips, international travel, school holidays, camping, cricket on the lawn, Boxing Day sales, New Year goals, and Australia Day long weekend barbecues.

Life speeds up and slows down at the same time.

For purpose-led business owners,  especially those with marketing doers or VAs,  the holiday season can expose cracks in systems, communication gaps, and the “everything relies on me” problem.

But here’s the good news:

With the right structure, your marketing can run beautifully even while half the country is on holiday mode.

This guide blends strategy, leadership, operations, and practical marketing, the exact combination your business needs to finish strong and start 2026 confidently.

Let’s make your marketing meaningful, profitable, and easy to manage through the holidays.

 

1. Understand Holiday Time (Australia-Specific)

Your marketing must align with key Australian dates and behaviours, not generic global recommendations.

Key Dates to Plan Around:

• End-of-School-Year Celebrations (late Nov–mid Dec)
• Christmas Eve — 24 Dec
• Christmas Day — 25 Dec (Public Holiday)
• Boxing Day — 26 Dec (Public Holiday + Sales Surge)
• New Year’s Eve — 31 Dec
• New Year’s Day — 1 Jan (Public Holiday)
• School Holidays — mid-Dec to late Jan
• Australia Day — 26 Jan (Public Holiday)

 

These dates shape buying behaviour, traffic patterns, demand, team availability, and the attention span of your audience.

 

2. Lead Your Team Through the Holidays

This is where meaningful marketing becomes meaningful leadership.

Most stress in December comes from unclear expectations, not workload.

 

Map Your Team’s Holiday Availability

Especially if you have offshore VAs (e.g., Philippines), note:

• They have Christmas, New Year, and additional holidays like Rizal Day.
• Some take extended family leave.
• Time zones change communication windows.

 

Create a shared holiday operations calendar that includes:
✔ Who is online and on what dates
✔ Who is away (and how long)
✔ Priority tasks during leave periods
✔ Who covers critical tasks
✔ Check-in expectations or meetings

 

Tools: Slack (statuses), Google Calendar, OBMHub tasks, Trello.

 

Holiday Handover

This prevents balls being dropped when you or your team step away.

Include:

• Scheduled campaigns
• Key automation dates
• Priority tasks
• Login & access list
• SOP folder
• Emergency contact instructions
• Where content lives
• Who covers what

 

This is how you stop micromanaging and start leading.

 

Use January Quiet Time to Your Advantage

January is gold.
Fewer meetings.
Fewer clients in crisis.
More space for meaningful work.

Best tasks for your marketing doer in January:

• Clean up Google Drive folders
• Update SOPs
• Refresh templates and brand kits
• Rebuild or optimise funnels
• Audit automations
• Clean up CRM tags + lists
• Rebrand or refresh website pages
• Migrate systems to all in one marketing platform OBMHub
• Analyse 2025 data
• Batch create 60–90 days of content
• Complete training on necessary topics
• Plan 2026 campaigns

 

This is the work that sets you apart from businesses who “restart in February.”

 

3. Holiday Marketing Strategy for Australian Businesses

This hybrid strategy gives you structure, heart, and results, which is exactly how meaningful marketing works.

 

For E-Commerce Brands

1. Christmas Campaigns That Convert

Australians buy:
🎁 Teacher gifts
🎁 Stocking fillers
🎁 Secret Santa items
🎁 Kids’ packs

🎁 Ski Clothing
🎁 Wellness + self-care products

Ideas:

• Gift bundles
• Free express shipping windows
• VIP “12 Days of Christmas” deals
• Last-minute digital gift vouchers

 

2. Boxing Day Sales (Your Highest Revenue Opportunity)

Boxing Day is the Australian Super Bowl of retail.

Top-performing strategies:

• VIP early access (email + SMS)
• Limited-time flash sales
• Tiered discounts
• “Buy more, save more” models
• Gift card bonuses
• Retargeting
• Abandoned cart campaigns

 

3. New Year “Fresh Start” Offers

Great for:
✨ Fitness
✨ Wellness
✨ Decluttering
✨ Organisation
✨ Home refresh
✨ Productivity tools

 

Position your offer around new beginnings and aligned goals.

 

4. Australia Day Summer Campaigns

Think:
☀️ Summer essentials
☀️ Picnic bundles
☀️ Outdoor experiences
☀️ Camping & travel kits
☀️ Limited edition “Aussie Summer” collections

 

Lean into the summer lifestyle.

 

For Service-Based Businesses

1. Holiday Communication Emails

Clients appreciate clarity.

Send an email outlining:

• Your holiday hours
• Important deadlines
• Emergency contact (optional)
• When support resumes
• Final availability for December

 

2. January “Reset & Rebuild” Packages

High-converting offers include:

• Website audits
• Strategy sessions
• Funnel audits
• Marketing implementation plans
• VA training
• Branding refresh
• OBMHub migrations

 

People crave direction in January.

 

3. Client Appreciation

Meaningful marketing = meaningful relationships.

Ideas:

• Personalised video message
• Small gift
• Donation on their behalf
• A “thank you for being a purpose-led partner” card or email for clients or referral partners 

 

4. Re-engagement Campaigns

Target:

• Old leads
• Past clients
• Unfinished proposals

 

Subject line:
“Before 2026 begins, let’s make a plan you’ll actually stick to.”

 

4. Your Non-Negotiable Holiday Communication Checklist

Update Everywhere:

✔ Website operating hours
✔ Google Business Profile
✔ Instagram bio
✔ Facebook pinned post
✔ OBMHub automations
✔ Email signature
✔ Appointment scheduler calendar

 

Communicate With:

✔ Clients
✔ Leads
✔ Suppliers
✔ Partners
✔ Team

 

Clarity reduces stress for everyone.

 

5. Your Holiday Marketing & Operations Checklist (Australia)

Campaign Essentials

• Christmas campaigns scheduled
• Boxing Day campaign ready
• New Year promo built
• Australia Day content planned
• Email + SMS sequences scheduled

 

Team Management

• Holiday calendar complete
• Handover finalised
• VA availability confirmed
• Slack statuses set
• Customer support flow updated

 

System + Strategy Work

• CRM clean
• Automation audit
• SOP update
• Folder decluttering
• Brand kit refresh
• OBMHub migration and training
• 2026 marketing plan

 

6. FAQs (Google Ranking Boost)

Q1: Should I keep posting on social media over Christmas?

Yes, schedule all content ahead. Engagement dips, but consistency strengthens trust and algorithm signals.

Q2: When should I promote Boxing Day sales?

Start teasing 18–22 December. VIPs should get early access on 24–25 December.

Q3: What should service businesses do during the quiet January period?

Strategy, cleanup, SOP creation, content planning, website updates, create a lead gen funnel, automation clean-up, and team upskilling.

Q4: How do I manage my offshore VA during holidays?

Confirm leave, create a shared calendar, define coverage, handovers, and pre-schedule all tasks.

Q5: Should I update my operating hours everywhere?

Yes, website, Google, social media, email signature, pinned posts, and booking automation rules.

 

Make Your Marketing Meaningful, Profitable & Easy to Manage (Even During the Holidays)

Whether you’re preparing for Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year, or Australia Day, the right plan removes overwhelm and creates spacious, profitable, aligned marketing.

This is your chance to reset—before the new year rush hits.

👉 Choose a time to chat with Chantal
OR
👉 Take the 2-minute Marketing Gap Quiz

Let’s make your marketing meaningful, profitable, and beautifully easy to manage for you and your marketing doer.