simple holiday makeover (fir) tips
easy ways to holiday-ify your small batch craft chocolate biz, moss snowflakes amidst the Map couverture bonbons included
hello everyone,
Another long post this week, so if it’s clipped in your email click “view entire post,” or jump here for the full content. This post is available to everyone, and I hope you find it useful!
It’s not (ever!) too late for you to holiday-ify. And, yes, these extra smidges of effort really do matter. For starters, everywhere we look during holiday shopping~~no matter which holiday(s) we embrace~~we see (and expect) touches of “it’s holiday-time” to appear. They make us happy. They remind us we need gifts for the teachers. they encourage our chocolate fans to take a peek at our website, stop by our pop-up booth, or seek us out to choose our work.
Make it worth their time and effort!
Key takeaway: If our website (it is our storefront if we don’t have a brick and mortar) or our social media pages look the same year-round, that’s just not smart marketing.
My take: from the get-go of Map Chocolate I used opportunities like the holidays to convey, not just what Map was about, but the Mackenzie-ness uniqueness behind the biz. I did it through naming my bars from day one—and making the naming seasonal. I did it with interesting batches, products other makers weren’t typically offering, and putting creative spins on classic products.
This is the ONE and ONLY reason I was able to not just land on the same tables as the big craft makers, or how when my bars were there they stood out, but how anyone who visited my website would know what I was creating was different. When they recieved their order: the surprise of being presented differently. Inside the bars: something they weren’t expecting, and that, before the first bite.
These small gestures make all the difference. Yes, they “take time.” But! over the course of this time we take, the gestures create the composite of who/what our business is.
I really can’t say don’t do the holidays because this is the time of the year that generates the biggest revenue for craft chocolate makers. It doesn’t mean bowing to commercialism. If anything, it’s 100% about figuring out your unique approach to an industry that is very, very commercial; if you sell chocolate you are on the chessboard. If you hate the hard-sell blizzard, don’t do it! I never did, and that’s the point here. If you’re trying to build a livelihood, it’s a helpful way to welcome new customers and spread cheer to the ones who support your work year-round.
Rule of thumb: listen to your gut! Maybe if something doesn’t feel right, it isn’t the right direction for you.
Holiday-ify your website
Above, a mix of holidayishness through the years.
Update photos to say “tis the season” or “hurray for fun shopping!” whatever suits you.
Make it easy to see how your products make good gifts.
Choose a theme and weave it through with color, photos, etc. Stock photos were invented for this! and often, (like with Unsplash), they’re free.
How to add festive elements to existing photos: Canva is your friend here. Upload a photo, edit with the background remover, add a color background, then choose and add elements from the Elements options (literally, a zillion). Save as a png file and download.
Choose a theme or a color scheme and carry it through your branding
Yes, David from Schitt’s Creek would love it for me that I moodboarded this holiday theme. It’s actually how I chose the colors and created my cacao pod stickers (printed via Moo) last year. This can be inspiration for the feeling you want to add to your website, social media posts, etc, a way to collect ideas.
Tis the season for baking + making with chocolate
Include ideas/recipes/how-to’s. Bake with your chocolate and share photos on Instagram: my mom’s red velvet cake recipe calls for cocoa powder, so I posted about it on instagram along with my cocoa powder. Show potential fans using photos of your work that craft chocolate isn’t “just” about lovely bars…let brownies be a gateway.
FYI: both Guittard and Scharfen Berger have updated their baking chocolate packaging and offerings. This signals bakers are buying “good” chocolate (and the holidays are prime for this), and that they have paid attention to the path small batch baking chocolate has paved (gee, that “for baking or snacking” tagline sure seems familiar).
Also: note the use of maple sugar; these aren’t your basic baking chunks. A word on pricing and packaging: it’s cute and modern, and friendly. The $5.99 for 7 ounces is an amazing price point (Guittard’s were $12.99 at the local market where I found these).
Think (always) outside the chocolate box: case in point, chocolate is the new cheese plate. Show ideas for using your products or design/create special holiday-only products. Instagram it.
New wrappers who dis?
If you diy your wrappers use the season to its full throttle joy and choose colors (theme!) textures etc to wrap, including for regular products like drinking chocolate. Wrapping paper is handy, as are lovely papers in art supply stores. The word of the season is Make it Feel Special (emphasis on special). One highly respected expert told me recently they prefer simple kraft paper over some of the, ahem, not so lovely wrappers folks are using. Lil Squirlee of my Squirrel Stash bar got an update each holiday. One way I updated for the holidays was in my bars: new names + flavors to fit the wintery theme.
Think outside the peppermint (everything) box. Please. I beg you. Or at least make the peppermint shine in a new way.
Pine aroma, fir tips, toasted nuts, rosemary, plums as sugar plum leather inclusion, spices of every sort, teas! chai! and yes, even a nod to fruitcake. Sweet potato pie? yes. Your Nana’s holiday cranberry fudge, for gosh sakes yes yes yes. In a sea of peppermint candy bits be the snickerdoodle crunch lifeboat.
Put a sticker or ribbon on it. Maybe two.
The single easiest and most budget-friendly holiday-ifying move. That snow scene tag, right side middle look familiar? It was part of my 2018 theme—first photo way back at the top, bottom right. It was the “welcome page” of my website and then I used it for the tags. The saying is from the poem, Song of the Open Road which conveyed “winter” and growth, etc, without over the top Santaland. It also eased well right into the new year/late winter.
I promise you, even where it’s hot someone is craving cozy.
Drinking chocolate is, like brownies, a gateway to craft chocolate. Drinking chocolate works for advent calendars, stocking stuffers, seasonal flavors, and “extras” like craft marshmallows if you can offer that kind of thing. Don’t forget the cozy-fied photos! Include a how-to card or tag. Stuff a small packet in with orders as a thank-you.
Greetings from New Idealandia
This season implores us to be our most creatively generous best: that oat milk white chocolate was an idea I launched at the holidays, as was baking chocolate, my Nightswimming bar became Starry Night, Hansel + Granola, Squirrel Stash, and my first-ever product was a craft chocolate advent calendar.
My point: chocolate lovers are shopping for chocolate, and on the lookout for unique takes on our craft. Give them something to be truly thankful for.
Happy merry-making,
Mackenzie
simply: stunning....the ideas, the creativity, the photography, the passion! every road and river has made you for this; thanks for keeping us inspired all-year-long, mackenzie!! happy dream making.....