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  • 23 Fall Marketing & Advertising Ideas to Spice Up Your Season

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 23 and ends December 21, 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!

busy fall meme

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 advertising ideas to get more customers.
  • 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.

Take a little time to click through your website to make sure it’s easy to navigate, content is easy to read, and pages are loading quickly. You’ll also want to check that your site is optimized for mobile as Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means that Google looks at the mobile version of your website rather than the desktop version when determining how (and where) to rank your site.

fall marketing ideas - audit your website

This plumbing website is optimized for mobile. 

Page speed is also an important ranking factor, meaning if your site isn’t loading quickly, you have less of a chance to rank higher on Google and Bing.

Want a quicker way to audit your site? Try our free website grader!

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.

how to get more customers - google my business listing example

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. You can use our free listings grader to see other sites where updates need to be made.

3. Take advantage of Google posts to announce fall events and updates

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.

google my business posts

Use Google posts for your fall marketing to share any upcoming promotions or events, let customers know how you’re keeping employees and shoppers safe, and highlight your top products or services. This is a completely free way to take full advantage of your Google Business Profile.

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.

how to respond to negative reviews example from business apologizing to reviewer

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.

Your business can take advantage of seasonal content to post on your website—either as a separate page on your site or as part of your blog. Here are some examples of seasonal content different businesses can create.

  • 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.

fall marketing ideas - seasonal content ideas

Source

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.

november email newsletter example with a black friday sale

Newsletters are a free and easy way to keep your business top of mind with your audience—especially during the busy holiday months. We’ve got newsletter ideas you can use 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.

apartment marketing ideas - resident referral

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

Small Business Saturday is an initiative started by American Express to highlight small businesses the day after Black Friday. This is the perfect fall marketing idea to help your business attract a new crop of customers and take advantage of the holiday shopping season.

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.

fall marketing ideas - small business saturday

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.

call handling best practices - create a phone script

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.

💡 Need help with next year’s marketing plan? Get the free guide >> 6 Simple Steps to a Complete Small Business Marketing Plan (+Template!)

11. Start planning your 2024 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 2024.

Mark sure to begin by outlining SMART goals for your marketing plan:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

social media metrics - smart goals

Think about where you want to go in 2024, what milestones you hope to hit, and concrete numbers around revenue, new customers, and more.

Fall advertising ideas

While advertising isn’t free, these fall advertising ideas can make a measurable impact on your business this season.

12. Use fall advertising slogans

Make your advertising seasonally appropriate by incorporating some fall slogans into your ad copy. Here are some fall advertising slogans for inspiration:

  • 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.

fall advertising ideas - use fall advertising slogans

Using these fall advertising slogans can help you appeal to customers, give your ad copy a refresh, and infuse a little fun into your campaigns.

You can also use these fall advertising slogans to spice up your email marketing messages! Get some fall email subject lines to test.

13. Update your ad images for fall

Once you’ve added a little spice to your fall advertising copy, you can do the same for your ad images. Change up your designs for fall by incorporating warmer colors or choosing images that coordinate with the season.

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.

display ad optimizations - ab test design

A simple tweak in design after an A/B test resulted in a 17% increase in clickthrough rate for this business.

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.

14. Start your holiday advertising

Holiday shopping seems to start earlier and earlier every year, with nearly 40% of customers saying they begin before Halloween. So now is the time to start your holiday advertising and marketing.

Make sure your plan is in place and your advertising is running on the channels where most customers will be looking for businesses. This includes search advertising, Facebook advertising, and display advertising. By running your holiday advertising on these three channels, you can reach the largest segment of your audience and help people see your business more frequently. Remember, most people need to see information about a business at least seven times before they take an action!

fall advertising ideas - start holiday advertising campaigns

15. Try a new local marketing strategy

Fall might also be a great time to try a new local marketing strategy—maybe even as part of your holiday marketing. Perhaps you’ve been interested in geofencing, but you haven’t taken the plunge, or maybe you just want to add remarketing to your search advertising campaigns to re-engage people who have clicked on your ad without converting.

what is geofencing - geofencing marketing tips

An example of how geofencing works.

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.

stats that show the importance of cross-channel marketing an a consistent experience for customers

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.

17. Try fall YouTube ads

Are you running YouTube advertising yet? If not, you should be. And fall is a great time to test it as people are gearing up for the holiday season. In fact, 70% of people have been found to make a purchase from a business after seeing them on YouTube.

Plus, YouTube advertising is cost-effective. The average YouTube advertising cost is just $0.10 to $0.30 per view or impression, and most advertisers begin their campaigns at just $10 a day.

Most businesses set a daily budget of $10 for their YouTube advertising cost.

Source

Try running a fall advertising campaign on YouTube to either promote your YouTube channel, drive people to your website or a landing page, or educate prospective customers about your products or services.

18. Run a fall scheduling promotion

For service businesses or those that offer free consultations and demos, consider adding scheduling software to your website. This will enable you to capture leads directly from your website, simplifying the process.

localiq scheduling software example screenshot

To take this a step further, you can run a scheduling promotion (or ads for) for the fall where any new or repeat customer who schedules a service, demo, or consultation with you during the fall months receives a free service, percentage off, or other enticing offer.

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.

19. Take advantage of fun fall holidays and observances

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 October 1, 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.

fall social media ideas - national coffee day post

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

20. Use fall hashtags

Hashtags are a must for your social posts. They help you get seen by a wider audience and increase engagement. By using fall-specific hashtags, you can take advantage of the season and attract an audience interested in what you’re posting about.

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

fall social media ideas - use fall hashtags - example

21. 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.
  • Respond to recent comments or posts about your business.
  • Follow people who have recently followed you on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram—this can help you get more followers!

social media audit example from localiq

You can use our social media audit template to get started!

22. 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.

fall social media ideas - run a fall contest on social media

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.

23. 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

These fall marketing, advertising, and social media ideas are meant to help you finish out the year strong, get in front of customers during the busy holiday months, and engage your audience on social media. Take a breath of the fresh fall air, and get to work for a great fall season!

Here are those 23 fall marketing ideas to try:

  1. Audit (and update) your website
  2. Check your local listings for fall and upcoming holidays
  3. Take advantage of Google posts to announce fall events and updates
  4. Respond to reviews (good and bad!)
  5. Create seasonal content for your website
  6. Send a fall newsletter
  7. Launch a referral program for the fall
  8. Participate in Small Business Saturday
  9. Train your team on call handling
  10. Check in on your marketing goals
  11. Start planning your 2024 marketing
  12. Use fall advertising slogans
  13. Update your ad images for fall
  14. Start your holiday advertising
  15. Try a new local marketing strategy
  16. Run a cross-channel marketing campaign
  17. Try fall YouTube ads
  18. Run a fall scheduling promotion
  19. Take advantage of fun fall holidays and observances on social media
  20. Use fall hashtags
  21. Audit your social media sites
  22. Run a fall-related social media contest
  23. Plan your holiday social media calendar

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