Most small shops “do Diwali marketing” the same way: a poster made the night before, posted once, then silence. Meanwhile the shop down the road started four weeks out and sold through. The difference isn't budget — it's a plan. This checklist gives you the 4-week timeline, the exact creatives to prepare, and the posting cadence that turns festive attention into festive sales.
The 4-week timeline
| Week | Focus | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 4 weeks out | Offers + assets | Discounts locked, product photos shot, prices finalized — no offer changes after this week |
| 3 weeks out | Creatives | All 8–10 creatives designed, reviewed, and exported in every size needed |
| 2 weeks out | Scheduling + warm-up | Posts scheduled, WhatsApp broadcast lists cleaned, teaser content going out |
| Festive week | Execute + engage | Daily posts, 2–3 stories/day, every comment and DM answered within the hour |
Week 4 out: lock offers, shoot products
Campaigns die from vague offers more than from bad design. “Festive discounts” means nothing; “Flat 25% off all kurtis, 20–25 Oct, free gift wrapping” is a decision a customer can make. This week:
- Write every offer in one line: what, how much off, which dates, any conditions. If it doesn't fit in one line, it's too complicated.
- Shoot clean product photos of everything in the offer — window light, white background, the five standard angles. Festive scenes come later; this week is about having sharp product assets.
- Decide the hero product: the one item that leads every creative. Campaigns with a hero outperform catalogs of everything.
- Freeze the offers. Changes after this week mean redesigning creatives under pressure — the number one source of festive-week panic.
Week 3 out: design all 8–10 creatives
Design everything now, while there's time to revise. The full set:
- Greeting poster (1): festive scene, warm wishes, your logo small. For the festival morning — goodwill and shares.
- Offer creatives (2): hero product in a festive scene, the one-line offer, clear CTA. One for early-bird (2 weeks out), one for last-chance (final 48 hours).
- 5-second promo video (1): hook-offer-CTA structure, vertical 1080×1920. Your highest-energy asset — pinned to your profile for the season.
- Story/countdown set (3–4): vertical variants — “7 days to go”, “3 days to go”, “today only”. Same design system, swapped numbers.
- Closer (1): “Thank you” or “sale extended 2 days” creative, ready in case stock remains.
Export every creative in both sizes from day one: 1080×1920 for status/stories, 1080×1080 for feed. Designing the second size in the festive week is how aspect-ratio disasters happen. If you're ordering made-for-you creatives, this is the order week — on Etch's create page, a festive image is ₹15, a 4-pack of variants is ₹49, and a 5-second clip is ₹19 — order now and you have a full week for a revision round if the first version misses. Check the pricing page for the full catalog.
Week 2 out: schedule and warm up
- Schedule the early-bird offer post and the first countdown stories. Scheduling tools (Meta Business Suite is free) mean the festive week runs itself for the planned posts.
- Clean your WhatsApp broadcast lists: remove dead numbers, segment regulars from new contacts. Broadcasts only reach people who saved your number — the warm-up week is when you earn the save.
- Post teasers: behind-the-scenes packing, “something big coming” stories, polls (“which color should we stock more of?”). Teasers convert followers into an audience that's watching when the offer drops.
- Confirm print: if posters or flex banners go up in-store, they should be at the printer this week, not next.
Festive week: the day-by-day cadence
| Day | Post | Stories (2–3/day) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days out | Early-bird offer creative | Countdown 7, product close-up |
| 5 days out | Hero product + offer reminder | Countdown 5, customer review/packing clip |
| 3 days out | Story-set offer push | Countdown 3, “selling fast” update |
| 1 day before | “Tomorrow” urgency creative | Store prep, extended-timings notice |
| Festival morning | Greeting poster — no selling | Wishes, team photo, festive storefront |
| Festival evening | Last-chance offer (final hours) | “Ends tonight” urgency, order packing |
| Day after | Thank-you + extended sale (if stock remains) | Gratitude, restock notice |
The engagement rule that decides sales
During the final week, reply to every comment and DM within the hour — faster if you can. Festive buyers message three shops and buy from whoever answers first; a reply tomorrow is a sale lost today. Pin your offer post, keep your WhatsApp Business auto-reply updated with timings and the offer line, and have payment links (UPI) ready to send in one tap. Creative gets attention; responsiveness converts it.
After the festival: the 30-minute review
The day after, before you forget: note which creative got the most shares, which post drove the most DMs, what sold out, and what didn't move. Save the creatives in a folder labeled by festival and year. Next Diwali, you start from a working template instead of a blank page — and the shops that improve every festival are the ones that compound. If you ordered creatives on Etch, your order history is the archive; reorder the winners as a 4-pack (₹49) with next year's dates.
Get your festive creatives from ₹15
Images, 4-packs, posters, and 5-second clips — order 2–3 weeks out and leave room for revisions.
Create festive creatives