13 Great Fall Marketing Ideas

Fall is a season that speaks of change, which means it is the perfect chance for you to turn around some poor revenue streams that may be developing. When you marketing your business specifically for the fall season, you’re bringing about images of home for people, of family, and of the simple joys that come from jumping into a pile of leaves. It’s colorful, beautiful, and that’s what your marketing campaign will need to represent.

It all begins with your level of celebratory influence that you include with each marketing efforts. There are so many great things about this season, from pumpkin patch excursions to Halloween to new back-to-school routines that you can choose an industry-specific relational concept and go with it. The more you enjoy Fall and it shows in what you promote, the better the following ideas will work for you.

Useful Fall Marketing Ideas for Businesses

1. First Day of School Fun
Your business can get involved with the back-to-school movement by offering specific deals that are centered on school. You can enhance this process by hiring local students to promote your items when they go back to school as well. If you see hats, you could pay college students to wear your items on campus. High schools are the same. Whatever you choose, just remember the emphasis: a new school year is a new chance for success.

2. Get Into Local Sports
For many communities, the Fall season means high school football springs into high gear and that’s the perfect opportunity for you to enhance your brand awareness. A sponsorship of the local team could mean a billboard on the scoreboard, a sign on a fence, or a booth for you to sell concessions. Many schools will let you choose, so do what works best with your business. Even if you just hand out game specific coupons or offer discounts on purchases with a ticket stub, you’re showing local support.

3. Decorate the Storefront
Your windows are the perfect way to reflect the joys of Fall through festive decorations. You can decorate them on your own, hire a local artist to paint the window for you, or just include season-specific items in the display for those who love window shopping.

4. See What the CoC Is Doing
Many Chambers of Commerce offer contests and incentives for businesses during the Fall season that they will highlight to the community. See what your local CoC is doing, get a membership if you don’t have one as of yet, and start working to get the full exposure that this networking organization can provide.

5. Holidays Are For Giving
Focus your sales efforts on giving to others instead of trying to enhance your revenues. Subtle efforts at this can include a simple holiday card that lets people refer them to your business. Send these out to your current customer base and you may just find them coming into your store to see what Fall items you’ve got.

6. Rent Out Your Space
If you allow local non-profits and community groups to use your space for meetings, you’ll have a lot of brand recognition going on and eyes on your products or services. You’re also providing a needed service in your community in return and that goodwill often translates into better sales during this colorful season.

7. Give People Information
There’s always something new going on during the Fall season that your customers may find interesting. Let your customers know what you’re doing, what changes you’ve got going on, and keep them informed over social media and through email about how they can participate in your efforts without a cost. It’s another way to increase your brand recognition and people will feel good because they’re doing something.

8. Embrace Slacktivism
People today feel good about sharing something that matters, but requires little effort on their part. Embrace this through your Fall marketing efforts by offering to donate $1 for every Facebook like that you receive during a specific period of time during the Fall season. For more engagement, you can even let people leave you a comment to let them choose between 3-5 local charities where their dollar can be donated.

9. Share Some Secrets
Marketing always boils down to value. Your value is in your specific skills, access to products, and other ways that you set yourself apart from your competition. Although you don’t want to give away your grandmother’s secret pickle recipe or show people how to install an entire brick patio, you could show them how to seal jars of pickles or how to cut bricks. You’ll show off your skills and give people a new skill – both valuable items.

10. Create an Event
Throw an event for your local customers and give them the VIP treatment. Wine tasting, baked goods, and other harvest themes will all embrace the season and your customers will definitely feel appreciated. Partner with other local businesses to enhance your networking and you just mind find a similar offer from someone else headed your way.

11. Inspire Creativity
Offer local artists the chance to show off their craftsmanship in your business for a unique co-op opportunity. People will come to see the artists at work, get exposed to your brand, and your local artist group will be grateful for the added exposure.

12. Just Instruct Them
Sometimes people just need to be told what to do. Social media posts that include language that says “Share this” or “Like this” get higher levels of response. Tell people to buy and they’ll be tempted to buy.

13. Do the Research
You don’t need to run a blog to provide research to people that they’ll find valuable. Take a look at national or even international trends in your specific industry and then provide this information to your customer base through brochures, posters, or some other handout. This way your customer base can be trending now too!