Arguably the most beautiful season, autumn could bring you handsome financial rewards if you start bringing your autumn marketing A-game now. It’s a gift of a season for marketing, packed with dates on which you can hang various promotions and stuff.
Perhaps the biggest is your runway to Christmas.
Fun fact. Did you know that 98.3 % of all private sector businesses in Scotland are small enterprises with fewer than 50 employees, so you might say that marketing creativity that is a world away from the heavier-handed corporate stuff has the potential to flourish here.
The change from summer to autumn can be like a great big splash of water on your face, and what better excuse to refresh your marketing?
Here are some practical autumn marketing ideas for small businesses and local businesses to try this year.
Autumn social media ideas
We’re talking profile and banner images, to the tone of your posts and their pictures. Beautiful outdoor pics bursting with autumnal colours – what a terrific way to capture your customer’s attention.
Make it recognisably your brand, and you could be onto a winner. Try to reflect on what your customers might be doing at this time of year. A few leaves on the corner of an image just won’t cut it. You can do better than that.
We’re sure you have ideas percolating away that suit your business.
We’re all a wee bit nosy and like to see what others have been up to, so you might want to do a case study of a customer. All sounds a bit formal, doesn’t it, but there’s no reason why you can’t break the mould to make it more human interest as well as business-focused?
A fun, creative video or reel is great for team morale and, again, is something that people by and large want to see.
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Autumn blog ideas
Get blogging as part of your autumn content marketing. Becoming an authority in your field while pushing your brand name out there is one of the best ways of capturing Google’s – and the world’s – attention. How-to guides, rough guides and Q&As that provide a fresh angle on, say, what your competitors are up to, that’s all potentially autumn gold (leaf!).
These blogs are also ready-made social posts for you to keep sharing, and if you write them in an evergreen way, where they don’t date, then you can dine out on them time and time again. Within reason.
Repetitiveness on socials is a huge turn-off.
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Autumn promotions for small businesses
As autumn leaves fall, your revenue should be rising, and a seasonal promotion is one way to mobilise this.
Promotions don’t necessarily mean discounts, because you could package or bundle products, or create a limited edition, or a complimentary extra wee something.
One thing to remember is that your promotions should all sing from the same hymn sheet across all your channels and have clear start and end times, so that there’s consistency wherever your customers see them.
Get involved with local events
This is not only a great marketing vehicle, but a fun way to engage with what’s going on locally and get your brand name out there. And it’s all about that, as we said earlier, even online these days, with AI summaries at the top of search pages.
Ideally, you need people to know your business name and search for it directly.
But be tone deaf about it, and your business could come off looking cynical and opportunistic by just trying to piggyback on anything and everything. Have a think about which local events chime with the heart of what you’re doing, your business values, etc.
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Halloween marketing is always a winner
The trick here is to treat your customers to some Halloween marketing that doesn’t feel too contrived. But you can still hop aboard the Halloween marketing express even if you don’t sell Halloween-related products.
Competitions, polls, and quizzes – these all fly at this time of year,
You could also create a simple Halloween competition, quiz or poll on social media. And the more it’s tied to your USP, the better.
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Christmas is coming
In theory, you can start your Christmas marketing any time you like in autumn without festooning your website and socials in glitter, frost and Santas.
But, the deeper into autumn we get, your customers will be looking for information on availability and opening hours, etc.
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Send an autumn email campaign
The right email campaigns really do the business these days, and once summer is done, people are looking for stuff to fill their time when the nights are drawing in.
Not every email you send should be a sales pitch. In fact, it can be more effective when it’s in newsletter form, and when it feels to your customers like you’re giving them something.
You could send some recommendations, ideas, checklists, or seasonal tips. A wee bit of humour, maybe, doesn’t go amiss here either, as long as it’s well judged.
And just like socials, people want to see people, so it might be that you include an employee profile or talk about charity fundraising or sponsorship – that type of thing.
Useful content gives people a reason to open your emails even when they’re not immediately looking to buy.
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How about an autumn competition?
Seasonal marketing ideas for autumn that may increase engagement might include an autumn competition or two.
Make the prize something that is connected to your business. Product experiences can generate a lot of interest and likely attract people who have the potential to become genuine customers rather than competition junkies.
Keep the entry process straightforward, and please ensure you follow competition rules and those of the platform you’re using.
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Collaborate with other businesses
We have a thriving business community here at Heathhall Business Centre, so you’re never alone here. There are also so many different types of businesses, so it’s likely, for example, that our tenants could find a sister business with a similar target audience that doesn’t directly compete with them.
Perhaps a joint autumn package would work for you, too, like an event, or you could promote each other in your mail shots and socials.
Such local business marketing ideas could mean you reach a brand new audience without breaking the ad budget bank.
And finally, Google
Your Google Business Profile is the gateway to your business for many. In the same way you wouldn’t have out-of-date signs and old products in your shop window, keep this one up to date.
You can add products, opening hours, updates, blogs, events, menus, etc. to it, and it’s worth taking the time to check that it’s all still relevant while you’re working out your autumn marketing.