As pumpkin spice swirls through the air, so does a sense of uncertainty. Will your fall marketing promotions boost sales? Or will shopping fall flat as events get canceled? Planning your autumn campaigns poses a challenge when you don’t know what to expect.
While a Harris Poll shows only 27% of adults believe kids will trick-or-treat, RetailWire reports that brands like Hershey and Mars Wrigley don’t expect a huge drop in candy sales. In the retail sector, big names, like Kohl’s, captured attention with a Back to School campaign that includes the tagline, “Heading Back or Logging In.”
Consistent messaging and a flexible strategy are vital. But, it’s also essential to optimize your limited resources to increase your return on investment (ROI). Spend your marketing dollars wisely using high-impact tactics to fuel your fall marketing promotions.
How to Plan 2020 Fall Promotions
Typically, you plan your fall contest ideas months in advance. Yet, 2020 requires a bit more flexibility than in previous years. You may have less time and resources to dedicate to campaign planning or face location or product-specific challenges, like a local shutdown or limited inventory.
Stay agile by keeping an eye on your target customers and adjusting messaging as needed. After all, “More than 75% of Americans [are] trying new shopping behaviors during the crisis, including new methods, brands, and places, with the intention of sticking with them in the long-term,” according to McKinsey & Company.
Showcase your products throughout the season by embracing popular social media holidays while using high-impact promotion methods.
Fall Marketing Promotional Ideas
Even though lives change, consumers aim for normalcy. In fact, NCSolutions finds that consumer packaged goods purchases followed a predictable pattern during the pandemic. “In the days leading up to Easter and Memorial Day, for instance, sales of bakery products and alcoholic beverages spiked in 2020, just as they did at the same points in 2019.”
While it’s important to reassess your messaging this fall, you can still have fun and use social media holidays to highlight your marketing promotions.
September Marketing Ideas
Round off your back to school sales with one of these fun holidays. Share a book giveaway on Instagram for Read a Book Day or develop a series of inspirational quote image posts for a National Day of Encouragement.
- 9/6: Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
- 9/7: Labor Day #LaborDay
- 9/12: National Day of Encouragement #DayOfEncouragement
- 9/13: National Grandparents Day #NationalGrandparentsDay
- 9/22: First Day of Fall #1stDayOfFall
- 9/29: National Coffee Day #NationalCoffeeDay
October Marketing Ideas
Although Halloween may feel different this year, October is full of neat days to celebrate. Your fans will love sharing pet photos on World Animal Day or trying out your trivia quiz on National Train Your Brain Day.
- 10/2: World Smile Day #WorldSmileDay
- 10/4: World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay
- 10/10: World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHealthDay
- 10/13: National Train Your Brain Day #TrainYourBrainDay
- 10/15: Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
- 10/31: Halloween #Halloween
Combine Marketing Ideas With High-Impact Actions
From an inspirational wellness basket giveaway to a Halloween costume contest, you can get more eyes on your marketing promotions with high-impact actions. First, determine what goals you need to reach this fall. Then, select budget-friendly activities to promote your seasonal campaigns.
What is a high-impact marketing activity?
You won’t find one uniform definition of high-impact marketing online. It’s a matter of balancing your budget and goals, then picking activities guaranteed to deliver a win. Your objectives and what constitutes a win are individual to your company.
However, the most common phrase marketers use is “low-cost high-impact marketing.” It covers actions that get results using the fewest dollars. TopRank Marketing suggests turning your focus from leads to metrics such as:
- Advocacy: The number of referrals
- Financial: Win rate or pipeline created
- Length of the buying process: Proposal to close or discovery call to demo times
Once you know what type of fall marketing promotions you’ll run, then consider which actions increase your ROI. If you’re in-tune with your target market, then you can narrow down your techniques and focus on those that provide your best shot at conversions.
8 Low-Cost High-Impact Marketing Actions
Kick-off the season with a captivating campaign that leads to sales. Start with a compelling marketing idea, develop a promotional plan that includes social media holidays, and use high-impact actions.
1. Identify and Reach the Right People
While brand awareness is essential, a high-impact action often targets those who are ready to buy. Take a two-prong approach to find and reach consumers poised to purchase.
- Build and update your buyer personas to reflect current habits.
- Select intent-based transactional keywords for your marketing campaigns.
For instance, turn your fall giveaway into one that rewards every new customer. People looking for a quick win freebie or who aren’t ready to buy will sit this one out. But, those who needed a little nudge will use this opportunity to do some early holiday shopping.
Another marketing idea is to create a product recommendation quiz. Although online sales continue to increase, people still miss seeing and touching products or speaking with a sales rep. Enhance the customer journey by using an intent-based keyword in your quiz headline and answering specific questions that lead the user towards a solution.
2. Take a Multi-Channel Approach to Fall Promotions
Amplify your message by connecting with customers on more than one channel. It’s easy to create a Facebook giveaway. But, not all of your fans get on Facebook every day. That’s why it’s essential to share promotions on multiple platforms.
For every new promotion, aim to distribute your message on channels where your customers are getting inspiration before purchasing. So, you may host a Facebook giveaway leading up to Read a Book Day. But don’t stop there. Create:
- A Pinterest infographic highlighting a quote from each book you’re giving away
- An email to customers who’ve recently visited your website or left items in their shopping cart
- A post showcasing your giveaway to share in community group pages (when allowed)
3. Maximize Referral Tactics
Word-of-mouth marketing is just as important as ever before. Before purchasing, your fans want testimonials, videos made by real people, not brands, and solid proof. A great way to soothe your fans is by sharing user-generated content (UGC). But, first, you have to ask for it!
Prepare for stellar fall campaigns by holding a UGC contest now. For instance, plan on celebrating Get to Know Your Customers Day in October. Ask current customers to talk about themselves, their favorite essential worker, or family member. Your customers may also share a comment, video, or photo relating to your brand. Once you’ve collected UGC, showcase your great fans (and their content) across your social platforms.
4. Use High-Impact Content Marketing Tactics
Content marketing delivers a high return on investment, but certain actions get bigger results. Both videos and expert round-up blog posts do exceptionally well, especially since folks start digging into buyers’ guides in the fall. An expert round up serves as social proof while triggering an impulse to buy. Create your post by:
- Picking a topic of high-interest to your customer that relates to your brand
- Finding micro-influencers and bloggers who fit your expert qualifications
- Creating an attention-grabbing headline with intent-based keywords
- Reaching out to ten or more people to ask for their best tip on your topic
Once you’ve published your post, then let your experts know! Send an email and ask them to forward it. Share a quote on social media and tag your influencer. For extra exposure, develop a form to promote your digital asset during a popular social media holiday.
5. Share a Coupon on Discount Promo Sites
Everyone is still shopping for a deal. That’s something that a pandemic doesn’t really change. But don’t wait for fans to find your promo code. Go to them using every channel available. A clever high-impact action is posting your discount code on a coupon site:
- Start by searching for industry-related discount coupon sites.
- Read the rules and post your coupon on various sites.
- Interact with site users and respond to comments.
6. Complete a Daily Act of Kindness
A random act of kindness may not seem like a high-impact action, but it produces serious goodwill that leads to your brand being top of mind. It also increases customer referrals and social media shares. Do something special for a customer, a social media follower, or an email subscriber.
This may be part of your longterm strategy, such as sending personalized notes for birthdays. Or you may simply create a quick video thanking a new customer for their feedback or showcasing a top fan who frequently comments or shares your posts.
7. Create a Post-Purchase Email
Improve customer loyalty, word-of-mouth marketing, and post-purchase sales with a targeted email. Consider sending a personal email from the company owner. Thank them for their purchase and ask if they have any questions. Or offer a coupon along with a request to review the product.
8. Explore the Customer Journey
Although digital shopping continues to increase, many people aren’t used to buying everything online. Improving the customer experience, even in small ways, is a high impact action item. A BrizFeel study finds frustrated customers blame poor experiences on:
- Buggy and complicated websites
- Too many ads and pop-ups
- Slow websites
- Lack of product information
However, it’s also vital to locate and address problems relating to concerns over buying online. Shoppers long for the experience of touching, feeling, or trying a product out. A customer-created video or unboxing event is a great way to help folks get over this hurdle.
Generate Results With Fall Marketing Promotions
Remember: Use low-cost, high-impact actions to boost your fall marketing promotions. Combine an event or holiday-related hashtag with activities that target people who are ready to buy. Get creative by sharing UGC, giving away relevant prizes, and collecting data to improve future campaigns.
Get Help Scheduling High-Impact Activities for Fall
Do you need help planning your fall campaigns? Our Woobox support team can help. Contact us from 8 am to 5 pm PST, Monday through Friday at 1-360-450-5200 and support@woobox.com.