Creating the perfect hospitality marketing email can be stressful, and the holiday promotional email can be the toughest as it has the most potential. Holiday events and catering can make or break your year and take you from the red into the black. As a hospitality marketing professional, I get a lot of emails each holiday season from our customers. Here are a few of my favorites and a short explanation of why I love each of them. Hopefully, this will give you a little bit of inspiration for your next holiday promotional email.
Fogo de Chao in Dallas offers customers a $25 gift card for each guest at your holiday event to use at a later date if you book by November 28. If a $25 gift card doesn’t sound appealing to your group, you can pick from an array of other perks like an upgraded bar package or a complimentary happy hour event. I love this marketing email because they added a cute tagline that describes exactly what this promotion is trying to accomplish. “Book. Gather. Indulge.” Book your event early, gather with your friends during the holidays, and then indulge either that same night or at a future date.
I’m also a huge fan of marketing emails that offer you something in return. And giving customers a choice as to what their reward is, makes it that much more enjoyable. This email is also very clear on what it’s promoting. It doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s straight to the point and even offers up the fine print at the bottom, so you know what you’re getting into beforehand.
Red Stick Social is an example of a holiday marketing email that doesn’t offer a special but does a great job of quickly highlighting the venue and leading you directly to their event inquiry form. In fact, there are several ways to get to the lead form. They linked to it in the text and also used a CTA. Making sure customers can access your lead or booking form easily and without searching is vital when you’re promoting any type of event.
Not only does Eddie Merlot’s offer customers a gift card in return for booking an event at one of their locations, but the email also offers up a great visual feel. It’s always nice to open up a holiday email and feel the festive atmosphere you’d enjoy if you held an event in the venue. This one shows off their vibe without being overdone. It’s classy and feels warm and inviting.
Let’s face it; not everyone is ready to celebrate the holidays within the four walls of your venue quite yet. That’s why I think Hill Country hit it out of the park with this catering promotion email. Their offer to “leave the cooking to us” is a subject line sure to reel in folks who are doing it all and have little time to cook an elaborate meal. Or those of us who, to put it simply, don’t want to cook. I suspect that private events and catering will be popular this year and for years to follow, so it’s important to highlight every service your venue offers.
City Winery highlights what they are known for in their 2021 Thanksgiving package - delicious wine and great music. Each order comes with seven chef-curated recipes, six bottles of wine to pair those recipes with, and a playlist full of artists who have graced one of City Winery’s many stages. So basically, what I love about this email is the promotion itself. It’s creative and does a fantastic job of showing off everything that makes a City Winery venue so special. It’s the perfect Thanksgiving offer for foodies, wine enthusiasts, and music lovers alike.
Your marketing emails say a lot about who you are as a brand and help increase your holiday revenue. So, no matter what specials your venue is offering this holiday season, it’s essential to be clear about what promotions you are offering while still being creative and engaging. Remember, it’s the holidays; people are generally stressed out around this time of year so try to keep it light and be happy, warm, and most importantly, take care of the heavy lifting for them.