The holiday season is in full swing and December is quickly approaching. But there’s still time to fill your content calendar and create a few low-effort holiday-themed campaigns. Need a bit of inspiration? Then check out the list below and discover some last-minute December marketing ideas for your animal shelter or rescue group. They’re all relatively easy to set up, so you should be able to get started right away.

Ask Supporters to Fill the Dogs’ Stockings

You could hang Christmas stockings on the wall in your shelter’s or rescue’s office and ask people to fill them with presents for the dogs in your care. Think: enrichment toys, treats, collars, leashes.

To get the most out of this idea, you’ll want to create a graphic (or several) to promote it on social media. Let your followers know that you have empty stockings waiting to be filled with little surprises to enrich your dogs’ stay.

In your social media post, give information about what items or categories of items you’re looking for and when and where donations can be dropped off. Make it as easy as possible for your supporters to donate items to your organization.

You should also consider posting several times about your campaign to reach more people. You could post once or twice a week about it and keep your content fresh (without too much effort) by simply changing the colors of your graphic template.

Once you receive donations, post about them on social media. Show your appreciation with a special thank you post and show a shelter or foster dog playing with a new enrichment toy or enjoying a well-deserved treat. Showing behind-the-scenes footage lets your supporters be a part of the shelter or foster dogs’ world and build a relationship with them from afar.

The benefit of a campaign idea like this lies mainly in creating awareness for your organization and its adoptable dogs while also receiving much-needed donations to make your pets’ stay more comfortable. It also gives community members a way of showing support even if they can’t adopt or foster.

Put up a Christmas Tree and Ask for Presents

This is essentially the same idea as having Christmas stockings for your shelter’s or rescue’s dogs. You could put up a Christmas tree in your organization’s office and ask your supporters for presents for the dogs.

Here you’re not limited to small gifts that fit into stockings, so you could ask for different items, such as bags of dry food, canned food, blankets, sweaters, snuffle mats, puzzle toys, and beds.

As with the Christmas stockings idea above, be sure to promote your campaign repeatedly on social media, thank your supporters, and post behind-the-scenes content depicting the dogs with their presents.

Again, the obvious benefit of a campaign like this one is that your organization will receive donations for its dogs. But you’ll also raise awareness for your shelter or rescue and its adoptable dogs, you’ll create a sense of community among your supporters (think: everyone can do something to help the dogs in your care), and you’ll increase traffic to your shelter or rescue, which may score a few adoptions as well.

Set up a Wish List on Amazon

You can also create a wish list for your organization on Amazon and add specific items you would like for your shelter’s or rescue’s dogs. It’s a great alternative for people who won’t be able to drop off donations at your organization’s location but who may want to still support your cause with a donation.

Be sure to promote your wish list on social media – weekly seems like a good option. You could also include a link to your wish list on your organization’s website.

And don’t forget to thank people for donations and show off the donated items you receive on social media. These posts are just as important as the original ones asking for donations. Think about them as a way to build and maintain a relationship with your followers. You asked them for something. They supported you. Now show them you appreciate their help. Let your supporters see the difference their donations are making in the lives of the dogs in your care.

Share a Christmas-Themed Wish List Graphic on Social Media

Here’s another way to ask for donations for your shelter or rescue: Create a wish list graphic (for example, with the help of a design tool like Canva) and then share it on your organization’s social media platform.

Consider posting your wish list weekly – either as a reminder or to reach those who didn’t see your post the first time around.

Again, make it as easy as possible for people to donate by telling them directly in your post when and where items can be dropped off. Be sure to be specific. For example, don’t just say that donations can be dropped off when the shelter is open. Instead, mention the exact days and hours.

And of course, don’t forget to post about the donations you receive from your supporters.

Promote Adoptable Dogs with an Advent-Calendar Theme

If you’re looking for a creative way to promote adoptable dogs during the holiday season, consider an advent-calendar theme. For this idea, you could design festive social media graphics for the December days leading up to Christmas, with each graphic featuring a different adoptable dog.

Similarly to opening a door of a traditional advent calendar, you could then reveal one new graphic per day on social media, accompanied by a few lines about each dog’s personality. Take a look at this blog post about how to write compelling dog bios.

When you post these graphics on your organization’s social media channel, be sure to include, with each post, a call to action as well as information about how, when, and where the featured dog can be adopted. Check out this post on social media copywriting for more detailed tips.

Provide Dog Owners with Timely and Relevant Educational Content

Think about what information may be useful for dog owners around Christmas. Is there anything you wish dog owners or prospective adopters knew that’s especially relevant during the holiday season?

Here are a few topics for inspiration:

• Foods dogs should not eat
• Winter weather pet safety tips
• New Year’s Eve pet safety tips
• How to keep dogs entertained during winter weather (think: enrichment toys)
• Dog treat recipes

You could design infographics for each of these topics and then post them on your organization’s social media channel to raise awareness among your followers.

Celebrate Pet Holidays

There don’t seem to be too many pet holidays in December, but here are the few that I found when I searched online:

• National Mutt Day
• Celebrate Shelter Pets Day
• International Animal Rights Day

You could celebrate National Mutt Day, for example, by showing off your shelter’s or rescue’s adoptable, adorable mixed-breed dogs on social media and asking your followers to share photos of their dogs in the comments.

And of course, don’t forget to celebrate the human holidays in December. 😊

Do you have any December marketing ideas you would add to this list? Share them in the comments below!

Also, be sure to check out this blog post on New Year’s Eve marketing ideas for even more content inspiration!

Marketing