7 September Marketing Ideas to Inspire Your Campaign (+dates)

Source: Freepik.com

As September is approaching and people spend more time indoors glued to their devices, every social media manager has a doubt: What to post?

You might think it may be too early to talk about holiday campaigns, but more than a quarter of US consumers plan to start holiday shopping before October.

Therefore, you shouldn’t relax too much. Summer is nearly over and the beginning of the fall is the ideal time to start preparing, warming up and nurturing your leads.

With our carefully picked September marketing ideas, you’ll never run out of inspiration for your content.

September marketing ideas: important dates to mark in your calendar

Here are some dates that every social media manager should be aware of:

• September 1st: Letter Writing Day
• September 2nd: International Bacon Day
• September 2nd: World Beard Day
• September 5th: International Day of Charity
• September 6th: Read a Book Day
• First Monday of September: Labor Day
• First Friday of September: National Lazy Mom’s Day
• First Sunday of September: Father’s Day in Australia (Check out our Father’s Day campaigns!)
• First Sunday after Labor Day: National Grandparents Day
• September 8th: International Literacy Day
• September 10th: World Suicide Prevention Day
• September 11th: Patriot Day
• September 11th: 9/11 Remembrance Day
• September 13th: Positive Thinking Day
• September 13th: Celiac Disease Awareness Day
• September 16th: National Guacamole Day
• September 17th: Constitution Day
• September 17th: International Country Music Day
• September 18th: National Cheeseburger Day
• September 21st: World Gratitude Day
• September 21st: International Day of Peace
• September 21st: World’s Alzheimer’s Day
• September 22nd: Native American Day
• September 23rd: Autumnal Equinox
• September 29th: World Heart Day
• September 29th: National Coffee Day

And here are some ideas to inspire your weekly content for every week of September:

• The 1st week of September: Zero waste week
• The 2nd week of September: International Week of Biodiversity
• The 3rd week of September: International Week of Peace/International Week of Happiness at Work/National Keep Kids Creative Week
• The last week of September: International Week of the Deaf

7 September marketing ideas for your campaign

1. Use gamification marketing

Gamification is a tool you can use during all phases of marketing: 

• Raising brand awareness
• Engaging your customers
• Boosting sales
• Creating a customer loyalty program

As the name says, it’s all about adding game-like elements to your campaigns. The best part is that you don’t have to be a coding expert to create your own custom game. With tools like Adact, you can create and distribute customized campaigns within minutes using our templates and drag-and-drop game builders.

We have over 30 games and here are some ideas to help you incorporate gamification in your September marketing plan.

Back to School Trivia

September is a perfect opportunity to create a fun trivia game with general knowledge or a particular subject like history, science or anything related to your industry. With Adact, you can create single-player trivia or make it competitive with multiplayer trivia!

For this and other multiplayer games, you can create a leaderboard so participants can track their progress.

Personality quiz

Many consider September to be a self-improvement month. Most people who are into self-improvement enjoy doing these kinds of tests and quizzes, and you can use them to your advantage to promote your products or services in the solution part.

You can take some of our personality quiz suggestions or come up with your own ideas:

• Discover the perfect fall movie for you
• Find out the ideal autumn skin care according to your skin type
• What new skill should you learn this fall

Matching game

You can create a September-inspired matching game for all generations, from the younger ones to adults. That’s because Adact offers both a kid-friendly Memory game where they can, for example, match pumpkins of the same color, but also a more advanced version where you have to match three or more items, which is more complicated than it first seems!

Scratch cards and Wheel of Fortune

If you’re offering coupons or gifts for people who won in the game, why not add an element of surprise? Instead of sending your customers a discount code, email them a digital scratchcard or wheel of fortune that they have to spin to reveal their prize!

2. Get into the autumn groove

Source: Starbucks.com

After a long hot summer, people are craving some fall-themed content. You can’t go wrong with inspiration for cozy home decor, fall fashion trends or seasonal recipes.

It’s also a great occasion to promote your new seasonal products. Starbucks is a great example, with its fall-themed drink, pumpkin spice latte, that has become the symbol of the season!

With people spending more time inside, this is the ideal time for long-form content, such as writing a blog post or a newsletter with your favorite fall tips, activities and things to try out. For more inspiration, check out our email marketing ideas.

3. Offer special back-to-school offers

Source: Aldi.us

September is an ideal time to create bundles, discounts and one-time offers to help kids and parents prepare for going back to school.

Now, you may think: But we’re not selling backpacks or anything related to school, so what do we do?

First, define your target group: kids, teenagers or parents who are often more stressed with the whole back-to-school thing than their kids.

And then, try to find any correlation between your products and the school year. A new beginning, a fresh new start or simply showcasing how your products can help them on busy mornings.

Aldi has a special September promotion every fall, where typical breakfast items are on a big discount. The picture shows how they used this occasion to give their customers tips on a perfect school breakfast while promoting their products.

Check out this article for eight additional back-to-school campaign ideas.

4. Celebrate Labor Day

Source: DunkinDonuts.com

While kids return to school, adults celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September.

Depending on your industry, you can celebrate workers by giving them:

• Special discounts
• Labor Day coupon codes
• Free shipping

DunkinDonuts never fails to celebrate any holiday and did the same for Labor Day through billboards of appreciation for all workers.

5. Raise awareness for a cause

Source: YouTube.com

As a socially responsible business, it’s always a good idea to support important causes. You can do so by raising awareness, organizing fundraisers or donating a certain percentage of every product you sell.

These campaigns sometimes have unexpected or even shocking elements with the goal to stand out in the crowd and attract attention to the cause. However, it’s essential to always stay respectful.

A few years ago, Coca-Cola created its first commercial without sound and broadcast it on TV and YouTube in Pakistan. The ad aimed to raise awareness of over nine million people in Pakistan with hearing impairment.

The campaign’s central message was “Your volume is not on mute” as the end goal was to make people step in the shoes of deaf people and see the world from their perspective, at least for a few moments.

Here are some causes you can support this September:

• Childhood cancer awareness
• Alzheimer’s disease awareness
• Suicide prevention
• Food safety
• Childhood obesity prevention
• Deaf awareness
• National Recovery month
• Ovarian cancer awareness
• Blood cancer awareness
• Alopecia Awareness
  

6. Add a touch of Hispanic culture

Source: CoronaUsa.com

Hispanic heritage month starts on September 15th, providing a fantastic opportunity to celebrate Hispanic culture and promote diversity.

Corona launched “La Vida Más Fina,” a campaign in the Spanish language that’s proudly celebrating the Hispanic roots of this 100-year-old brand.

1. If you work in the food and beverage industry, you can create a special menu with Hispanic-inspired flavors. 
2. If you’re a fashion brand, you can promote items with Mexican patterns or promote famous Hispanic fashion creators.

This goes for every industry: you can create an appreciation post celebrating individuals of Hispanic origin related to your line of work.

Whatever you choose, make sure that your campaign is respectful and inclusive.

7. Show appreciation for business women

Source: BuyWomenOwned.com

On September 22nd, we’re celebrating American Business Women’s Day, marking the founding of the American Business Women’s Association in 1949.

We’ve gone a long way since then, but women in business still face many obstacles. If you’re not a women-owned brand, you can always support them!

For that one day, pick a local women-owned brand and let it take the spotlight on your social media, creating a post of appreciation and inviting your customers to follow the brand and purchase from them.

September is a great time to unite as a community and support women-owned brands!

Conclusion

There you have it! We hope these September marketing ideas will help you create your content calendar and engage with your customers daily.

Don’t forget always to have your audience in mind and ask yourself the following question:

What would they want to read/watch today? How can I provide them value, educate or entertain them?

No matter which topic you choose, gamification can take your campaigns to the next level. Sign up today to get access to over 30 games that will engage your visitors and turn them into customers.

September marketing ideas: FAQs