Fall Forecast: Autumn Email Marketing

Happy Labor Day! If your email marketing follows the seasons, it’s about time to shift gears and head towards autumn.  For those in the U.S. that means a host of holidays, including Columbus Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving.  It also signifies the end of hot summer days and transition to winter’s colder, shorter days.  (If you’re in Australia and heading from winter to spring, just switch everything around in your head, please.)

Some tips for fall marketing:

1.  Only pick up the holidays that make sense for you.  Not everybody has a reason to send a Columbus Day email, so don’t force the issue!

2.  Remember your options.  Seasonal content can be information, it can be promotional, it can even be just for fun.  If you know your demographics (and we highly encourage that!) think about their lives and what this time of year is likely to entail.  Kids in school?  Travel?  Outdoor adventures?

3.  Consider the bigger picture.  Halloween isn’t just about candy and Thanksgiving isn’t just about turkey.  Keeping a wide angle view will help you to capture more areas where you can connect with readers and their lives.

4.  Remember that fall leads right into winter.  You know, the season with what retail calls “the 13th month” in it.  Don’t overwhelm readers with newsletters or content - they are about to be inundated with holiday marketing.  Play it cool with a slow ramp-up and keep it simple while reminding them why they love your newsletter.  Now is a great time to start reinforcing the idea that you offer consistent value.