Trending December 2023 # 40+ Easy Small Business Saturday Marketing Ideas # Suggested January 2024 # Top 21 Popular

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Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to celebrating and supporting small businesses across the nation. Shoppers may be eager to support small businesses and shop locally, but you won’t see these shoppers by sitting back and watching the show. In order to leverage the excitement of Small Business Saturday to facilitate your business goals, you have to promote your business and improve your local visibility!

Whether you’re only able to make a last-minute effort or have the ability to implement a detailed Small Business Saturday plan, there are opportunities for every business on Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Saturday ideas to try

Here are some Small Business Saturday ideas to help you make the most out of the day.

Get listed ahead of Small Business Saturday

The first thing you should do is make sure your business can get found by shoppers on Small Business Saturday. Update your local listings in popular directories like Google, Facebook, and Yelp to make sure you show up for relevant searches. Your Google Business Profile is of the utmost importance here–take the time to optimize your Google Business Profile; it’s worth it.

You’ll also want to add your business to the Shop Small map so people can find you when looking for participating businesses around Small Business Saturday.

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Create Small Business Saturday offers

Small Business Saturday is all about celebrating small businesses, but in order to stand out above your competitors and grab the attention of overstimulated shoppers, you’ll need an attractive offer.

Some basic ideas for offers on Small Business Saturday include:

Buy one get one free deals for people shopping with (or for!) friends.

Discounts for same-day appointments.

Bundle services into packages and offer them at a discounted rate.

Create holiday gifts out of products or services, and those who purchase the gift get a discount or free service.

Free gift with purchase.

Discount for signing up for your blog, newsletter, or providing contact information.

Purchases come with a coupon for holiday services.

Run limited-time offers to encourage shoppers to act fast around Small Business Saturday.

Your Small Business Saturday offer can serve many purposes and support many business goals.

It can be:

Given out on that day to attract customers.

Revealed beforehand on social media to increase engagement on social media.

Redeemed later on to encourage return customers.

Host a Small Business Saturday event

Another Small Business Saturday idea to promote your business is to host an event. Even if your focus is around celebrating your small business, you should still include an offer that incentivizes customers to attend.

If you have a brick-and-mortar location, here are some ideas:

Gyms can have a free post-Thanksgiving workout for interested potential new members. Serve snacks and drinks afterward with free t-shirts and have a place where people can sign up for your newsletter. (Psst: Get more fitness marketing tips here!)

Hairdressers and salons can offer a discount for customers who sign up for their email list or offer a bundle deal for holiday services.

Dentists, physical therapists, and chiropractors can run an open house where shoppers can come in and get some swag with your business information on it.

If you don’t have a brick-and-mortar location, you can still host a virtual event or partner with a brick-and-mortar business to host an event.

For example:

Landscapers can pass out reusable shopping bags with their logo on it.

Massage therapists can partner with a local business to offer chair massages to shoppers. (Just make sure you have health and safety protocols in place!)

Financial planners can host a workshop on how to budget for the holidays and the new year.

For these ideas, you might have a sign out front to attract foot traffic but be sure to promote your event online too.

For example:

Create social media posts the week before and the day of to attract attendees.

Utilize Facebook Events or Eventbrite to encourage people to attend and to get a ballpark headcount. You might have occupancy limits to adhere to that you’ll want to plan for.

Reap the benefits of landing pages! Create a high-converting landing page for your event or offer to encourage users to follow through in converting.

Post pictures from the event as it is happening. Get creative and have fun with Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.

If you don’t have a space to accommodate people, fear not! You can always partner up with a local business. Or, you can run an event online, such as a social media contest or giveaway. With the proper social media marketing strategy, you can leverage Small Business Saturday to achieve your long-term business goals.

Partner up on Small Business Saturday

While Small Business Saturday is for everyone, promotion ideas are sometimes easier to execute for retail businesses and those located on busy streets. If you don’t fit into that category, consider partnering up with a business that does.

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Partnering is a great way to increase your exposure across a relevant audience, maximize profits, and build a sense of community.

For example,

Physical therapists and massage therapists can offer free or discounted chair massages at a boutique store during peak shopping hours.

Home service providers can partner up with furniture or home goods stores and offer their services at a discount. In exchange, the home service providers can promote that store through email, social media, and their website to encourage more visitors.

Landscapers can offer a free yard cleanup or discounted package at hardware stores, and promote that store across their marketing channels.

Preschools can partner with yoga instructors to offer prenatal yoga classes.

Find a small business that will take on a small business guerrilla marketing campaign with you.

When considering partners for Small Business Saturday, don’t just think about the most popular places. Think about businesses that share your values and appeal to your target audience. This way you can leverage the partnership to strengthen your brand story and increase your exposure to the right people.

Use local media

As a small business owner, you may not have the time to coordinate an event, and hosting an event might make it hard for you to manage higher customer volumes on that day. One idea for Small Business Saturday that won’t have you preoccupied on that day is to do a write-up for the local newspaper or local online publication.

For example:

Produce a round-up of stores in the area that you recommend for shoppers (cater to those in your target audience or niche market if possible). Perhaps those stores will pass out your flyers or coupons for a promotional offer.

If your business has a unique story or strong roots within the community write an article on the history of your business. At the end, you could talk about special deals you’re offering for Small Business Saturday or invite the media to come and interview customers on that day.

Another approach would be to write an opinion piece on the importance of Small Business Saturday. Acknowledge hard-working business owners, highlight the role of small businesses in the economy, and their contribution to the community. Not only will business owners and shoppers appreciate it, but you can also stand out as a committed member of your community.

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If you don’t have the ability to contribute this type of content directly, consider branded content to help you communicate your business story to your community in your local publication.

Thanks to the benefits of social media, this type of publication can also increase your online presence before Small Business Saturday and even long after.

Use social media on Small Business Saturday

There are a number of other ways to utilize social media on Small Business Saturday.

For example:

Run a Small Business Saturday Instagram giveaway.

Write a blog post that is relevant to SBS, your target audience, and your business, and promote it across social.

Leverage existing social media groups, such as on Facebook and LinkedIn, to promote your special offers and sales.

Cross-promote email offers with social media posts.

Offer a discount on your product or services to the first x number of new followers on this day.

Ask a blogger or social media influencer to feature your store in a roundup blog post.

Use Small Business Saturday hashtags such as #SmallBizSaturday, #SmallBusinessSaturday, and #ShopSmall.

Engage with the official Small Business Saturday Facebook or Instagram accounts.

You can also use social media for Small Business Saturday discount codes:

Reveal a promotional code on this day only.

Reveal a promotional code during the week leading up to SBS that followers can only redeem on SBS.

Provide a promotional code on SBS that is redeemable at a later time, such as for holiday appointments or winter services.

Run a Small Business Saturday Email promotion

This Small Business Saturday idea is great because it focuses on leveraging the audience you have at hand rather than trying to acquire newly interested potential customers.

Here are some ideas for email marketing campaigns around Small Business Saturday:

Send an email promoting your in-store event or sale.

Send a coupon for email subscribers to use on Small Business Saturday.

Send a round-up of the businesses you’ll be supporting on Small Business Saturday.

Create and send a holiday gift guide using products and services from local businesses.

Update and optimize your website

Try giving your website visitors something fresh to look at over the weekend with updated Small Business Saturday pages. You could switch up your website copy or creative elements to reflect any Small Business Saturday promotions you’re doing.

Odds are, you’ll likely see an increase in traffic to your website during Small Business Saturday. So, you’ll want your business’s site to be as prepared as possible with a dedicated Small Business Saturday section.

Here are some ideas for updating your website to match your Small Business Saturday marketing:

Add a banner promoting your sale to pages across your site.

Switch up your homepage content to mention Small Business Saturday.

Use a live chat feature to alert visitors of Small Business Saturday promotions.

If you’re unsure of what areas on your site you should optimize for the big day, try using free, online website grader tools. This can help you identify areas where you could improve your site for Small Business Saturday.

Our free website grader can help you prepare your website for Small Business Saturday 2023.

For example:

If you’re already running Google Ads or Microsoft Ads, take this weekend as an opportunity to refresh your PPC keyword strategy by bidding on terms that include “small business saturday” in them.

An example of a Small Business Saturday display ad.

Make your 2023 Small Business Saturday a success

With the right Small Business Saturday marketing plan, you can make the whole weekend a success.

We know that people love supporting small businesses during this season–so play that up in your holiday marketing to capture shoppers and finish out the year strong.

Related: Looking for ways to support your favorite small businesses? We’ve got you covered with 18 creative ways to support local businesses.

Kristen McCormick

How To Make Small Business Saturday A Success

While Black Friday may get the lion’s share of shoppers’ attention during the holiday season, the following day may be even more significant for small businesses. Small Business Saturday, which falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, was started by American Express to support small businesses during the 2010 recession. It was recognized by the federal and all 50 state governments shortly after that. The idea is to encourage shoppers to support small businesses as they shop for holiday gifts.

The idea has attracted real support, with 72% of people surveyed by Constant Contact saying they will make more effort to support small businesses that weekend. This year, Small Business Saturday falls on Nov. 26, so it is crucial to be prepared.

What is the biggest mistake you can’t afford to make on Small Business Saturday?

You may think that just being a small business is enough to reap the benefits of Small Business Saturday, but this line of thinking is a big mistake. The nature of being a small business means that you are not necessarily top of mind for your target market. Add that to all the other small businesses promoting themselves during this time, and you can see that it is easy to get passed over and let this opportunity be wasted.

How to successfully prepare for Small Business Saturday

To capitalize on the desire of customers to support small businesses on the busiest shopping weekend of the year, you must promote yourself. Here’s how to go about it.

Tell your small business story

While Small Business Saturday serves to remind customers to shop at small businesses, you want them to support small businesses all year long. So throughout the year (and even more so starting at the end of October), tell customers your story.

Social media is a great way to highlight the company’s founders and history. If your business is family-owned, be sure to include that since it can give you even more of a boost. If your business is still in the same community in which it was started, talk about how it has been an area employer and how it has participated in any community outreach or charitable projects.

Post videos showing your actual employees doing or talking about their jobs. Be sure to repeat the phrases “small business” and “local business” when talking about your company.

Tip

As a business owner, get on your social media platforms and demonstrate transparency by being honest and genuine with followers. When CEOs do so, it pays big dividends. Research from Sprout Social found that transparency prompts 38% of followers to be more loyal to the brand and 32% to purchase more from the brand.

Extend the festivities to e-commerce

Give customers a choice to come into your store or buy online and still get all the Small Business Saturday promotions. You can set up coupon codes for use online along with barcodes that can be scanned in-store. It can also be helpful to give customers the option of gift wrapping the item within the shipping box so that curious people in the household won’t ruin the surprise and to buy online and pick it up at the store for maximum convenience.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that customers will shop with you on Small Business Saturday just because you’re a small business. With a bit of planning and promotion, you can capitalize on customers’ desire to support small local businesses like yours so that you can bring in more holiday sales revenue than ever before.

14 Easy (Yet Powerful!) Wedding Marketing & Advertising Ideas

As lucrative as the wedding service industry is, it’s also incredibly competitive. There’s a huge market of couples looking for help in planning and executing the wedding of their dreams. Along with this are the thousands of businesses vying to get their attention.

14 marketing ideas for promoting your wedding business

Try these wedding marketing ideas to keep your business busy whether it’s wedding season or not!

1. Build your brand

Much like how a person’s DNA is integral to their identity, so is your brand to your business. When developing it, treat it as your company’s DNA. What’s your mission and vision for the business? What values do you want your services to embody? What tone do you wish to use when communicating ideas to the public and, more importantly, to potential clients?

These are questions to keep in mind as you choose a name for your brand and create an appealing tagline and logo. They can also guide you in deciding on the color palette that you’ll use for your marketing materials. To ensure that you build a strong and defined brand, consistency and cohesion among all these elements are key.

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Related: Get tips and inspiration to build your brand identity.

2. Create a website and start your own blog

Having a solid digital presence is a necessity now for any new business. But to build your digital footprint, you’ll need an online home base. This home base is your small business website. It’s the place where people can find all the information about your company and its services. It’s also the springboard for bigger marketing ideas you’ll take down the road once you’ve established brand recognition and recall.

A great section to have on your website is a blog. Content marketing lets readers get to know more about you and the people behind the business. It’s also a great avenue to highlight your branding. A blog can strengthen your brand’s tone and style with posts that present personality and flavor. It lets potential clients know about your mastery of the wedding industry scene and enthusiasm for keeping up with trends.

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Plus, your blog can serve as a place to showcase your work, educate potential couples about your services, and share creative ideas that will have them coming back for more.

3. Be featured on a wedding blog site

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Of course, features like these introduce you to a wider audience of potential clients. Imagine all the newly engaged couples scouring the web for possible wedding planners and looking up recommendations from industry experts. A wedding blog write-up can help put your name on their radars.

4. Invest in styled photoshoots

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5. Host a giveaway to increase followers

Hosting a Facebook contest or Instagram giveaway is a fun way to engage with your audience. You get to thank your existing followers for their support, while also attracting new ones. Through giveaway promos, the public has a chance to try some of your services for free, with no strings attached. They get a taste of your wedding planning expertise and, hopefully, are left wanting more.

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Giveaways don’t have to be huge or costly. You can partner with other related businesses to share the cost of the prize (and make it more appealing!) or you can even offer customized wedding invitation designs as a prize. Thanks to platforms like Canva, it’s easy to create wedding invitations for free. You get to showcase your creativity and collaborate with clients without going over budget.

6. Participate in wedding fairs

Creating a buzz for your wedding planning business online is good. Getting up close and personal with your target market and fellow industry players? Even better.

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Networking at fairs is a tried-and-tested wedding marketing strategy. These events are excellent opportunities to meet potential clients and fellow business owners. If you’re still building your wedding start-up, you can learn hard-earned and reality-based tips from experienced business owners. You can even develop further connections and collaborations down the road. After all, each wedding has plenty of different elements that need to be taken care of. Get in on the action by joining the wedding fair crowds.

Related: Don’t forget to follow up with those you network with at the bridal fair or expo! Use these networking email subject lines to get started.

7. Write and submit a guest post

We’ve touched on how putting a name, face, and personality behind your business helps strengthen your brand. Now, write about what you know about the industry and have other websites use your article as content.

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8. Add your business to wedding directories

Once you’ve begun putting your business and brand out there, people would need to know where to find you and how to get in touch with you. Your website and contact details may be easily searchable, but in addition to including your website on top local business listings, you should also add them to wedding directories. These databases offer one-stop-shop convenience to the public. Your inclusion in them also signals the legitimacy of your business.

Some of the top wedding directories include:

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9. Leverage your wedding testimonials and reviews

We’ve already talked about how a credible endorsement can attract business. Another terrific wedding marketing idea would be to use testimonials from previous clients. Don’t be shy to ask satisfied customers to share what they liked most about working with you. Compile their reviews into a section on your website. Believe us, people check these sections out as part of their decision-making process.

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Online reviews also allow you to interact with clients, including disgruntled ones. The way you handle less-than-stellar reviews helps people get a better sense of what working with you would be like. Positive reviews, on the other hand, make for great pull quotes that viewers can immediately see upon visiting your website.

Related: Get tips for how to respond to negative reviews.

And if there are bloggers or influencers among your happy clients, there’s no harm in requesting them to write a glowing post about their experience with you. (Remember to ask if they could add a backlink to your website too.)

10. Create an FAQ page for your website

Couples planning their weddings do a lot of research to find the right vendors to work with. Often, they’re trying to find as much information as possible about a wedding vendor before taking the next step to call. If you can answer common questions directly on your website, you can set your wedding business apart from the competition and increase the chances that couples will take that next step with you.

Ask your team to help you compile the most common questions they receive, and think about what other information would be helpful for prospective couples to know before they reach out. Then answer these questions and add them to an FAQ page on your website.

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11. Try out social media platforms such as TikTok and Pinterest

You may think that joining the short-video craze isn’t the right wedding business marketing approach for you, but let’s be real. Most clients are drawn in by visuals first before anything else. Social media sites present your work and branding without having to use too many words. Plus, they can be fun tools for increasing brand awareness once you get into them.

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Add the best images and clips from your portfolio of wedding planning work on the ‘gram. Post your suggested mood boards for different wedding aesthetics on Pinterest. Share on TikTok foolproof tips that brides and grooms can use to prepare for their big day. Given the app’s growth in the past two years—plus the increasing share of its users who are of marrying age—you never know whom you might reach and convert into a client.

Related: Get tips for how to get more TikTok followers here.

12. Advertise on The Knot and WeddingWire

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13. Invest in your website’s SEO 14. Partner with wedding vendors for referrals

As you well know, putting together a wedding requires teamwork. And part of that team is the wedding suppliers and vendors who help turn every wedding planner’s ideas into reality.

When dealing with suppliers and vendors, treat them as collaborators. Maintain a professional attitude even when you’re not working together on a project. Understand that they are integral parts of the wedding industry ecosystem.

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You can even partner with vendors by creating a preferred vendor list that you can share with your clients. In return, they can add you to their preferred vendor list so their clients receive your information as well.

Given the intense competition, their referrals are a form of organic wedding marketing that can increase your chances of landing more clients.

Try these wedding marketing ideas today

They may seem like a lot of work at first glance. But once you get the ball rolling, executing these wedding business marketing ideas will begin to feel like second nature. Some of them may even be fun! At the end of the day, they’re simple, smart, and effective tips that let people know what you do and how well you do it. Try all of these wedding marketing ideas today and see how they can drive growth for your business:

Build your brand

Create a website and start your own blog

Be featured on a wedding blog site

Invest in styled photoshoots

Host a giveaway to increase followers

Participate in wedding fairs

Write and submit a guest post

Add your business to wedding directories

Leverage your wedding testimonials and reviews

Create an FAQ page for your website

Try out social media platforms such as TikTok and Pinterest

Advertise on The Knot and WeddingWire

Invest in your website’s SEO

Partner with wedding vendors for referrals

Carz Maiquez

Carz Maiquez works at Canva. She loves performing, animals (dogs and cats in particular), and coffee. Passionate about music, she started creating YouTube music covers. Follow her channel: Carriza Maiquez.

5 Tips To Start A Small Business In 2023

There is no denying the fact that COVID’19 has affected the economy of the world in a way that no one has anticipated. But, it is also true that with the vaccine developed, things are coming back to their normal phase slowly.

Therefore, if you are finally planning to start your own business in 2023, then this blog is just the thing that you need to read to ensure that you run a successful business and don’t suffer any kind of loss.

In this blog, I’ve narrowed down some of the tips that’ll help you in ensuring that you run successfully even if you are starting small.

Here are some of the tried and tested tips that will help you in establishing your business in a successful way in 2023:

5 Tips to Start a Small Business in 2023 Know the Market Trends after Pandemic

The market for almost all kinds of businesses is going to change after the pandemic is over. It is something that you need to keep in mind if you want to start any kind of business in 2023. It is quite possible that your estimates about your business might not be practical in the current economy.

Also read: Best Top 10 Paid Online Survey Website in the World

Get a Small Business Loan

More often than not, people don’t start any business even if they want to because they have financial constraints. However, if you want to start a small business, then you must know that you easily get small-scale online business loans.

All you need to do is search for a reliable and authentic lender, and you’ll be all set to get the money that is going to change your fate if you manage to use it in the right way. The best thing about these online loans that they come with very fair terms and conditions, and more often than not, you can also negotiate the terms of the loans.

Get Expert Advice on Your Business Plan Don’t Invest Everything in the Beginning

One of the most common mistakes that people make is that they invest everything they’ve got in their business right at the start. It is something that can make you lose everything.

Also read: How to Calculate Your Body Temperature with an iPhone Using Smart Thermometer

Understand the Market Demand of Your Business Idea

Lastly, no matter how unique your business idea is, there is a big chance that there are many players playing the same game in the market.

Therefore, it is very critical that you thoroughly study the market. It’ll help you in having the idea about the demand of your business idea. Apart from that, you’ll also know that you have enough number of targeted audiences to be your client.

How To Protect Your Small Business Against Online Fraud

Most small businesses are all too aware that cyber criminals are becoming more inventive in their hunt for vulnerable or accessible financial information. They’re targeting individual consumers and small businesses, and the costs for businesses can be high.

The face of online fraud today

More than three-quarters (78%) of consumers have concerns about fraud when paying for goods or services online, and 65% of businesses are concerned about cyber security. Moreover, 89% of the general public believes online payment providers should do more to protect people from fraud. (Download Sage’s exclusive 2023 Payments Landscape Report for the full story.)

Business email compromise (BEC) scams are a rapidly growing source of online fraud. In one type of BEC scam, criminals conduct extensive research and create fake profiles of business owners. By mimicking a business owner’s style, criminals can deceive their targets into making payments to fraudulent accounts.

Know your weapons in the battle against fraud

These include:

This security tool checks the numerics in the billing address of the card against the address at which the card is registered.

CVV/CV2, or Card Verification Code:

This is the three/four digit authentication code on the back of credit or debit cards.

This tool is similar to an online version of chip and PIN, where instead of a PIN, a user-generated password is required. It reduces the possibility of fraudulent card use by authenticating the cardholder at the actual time of the transaction. Subsequently, this reduces the business’ exposure to disputed transactions and charge-backs of this type.

Practical tips for strengthening your defenses against online fraud

Despite the worrying numbers of businesses hit by fraud, the 2023 Sage Payment Solutions Payments Landscape Report found that 20% of businesses don’t spend anything on fraud prevention and instead rely on the free tools provided by their payment gateway. If you’re ready to strengthen your business’ defenses against fraudsters, Sage payments experts recommend you:

Your goal here is to be able to assess a customer’s profile, order, and delivery details before accepting a transaction. Similarly, orders placed early in the morning, of high quantity or high value are also red flags, particularly if the product can be easily resold.

Always check the delivery address is valid

You could use the banking industry’s Address Verification System, which compares the delivery address provided for the order with the billing address details for the payment card held by the card issuer.

Geo-location will help you find the shopper’s location and help identify if the order is coming from a high-risk country. Then, you can check the location of the order against the type of order and the customer’s profile.

Maintain a customer database

It is generally a good idea to identify the customer by name, email address, delivery and billing address, and telephone number. It is also helpful if your server records the IP address from which the customer is accessing your system.

Similarly, a fraud database will help you close loopholes, because criminals will continue to target a business until the window of opportunity is closed.

While these tips are sufficient for smaller businesses, larger businesses need to consult a third party and implement a custom fraud prevention solution.

Tokenized payments: the next step?

When using a provider like Sage Payment Solutions, our system captures all of the shopper’s card details in our secure system and provides the business with a “token” that the business stores on its system (in place of the card details). This way, the business avoids storing payment data that could be compromised by criminals.

Tokenized payments are the natural next step for merchants looking to restrict their exposure to card data. This technology facilitates a range of payment methods including:

Delayed or deferred payments: this allow a merchant to take payment on delivery, but to collect and store the card details securely when the initial ordered is processed.

No matter the size of your business, if you sell products or services online, fraud isn’t something worth sticking your head in the sand about. The good news is by taking the right steps today, you can protect your customers and concentrate on growing your business.

Visit Sage Payment Solutions’ site to learn more.

22 Impactful Fall Marketing & Advertising Ideas For 2023

Fall is a busy season—the holidays are fast approaching, kids are back in school, and everyone is trying to end the year on a high note. Fall begins September 22 and ends December 20, so these few months are typically packed for both consumers and business owners—giving you the perfect opportunity to get more customers but with little time to actually do it!

To make this process a little easier for you, we’re sharing:

Free and easy fall marketing ideas to set your business up for success through the rest of the year.

Fall social media ideas to engage your audience (and attract new followers).

Let’s dive right in.

Free and easy fall marketing ideas

These fall marketing ideas take a little time but no budget and can help you set your business up for success as the holidays loom and the end of the year approaches.

1. Audit (and update) your website

Your website is the foundation for all your marketing, so if something isn’t right, whether in your content, web design, or the technical aspects of your site, your marketing may not be as effective as it could be.

This plumbing website is optimized for mobile.

2. Check your local listings for fall and upcoming holidays

During the fall months, especially around the holidays, your business hours may fluctuate. Perhaps you close earlier once Daylight Savings ends in November, or you extend your hours during the busy December shopping season.

Taking a moment to check that your local listings are claimed and accurate will give customers the most up-to-date information about your business. Plus, it can save you from losing out on business. 72% of people who conduct a local search visit a business within five miles after. So you want to make sure that your phone number, address, and website URL are correct so you can capture those searchers and convert them into customers.

Give your top business listings, like your Google Business Profile, a little peek to make sure everything is in tip-top shape. And take some time to optimize your listings so you can stand out even more.

Your Google Business Profile not only shows your contact and business information to customers and potential customers, but it also provides an opportunity to share valuable information or updates that can help you win new business.

One way to do this is by using Google posts. Google posts show directly on your Google Business Profile and give you a way to communicate with searchers about updates, events, promotions, products, and more.

4. Respond to reviews (good and bad!)

Reputation management is crucial for your business year-round. Especially because 93% of people look at reviews before making a purchase.

But sometimes monitoring and responding to reviews can fall through the cracks when there’s so much going on with your business. A new season is a great reminder to take a look at your reviews and respond.

Responding to negative reviews should take priority, but it’s also important to thank reviewers for their positive feedback in a review response.

Get our top tips (with templates and examples!) for how to respond to negative reviews here.

5. Create seasonal content for your website

People love seasonal content—especially around the holidays. In fact, on Pinterest, seasonal content drives 10x higher engagement and 22% higher online sales.

Auto repair: Create a blog post of tips for winter-proofing your car or a checklist of items you need to have in your car before it gets cold (like a blanket, safety light, jumper cables, and more).

Spa: Share relaxation tips for people during the holidays. It can be a stressful time—especially this year.

School: Compile fall events in your area that students or families would be interested in.

Restaurant: Highlight seasonal menu items or share a special pumpkin-spice cocktail recipe.

Home services: Share tips for weather-proofing your home, plumbing Q&As for when the temperature starts to drop outside, or create a checklist of how to prepare your home before you have visitors.

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Related: Get even more content marketing ideas you can use this fall here.

6. Send a fall newsletter

Once you’ve created seasonal content, you can share it with your customers through a newsletter. Send it once a week, once a month, or once a season. Make sure to highlight any fall promotions, new products or services, and anything exciting happening with your business in the coming months.

Newsletters are a free and easy way to keep your business top of mind with your audience—especially during the busy holiday months.

Related: We’ve got newsletter ideas for every month of the year here.

7. Launch a referral program for the fall

Your existing customers can be your best source for new customers. In fact, 83% of people say that they trust recommendations from friends and family when it comes to choosing a product or service, and referred customers are 18% more likely to remain with a business.

A referral program is the most effective way to get your existing customers to send new customers your way. Consider launching a referral program contest for the fall to entice your customers to refer their friends and family during this busy season. You can provide an incentive for each customer referred through the fall months or you can reward the top three people who refer the most customers to you during that time.

Whatever you decide, make sure you communicate your referral program through your newsletter, on social media, and even on your website.

8. Participate in Small Business Saturday

American Express even provides free marketing materials to promote your participation in the event. You can participate by hosting an in-store event, running a Small Business Saturday promotion, or simply encouraging people to shop with you during the holidays.

Learn more about how to participate in Small Business Saturday here, then check out our Small Business Saturday marketing ideas.

9. Train your team on call handling

After the summer slump, business starts to pick up, which means more customers and prospective customers contacting your business. Now is the ideal time to make sure your team knows how to properly handle calls.

Schedule some time with your team to talk through call handling best practices, establish some guidelines if you don’t have them already, and remind your team how to handle customer complaints that may come in over the phone.

A short training with your team on the best way to handle incoming (and outgoing) calls can save your business and the headache of bad reviews in the future and better retain your existing customers.

10. Check in on your marketing goals

The start of fall also signals the impending end of the year, which means you only have a couple of months to reach your marketing goals. Take some time to review your marketing goals and objectives to identify what’s left for you to reach, where you may need to pivot, and if there are any goals you need to adjust.

Reviewing your goals quarterly or seasonally can help you stay on track and ensure your campaigns and strategies are working together to help you succeed.

11. Start planning your 2023 marketing

Once you’ve taken a look at where you are with your marketing goals now, you can start planning for next year. It’s never too early to start planning! By giving yourself a head start, you can create the best and most effective marketing plan to reach your goals in 2023.

Think about where you want to go in 2023, what milestones you hope to hit, and concrete numbers around revenue, new customers, and more.

It’s fall y’all

So long summer

Pumpkin-spice and everything nice

Leaf it to me

You won’t be-leaf your eyes

You won’t be-leaf these savings

Fresh for fall

Fall into fall

Spooktacular savings

Ghostly good times

Fall in love with [business name/product]

Savings cooler than the weather

Pumpkin spice up your savings

Prices go up before the leaves fall down.

13. Update your ad images for fall

This is also a great excuse to A/B test your ad designs to find out what resonates best with your customers to drive more conversions.

When updating your ad images, make sure your designs are brand-consistent. Businesses with brand consistency are 3.5X more visible to customers, so it’s important to stick with your brand guidelines no matter the theme or season. But, you can get creative and find ways to complement your brand with seasonal images and colors.

15. Try a new local marketing strategy

Think about what marketing strategy could make the biggest impact on your business and help you reach your marketing goals. Testing a new local marketing strategy now can also help inform your marketing strategy in the coming months–you never know just how a new channel or idea could give your business a big boost!

16. Run a cross-channel marketing campaign

Cross-channel marketing is becoming a must for businesses of all sizes. Customers expect to have the same experience with a business no matter where they engage with them.

A cross-channel marketing campaign can help you test this for your business by using customer data and unifying your marketing strategy across channels to personalize your marketing and create a more cohesive experience for customers. Check out our cross-channel marketing tips to get started.

Source

Fall social media ideas

Social media gives your business a direct way to communicate and engage with your audience. Try these fall social media ideas to fill your calendar.

While you obviously want to highlight the big fall holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving, one easy fall social media idea is to highlight the fun holidays and observances that happen throughout the months. Here are some examples.

National Coffee Day: On September 29, you can post about National Coffee Day with a picture of your favorite coffee, you or an employee at your favorite local coffee shop, or by polling your audience about where they like the get coffee.

National Taco Day: On October 4, you can post about National Taco Day. Share a taco pun, your favorite taco spots in the area, or a taco recipe.

National Pumpkin Day: On October 26, you can post about National Pumpkin Day with a fun fact about pumpkins or pumpkin spice, a makeshift mini pumpkin “patch” in your location for photo opportunities, or the best pumpkin patch in your community.

No Shave November: During the month of November, you can post about No Shave November by encouraging your beard-growing employees to keep from shaving and sharing progress pictures.

Get more holidays and observances (plus ideas) to highlight on social here:

19. Use fall hashtags

You can also create a branded fall hashtag for your business and encourage customers to use it throughout the season. Something like #fallat[business] is easy to use and easy for your customers to remember.

WordStream shared over 150 fall hashtags here, like:

#foliagefreak

#fallishere

#fallvibes

#givethanks

#shopsmall

20. Audit your social media sites

Just like it’s important to take time to audit your website and local listings, it’s also important to take a moment to audit your social media presence. Maybe you haven’t updated your cover photo on Facebook in years or you got a new logo you haven’t added to your Instagram profile.

Here are some quick tips:

Update your profile images and keep your featured profile image consistent across social sites.

Make sure your business information is correct and accurate on all social media sites.

Fill out every section on your social sites—especially on Facebook.

Follow people who have recently followed you on Twitter and Instagram—this can help you get more followers!

21. Run a fall-related social media contest

Social media contests can help you get more followers and increase engagement. A fall Facebook contest or Instagram giveaway is a great opportunity to harvest a new crop of followers and get your existing customers engaged with your business ahead of the winter holidays and the new year.

You might ask your followers to tag their friends in a post (bonus if it’s about your fall promotions or upcoming event) in order to enter. Or you might ask them to enter by tagging your location in a picture or status update—this shares your business location with their friends and followers.

Whatever type of fall social media contest you decide to run, make sure you clearly outline how to enter, the timeline of the contest, how winners will be determined, and the prize.

22. Plan your holiday social media calendar

The holidays are busy, so now is the ideal time to plan your holiday social media calendar and schedule posts ahead of time. Think about any holiday marketing campaigns you’ll run, promotions you’ll offer, and how you want to announce any adjusted hours or closure dates.

We put together a marketing calendar template for every month of the year to help you brainstorm your social posts.

By planning and implementing your holiday social media calendar now, you can take some of the work off your plate as it gets busy in November and December. Plus the beauty of scheduling social media is that it can be easily adjusted as you get closer to the post dates.

Fall in love with these fall marketing ideas Stephanie Heitman

Stephanie is the Associate Director of Content for LocaliQ and WordStream. She has over 10 years of experience in content and social media marketing and loves writing about all things digital marketing. When she’s not researching the latest and greatest marketing news and updates, she’s probably watching reality TV with her husband, reading, or playing with her two pups.