Festival marketing calendar for shops and restaurants in Uttarakhand

01How far ahead should a shop plan a festival campaign?

The same rhythm works for every date below. Plan about a month out: the offer, the products, who the post is for. Shoot two to three weeks out, before the shop fills up. Approve edits a week before, then post and run any ads through the buying week itself.

The Royal Art's Rakhi campaign was built to a date, well ahead of the festival. It was part of a launch that did ₹70k+ in sales within its first twenty days. See The Royal Art case study.

• The offer, in one line a customer can repeat to a friend.
• The product shot in your shop, not on a white sheet.
• Price, timings and delivery in the caption, because that is what the DMs will ask.

02January to March: Uttarayani, Basant Panchami and Holi

Makar Sankranti, usually mid-January, is Uttarayani or Ghughutiya in Kumaon, the day families make ghughute. Lohri, the evening before, matters to Rudrapur's many Punjabi families. Sweet shops and gift shops should shoot in the first week of January.

Basant Panchami, usually late January or early February, is a school day. Yellow clothes, Saraswati puja, a stage, and parents who share anything their child is in. In Kumaon it also falls in the Baithaki Holi season.

Holi is usually in March. Clothing shops sell white kurtas, sweet shops sell gujiya, cafes plan a brunch. Shoot before the colour arrives; a phone on Holi morning gets the colours wrong and the lens coated in gulal.

The January to February wedding window sits under all of this; banquet halls, jewellers and salons should shoot in December.

03April to July: Navratri, admissions, Baisakhi and Harela

Chaitra Navratri and Ram Navami land in March or April. Restaurants can put a vrat thali on the menu and shoot it properly. Navratri days are treated as good for buying gold and vehicles, so jewellers and dealers should post what is in stock. Baisakhi, around mid-April, is harvest on the plains: a dhaba's week to show its kitchen.

The new school session usually starts in April, and schools reopen after summer in early July. Parents check fees, transport, timings and whether the campus looks like the brochure. A presenter-led walk through the real campus does more than a poster. For Aakash Institute, we put the centre head on camera for admissions. Book, uniform and stationery shops have their season in these weeks; post stock and timings, not greetings.

Harela, usually mid-July, is Uttarakhand's own festival: families plant saplings and schools hold planting days. It is the one date where a local business gets to look local without trying. Jain Global School's Harela planting day, which we shot live, says more about the school than any poster. Monsoon light is flat and everything is green, so get low and close to the sapling and the hands. The April to June wedding window runs alongside all of this.

04August and September: Rakhi and Ganesh Chaturthi

Rakhi, usually in August, is a gift festival with a hard date. Sisters buy for brothers in Delhi or Bengaluru, so the courier cut-off matters as much as shop timing. Gift shops, jewellers and galleries should have the range shot by mid-July. The caption needs price range, delivery and last order date.

Rakhis and gift boxes are small and shiny; a phone under shop lights gets their colour wrong. Shoot them in daylight near the door, or let us bring a light.

Ganesh Chaturthi, usually late August or September, gives sweet shops and decorators their own spell of demand.

05October and November: Navratri, Dussehra, Diwali and Bhai Dooj

Sharad Navratri and Dussehra usually fall in September or October. Garba and dandiya nights bring ethnic wear shops and salons a rush, and their low light and fast movement defeat a phone. In and around Dineshpur, with its large Bengali community, Durga Puja is the bigger week.

Diwali is usually in October or November, and for many shops it is the week that matters most. Dhanteras, two days before, is when jewellers, utensil shops and vehicle showrooms sell. Sweet shops sell gift boxes through the whole run-up. Plan in September, shoot by early October, and have gift-box photos, prices and a delivery line ready before anyone asks.

Diwali is also the festival a phone gets most wrong: diyas blow out into white blobs and video flickers under LED strips. Shoot at dusk, so the lights come up against a sky with colour left in it.

Bhai Dooj, two days after Diwali, gives sweet shops a second run of gift boxes. Gurpurab, usually in November, deserves a respectful post, not an offer.

Then the November to December wedding window opens. Banquet halls, caterers, jewellers, lehenga shops and salons should shoot season content in October, before the season starts.

06Christmas and New Year, plus fairs whenever they run

Christmas and New Year matter most to cafes, bakeries, restaurants and hotels. The customer asks three things: is there a booking, what is the menu, is it family-friendly. A short reel of the room set up, answers in the caption, posted in the second week of December.

Fairs are a season of their own. Saras Mela and fairs like it run for days, and the content has to work while the gate is open. Our Saras Mela coverage ran day and night across the full run, with reels cut the same day. 1 lakh+ people came through the gate across the run of the fair. See the Saras Mela case study. Book the crew for the run, not one visit.

07Which festivals matter for which business?

Nobody needs all of these. Pick the four or five that move your sales; a one-line greeting is fine for the rest.

• Sweet shops and bakeries: Uttarayani, Holi, Rakhi, Diwali, Bhai Dooj, Christmas.
• Restaurants and cafes: Holi, Navratri, New Year, and every wedding window.
• Jewellers and showrooms: Navratri, Dhanteras and all three wedding windows.
• Clothing, sarees and salons: Holi, Navratri, Diwali and every wedding window.
• Schools and coaching centres: Basant Panchami, admission season, Harela.
• Gift shops and galleries: Rakhi, Diwali, Bhai Dooj, Christmas.

Not sure whether reels or ads come first for a festival week? See Reels or Facebook ads first? What a local business in Rudrapur should start with, or call +91 91059 43909.

08Questions people ask