August 7, 2017

4 Small Business Marketing Ideas for the Fall

With Summer in the rearview mirror, the start of the Fall season is a great time to start thinking of ways (if you haven’t already) to market your business and drives sale. If you’re in need of some inspiration, here are four marketing ideas worth exploring as you head into Q4.

1. Sponsor a Local Sports Team: Fall sports are officially back in action, which presents a great marketing opportunity for local businesses. From branded yard signs and uniforms to banners and advertisements, there are plenty of ways for you to score valuable exposure for your business in front of a diverse (and potentially new) audience of people within your community that are easily accessible: players, fans, parents, coaches – you name it. As an added bonus, this type of sponsorship also promotes goodwill in your local area and positions your brand as one that supports community programs.

2. Run a Fall Promotion: The temperatures and leaves aren’t the only things falling this season; your prices on select products and services can too, which can be an effective way of drawing in new customers or driving repeat business (depending on your objective). Keep in mind the discount or promotional offer you carry out must be strong enough to compel a prospect or customer to take action (e.g. buy your product or service over the competition), but also provide a reasonable return on investment for you (or at least present cross-selling or upselling opportunities to generate additional revenue). Another key point to remember is just because you drop your prices doesn’t mean customers are going to come knocking on your door. You have to market your promotion so people (far and wide) know about it. To market your promotion, combining print marketing (e.g. window clings, banners, direct mail, flyers) with online marketing (e.g. Facebook ads, email marketing, Yelp ads) has proven to be an effective strategy. Once you gain a new customer, be sure to give them a good experience and nurture that customer relationship moving forward, so they turn into a local customer that will pay full price for your products and services.

3. Exhibit at a Community Festival: Think of one big festival that your community flocks to each Fall and make sure your business is in on that action. In addition to purchasing booth space at the festival, don’t forget about this all important (but often overlooked) detail: how you plan to stand out from the crowd! Remember: You only have one shot to do this right and you want to make it count since you’ve invested money to be at this event. Here are some quick tips to ensure A) your brand is seen and B) your brand is memorable:

  • Your booth should be visually stimulating, inviting and interactive.
  • Arm yourself with business cardsbrochures and flyers so attendees can learn more about your business, products and services (after they’ve left your booth) and/or have your contact information to be able to follow-up with you in the future.
  • Give away a unique, branded promotional product. Why? According to a Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) study, 85% of consumers do business with the advertiser (the brand featured on the promotional product).

Additional Tip: In addition to marketing to attendees, don’t forget to talk to your fellow exhibitors about your business’s products and services; they are potential customers too. When exhibiting at a festival, you should leave no stone unturned!

4. Plant Seeds for the Holidays: Fall leads right into the busiest time of year for many businesses: the holiday season (November and December). This is why it’s very important to start planning and marketing your business’s products and services early to ensure your brand is in consumers’ consideration sets when the time comes for them to make a purchase. In fact, the National Retail Federation reported that more than half of consumers tackled their holiday lists early in 2016, with 41 percent saying they started shopping in October or earlier. Knowing that, how can you begin marketing your business’s products and services now? Bounce back offers (or special offers/info given to existing customers) are an effective way to tease an upcoming promotion or product to incentivize repeat business.

There are literally thousands of ways to market your business, but hopefully one (or more) of these marketing ideas has you excited about Fall marketing! If you need any help with regards to the design and/or printing of any of your upcoming marketing materials, PostNet is here to help!

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