4 Fall Marketing Ideas for New England Retailers

Fall is when New England shines – cooler weather, gorgeous foliage, football games, fairs, sweater weather and pumpkin spice lattes.  It’s also an exciting time when everyone starts gearing up for the busy end-of-year holiday season, which is great news for New England retailers.

This makes fall a great time to grow your business.  Main streets and downtowns are bit busier with leaf-peeping traffic and apple pie festivals and scarecrow building contests are bringing community members out and about in our towns to visit local businesses.

Try some or all of these 4 Fall Marketing Ideas for New England Retailers to win over new customers and reward loyal shoppers.

1. Freshen Up for Fall

Your windows and store displays get updated in the Fall to show off the new merchandise. Shouldn’t your website and social channels also get a Fall facelift?

We know so many of our New England retailers connect with their customers over multiple channels: in-person, via social media, through marketing emails, and on their websites.  Look for ways to incorporate fall imagery into your online channels – just like you do in-store!

Get in the autumn spirit with some new product images on our website and social channels – and add in the right copy for the season: “It’s officially sweater weather!” or “Time to get cozy!” And make sure your social posts match your site. Pick a fall color scheme and pull it across your website and social channels.  Keeping it consistent across your channels will build excitement and engagement – and give you a great platform for communicating any fall promotions.

2. Offer Fun Fall Content

Providing your audiences with a value-add is key to keeping them engaged.  Use your social posts, website/blog, and email communications to spark creativity and supplement what you are offering.  Consider incorporating the following ideas into your social and email campaigns (and in-store, too!)

• Seasonal recipes
• Seasonal decor
• Holiday outing ideas
• Halloween costume ideas
• Fall discounts and offers from your business

3. Fall Deal Days

Drive sales with these fun, fall-themed discounts and selling events.

Say good-bye to summer sale – Promote deep discounts on any left-over summer stock, and have fun with it! Promote deals via social posts, emails to customers, on your website, and via a good, old-fashioned sidewalk sale, preferably during a busy weekend when lots is going on in town!

Offer a weekly autumn deal – use your social posts, email lists, and in-store real estate to offer one special deal each week. Keep the fall theme going with your images and the language you use around the deal. And consider special limited-time offers for big shopping days this fall like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

4. Fall Photo Contest

Everyone loves to take photos, share photos, and see themselves in photos.  Why not take advantage of that and run a fall-themed photo contest? Your customers will absolutely love sharing their Instagram-worthy pics.

Encourage them to share how they’re celebrating the season – preferably with items they have purchased from your store! – and tag those photos with a specific hashtag. You can feature some pictures while the contest is in full swing, then promote the winners on your social media accounts. Look for ways to tie into happenings in town, or benefit/raise money for a local school or youth sports team so people help to get the word out and improve community engagement.

Connecting with Your Customers

Fall is, in many ways, New England retailers’ biggest season. With so much happening in our region during this glorious season, and the lead-up to the holidays, this is an exciting time to connect with existing customers and build new relationships. With our autumn marketing ideas, you can capitalize on the excitement of the season to continue growing your business.

Think ahead with a visit to the next New England Apparel Show

Now that you’ve got your fall promotions planned – time to think ahead!  Join us for the next New England Apparel show October 30 through November 1.  We’ll have nearly 800 brands showing over 50,000 square feet of exhibit space.  Register as a buyer today!