67+ Free & Creative October Marketing Ideas

October:

Costumes. Columbus Day. Candy Corn.

Right?

Wrong.

October is residence to Financial Planning Month, LGBTQ History Month, Domestic Violence Month, and extra. It’s additionally once we have a good time Do Something Nice Day, Black Poetry Day, Women in Business, and apparently, purses. The level is, there are such a lot of alternatives for artistic and significant advertising that can enable you to to authenticate your model voice and stand out.

And we’re protecting all of them on this submit—artistic concepts for weblog posts, social media, electronic mail, and extra, with examples!

Diversity, fairness & inclusion in October

Marketing round consciousness causes affords what you are promoting many alternatives—to assist a trigger, to assist your prospects accomplish one thing fulfilling, and to construct up the group round you. Here are the range, fairness, and inclusion-focused causes in October that you should use to have a good time and foster a way of belonging for all walks of life. October is the nationwide consciousness month for:

And listed below are some particular nationwide days in October that may enable you to incorporate DEI in your advertising:

• National Plus Size Appreciation Day (October 6)
• World Mental Health Day (October 10)
• National Coming Out Day (October 11)
• Native American Day (Second Monday in October)
• National Curves Day (Second Wednesday in October)
• National Stop Bullying Day (Second Wednesday in October)
• National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (October 15)
• Black Poetry Day (October 17)
• National LGBT Center Awareness Day (October 19)

October consciousness causes

There much more month-to-month observances in October. You can see the full list at the bottom of this post, however listed below are some highlights. October is the nationwide consciousness month for:

October nationwide days

There are dozens of nationwide days for each month of the yr, however let’s check out some notables:

• Hair Day
• World Smile Day
• Custodial Worker’s Recognition Day
• Name Your Car Day
• Consignment Day
• Child Health Day
• Get Funky Day
• Do Something Nice Day
• Coaches Day
• Touch Tag Day
• Boss’s Day
• Black Poetry Day
• Youth Confidence Day
• Make a Difference Day

And let’s not overlook Produce Misting Day…

There’s additionally a full list of October national days on the backside of this submit.

Inclusive October advertising concepts

Alright, now it’s time for the concepts. Let’s begin with those that embrace DEI. Note that you could be additionally need to try our roundup of diversity, equity, and inclusion resources.

National Bullying Prevention Month

According to this USA Today article, 49% of kids in grades 4-12 report being bullied not less than as soon as a month. This October consciousness trigger is especially related to varsities and education-based verticals, but in addition to companies whose goal market is made up of fogeys of school-aged kids. You can promote this trigger via your advertising by:

• Posting stats to social media or offering your followers with anti-bullying assets or organizations they will donate to.
• Donating a portion of your income this month to an anti-bullying nonprofit.
• Running a contest the place youngsters can submit drawings or tales selling security, peace, and acceptance.

National Business Women’s Week

Business Women’s Week is a time to acknowledge and applaud feminine leaders in enterprise. During this week:

• Share related articles, tales, and stats about ladies within the workforce—like this one we wrote debunking myths about ladies in enterprise.
• Pull collectively a panel of feminine entrepreneurs and file a dialogue.

• Interview an influential girl in your organization, community, or business and publish a write-up in your weblog.

National Disability Employment Awareness Month

NDEAM occurs each October and is geared toward recognizing the essential function folks with disabilities play within the American workforce and facilitating inclusive employment insurance policies and practices. This yr’s theme is “Disability: Part of the Equity Equation.” The NDEAM Social Media Kit is a superb useful resource right here, which incorporates social accounts to comply with, photos to share, pattern posts, and incapacity employment influencers. Here are some examples:

• Want to rent a various, gifted workforce? Check out this free on-line toolkit from @JANatJAN with instruments to create a extra disability-inclusive and compliant office: https://askjan.org/toolkit/ #NDEAM

• Are you continue to experiencing results of COVID-19 that make it tough to do your job? If so, it’s possible you’ll be entitled to office lodging. Learn extra. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/topics/coronavirus-covid-19-long-covid

• Lydia X. Z. Brown is an legal professional, creator & educator whose work focuses on intersectionality & incapacity justice. Among their many different achievements, they have been the lead editor of All the Weight of Our Dreams, an anthology of works by autistic folks of shade. #NDEAM Spotlight

You can even obtain the Department of Labor’s free poster or order it by mail.

October advertising concepts: cause-based

Here are some extra methods to make use of October month-to-month consciousness for cause-based marketing.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

To help raise awareness for domestic violence, you can:

• Host a Facebook campaign where you donate $1 to a local domestic violence shelter for every like your page receives during the month.
• Have your team wear purple on #purplethursday to show your support for the cause.
• Share the national domestic violence hotline number: 1-800-SAFE (7233) as well as the one for your local area.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

To incorporate breast cancer awareness into your marketing content this month, try out these ideas:

• Have your team wear pink and share your #pinkpose on social media.
• Choose a support charity to donate to, rather than an awareness charity. Support charities that fund direct patient support, such as Chemo Angels and the American Cancer Society.
• Educate your followers with stats and recommendations on social media.

Energy Awareness Month

If you’re within the business, write an article sharing business stats or your individual perspective, and put it up for sale on LinkedIn with key takeaways within the submit itself. Make certain to incorporate a #sustainableenergy hashtag, as it is a particular matter that can get searched by those that are all for studying about it.

Another method can be to share some DIY sustainable vitality concepts, whether or not within the residence, workplace, or classroom.

National Customer Service Week

Customer Service Week happens the primary full week of October. This week affords native advertising alternatives each internally and externally:

• Spotlight a distinct customer support crew member every day of this week on social media.
• Offer one thing somewhat further particular to your prospects, equivalent to a coupon or a branded freebie.
• Give a shoutout on social media to a enterprise that exhibited exemplary customer support for you personally.
• Request suggestions about your customer support, whether or not via a survey, a ballot, a social media dialog, or—look ahead to it— social media ballot!
• If you’ve received any kind of award (and even should you haven’t), write a submit about the way you ship customer support. This is an effective method to give tricks to different companies and to draw extra prospects.

These initiatives will spotlight the significance you place on high quality customer support, and customers are interested in customer-centered companies.

Emotional Wellness Month

Emotional wellness is a supremely versatile matter, whether or not you’re a plumber or an inside designer; a SaaS firm or in ecommerce. Here are some concepts:

• Share an fascinating article from a latest examine on psychological well being.
• Send an electronic mail out to your crew and have everybody share one factor they do for their very own emotional well-being. Then share their suggestions in a weblog submit.
• Share some assets on discovering therapists or assist teams in your space.
• Publish a weblog submit on an “emotional” matter:

October advertising concepts: nationwide day-based

As with each different month of the yr, October is jam-packed with loads of nationwide [insert just about anything here] days that may take you 90% of the best way when developing with distinctive advertising concepts. All it’s a must to do is discover a method to tie it again to what you are promoting. Let’s have a look. (And you will discover tons of October social media ideas here, too.)

World Vegetarian Day

World Vegetarian Day happens each October 1st. This is, after all, a good time for eating places or retailers with a largely vegetarian viewers to present themselves a very good ol’ pat on the again on social media or their web site.

But no matter business, you’ll be able to nonetheless get artistic with this one:

• For the extra carnivorous eating places, supply reductions on vegetarian dishes.
• Health professionals (ideally who’re vegetarians), run an AMA through Facebook Live or Instagram Live on vegetarianism
• In your workplace (after the pandemic has handed), you may have a vegetarian potluck, with a prize to the very best voted dish. You might additionally merely encourage folks to be vegetarian for the day and share their experiences in your social media feed.
• If relevant to what you are promoting, publish related weblog posts containing recipes, data, experiences, assets, and extra.

World Smile Day

World Smile Day is well known on the primary Friday of October yearly. Here are some artistic advertising concepts you’ll be able to check out:

• Dentists and orthodontists, after all, can share stats or eye-opening information that encourage folks to guide their common cleansing.
• Any enterprise can promote its best-selling services and products as one thing to smile about.
• Use the day to announce the return of a seasonal favourite or new providing.

National Cake Decorating Day

National Cake Decorating Day is held each October tenth. Instead of a cake adorning contest, you may:

• Invite your followers to submit their cake adorning fails on Instagram or Facebook with a customized hashtag.
• Ask your followers to share their favourite confection creations. Remember, asking your followers to share their very own experiences and views on social media strengthens your private reference to them and helps them to really feel valued and heard.

National Savings Day

This October observance day occurs on the twelfth of the month yearly. It’s about having a financial savings account, so it’s an incredible matter for monetary advisors or accountants. But additionally, who doesn’t need to get monetary savings?

Here are some methods to market what you are promoting on today:

• Write a weblog submit on how to save cash associated to your business.
• Compare the worth of your providing with the worth of costlier options and tally up how a lot cash your prospects save yearly.
• Share useful data or assets to your viewers—native assets if you will discover them.
• Run a contest. CapitalOne as soon as ran a cool contest primarily based on the outcomes from this examine:

​In their #ShareMySave contest, it invited its viewers to share photos of their most treasured memento on Instagram or Twitter and clarify why it’s particular to them. By together with the hashtags #ShareMySave and #Contest, they have been entered right into a contest to win weekly prizes of $500 and a grand prize of $10,000.

National Boss’s Day

This Facebook- and LinkedIn-friendly vacation happens each October sixteenth. You might:

• Surprise your boss with a heartfelt submit on what you admire about them, what leaderships abilities they exemplify, or classes they’ve taught you.
• What in case you are the boss? Share errors you’ve made and classes you discovered from them (good instance of the Pratfall Effect)
• Or simply select one other boss you recognize…

Get to Know Your Customers Day

Get to Know Your Customers Day happens on the third Thursday of the primary month of each quarter, and solely when the earth is tilted at 23.4 levels (simply kidding on that final half). This is a blatantly superior advertising day in October, January, April, and July.

• Engage your viewers and gather precious suggestions by sharing surveys and quick polls.
• Ask about objects or providers they’d like to see you providing. Like with this instance…

…or this one:

You might additionally search your organization’s hashtag or location on social media and discover some user-generated content material to repost.

Sweetest Day

According to this source, the National Confectioners’ Association got here up with Candy Day again in 1916 as a method to have a good time and assist native sweet retailers and bakeries. During the struggle in 1917, the message morphed into “Get one for yourself and one for the boys overseas!” Once the struggle ended, 4 Michigan confectioners teamed up with the Red Cross to distribute sweet to hospitals, orphanages, shelters, and houses throughout Michigan.

By 1929, it turned official: National Sweetest Day happens on the third Thursday of October and is related to:

• Charitable giving.
• Acknowledging and appreciating your family members.
• Paying it ahead.

General October advertising concepts

If you’re too scattered throughout October (or on a regular basis) and don’t have it in you to coordinate a promotion throughout a particular week or day, check out any of those basic October advertising concepts that provide you with some extra flexibility.

Show off a fall services or products

While September has songs of summer season and November has the whispers of winter, October appears like the one true fall month (P.S. why did I get so poetic simply now). This month will be the time to essentially deal with one among your fall-themed services or products.

• Interior designers can characteristic fall-themed tasks of their portfolio.
• Flower retailers can show fall-colored bouquets.
• Restaurants can supply a cinnamon-spiced sangria (something however pumpkin, please).
• Landscapers can promote fall specials on Facebook or their Google Business Profile.

To get much more members, make it a limited-time supply out there just for the month.

Send out an October e-newsletter

There are loads of October newsletter ideas here, however for a brief listing:

• Send out a BOO! Surprise take care of a Halloween promotion.
• In honor of monetary planning month, spherical up any weblog posts you’ve revealed with budget-friendly suggestions and have them in your electronic mail.
• If you rolled out new customer loyalty programs, ran start-of-school-year specials, or hosted any occasions throughout September, share footage and leads to an October electronic mail e-newsletter.
• You can even embrace a calendar of any further specials you’re operating throughout the month or for November.

You may additionally be all for these October email subject lines.

Dabble into the artistic arts

The greatest supply for artistic advertising content material? A artistic advertising occasion.

• Show prospects learn how to make their very own fall- or Halloween-inspired craft or recipe.
• Write a weblog submit with a DIY video displaying learn how to beautify a mantle with fall flowers and miniature pumpkins.
• There are additionally loads of alternatives for a pumpkin-carving or pumpkin-painting night time.
• If relevant to your viewers, share menu concepts for a Halloween occasion.

I imply, who wouldn’t need to sink their enamel into these…enamel. (Image source)

Participate in a pumpkin patch

Farmers markets or pumpkin patches are considerable throughout October,

• Do somewhat native analysis to see if there are any annual occasions the place you’ll be able to arrange a stand, supply a sponsorship, or volunteer at. Being concerned in native occasions and causes is a win-win, because it markets what you are promoting for you whereas facilitating community building.
• You might additionally donate free merchandise or lessons as part of any raffles the occasion is operating.

Image source

Open your doorways

If you’re situated on a downtown Main Street of types o should you’re in part of the nation the place the climate is gorgeous at the moment, get some recent air into your constructing. This makes what you are promoting extra inviting to passersby. A chalkboard exterior together with your specials, an inspiring quote, or a enjoyable truth is an added bonus.

Halloween advertising concepts

What sort of October advertising concepts submit would this be if I didn’t point out Halloween? Many of those Halloween marketing ideas are conventional, tried, and true, however with somewhat brainstorming and model voice, you’ll be able to all the time add that artistic twist to catch your prospects’ eyes.

Embrace the Halloween garb

Get what you are promoting within the spirit of the season by adorning your workplace, retailer, and even your web site and social media pages with all the good things: mums, pumpkins, gourds, hay bales, burlap, skeletons, spiderwebs, ghosts, and the listing goes on. This is extra of a cliche advertising concept, however that doesn’t make it any much less efficient.

When you’re proactive with what you are promoting’s look, this alerts to prospects that you just care concerning the impression you permit on them, and reminds them that yours isn’t just a enterprise, however a ardour. You may even get actually loopy and carve your organization brand right into a jack-o-lantern to put in your storefront with a[n electric] candle at night time.

Host a sweet counting contest

Run a guessing contest to get buyer electronic mail addresses in retailer. Put a large canister of no matter sugary Octobery sweets you select, and have prospects present their electronic mail addresses with their estimate, or write it on the again of their enterprise card. This might be performed just about, too. The winner will get a prize (maybe all the sweet) ((until you’re a dentist)) or coupon or low cost off their subsequent buy.

Dress up for Halloween

I cringe barely upon giving this suggestion, however I believe this may very well be an incredible concept for companies that cater to kids. Plus, you don’t should be in a full-blown clown swimsuit. Dentists and hair dressers could make in any other case scary appointments extra enjoyable with a pleasant scarecrow, farmer, or cowboy costume. Clowns and vampires may scare the kids, so stick to safer or extra impartial choices.

Host a Halloween costume contest

This one can be fairly cliche nevertheless it’s by no means not a enjoyable time. Have a dressing up contest to your college students, prospects, workers, and even prospects’ pets. Share the photographs in your weblog, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and ask prospects to vote for the winners. The winner will get a prize and is featured in subsequent month’s e-newsletter.

Participate in a Halloween occasion

Participating in any Halloween occasions occurring round you—zombie 5k’s, trick-or-trunk nights, youngsters trick-or-treat afternoon within the workplace, or any building-wide Halloween actions should you work in a shared area. It’s robust to cease whenever you’re operating a enterprise, however as a rule, the break free out of your duties and the added laughter can really recharge you and lead you to be extra productive in the long term. Plus, the extra you’ll be able to work together with the folks in your group, the extra you’ll be able to find out about learn how to serve them and actually make a reputation for your self.

Easy, efficient, and cheap October advertising

Running an October-themed advertising marketing campaign is an effective way to authenticate your model, work together extra together with your local people, and check out new instruments and platforms. While they’re enjoyable and artistic, they’re additionally efficient and may also help you to extend your publicity, entice extra prospects, and construct up your popularity. Try out one among these straightforward October advertising concepts and get your self armed and prepared to your vacation campaigns.

Interested in additional marketing ideas for every month of the year? We may also help with that.

And for planning, check out this marketing calendar template from our friends at LOCALiQ.

Full listing of October month-to-month observances

Full listing of October nationwide days and dates