While September does have Labor Day, there isn’t a lot about the month to fuel marketing content and promotions. Or, at least, that’s what most people think. If you need something to get your customers excited and your marketing team inspired, check out these fun holidays in September, plus our best tips on how to use them.
Funny national holidays like National Jelly-Filled Donut Day may seem like just something to fill a calendar, but these holidays are a great opportunity to engage with your customers and get them excited about your brand. Here are just a few ways businesses are using weird, silly, inspirational, and international holidays to create fun and tasteful marketing content.
Pro tip: While September has quite a few religious holidays like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, you don’t want to use these holidays purely for promotional reasons. It’s good to acknowledge the holidays of major religions but using them to promote your business when you have no inherent connection is in poor taste and will offend more customers than it excites.
The Saturday before Labor Day
If you’re in the fast food business, International Bacon Day is a great holiday to get customers salivating. Offer up some savory bacon discounts, or take to social media and see who can come up with the best bacon combo to celebrate one of America’s favorite flavors!
First Saturday of September
When looking for the best September social media holidays, this one is the best for inspiring posts. Share a beard filter with your fans on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and others to get your customers engaged on your site. Hold a beard contest to win your best promotional merch, or offer beard trim discounts if you’re in the barber business.
September 6
Great for authors, bookstores, schools, and anyone with a book to promote, Read a Book Day is a great opportunity to get customers excited about reading. Encourage literacy in your area with a reading challenge, ask for everyone’s favorite book suggestions, and put some books on display around your workplace to help everyone embrace this bookworm’s dream holiday.
September 7
This holiday isn’t just for therapists and mental health experts. ADHD affects a major part of the population, and this day is a great day to bring them some visibility with an educational post and some tasteful mental health merch. You can also give your customers with ADHD a voice and encourage them to share their stories of how their diagnosis has impacted their lives on your social media.
September 9
Kids aren’t the only ones that can get into this holiday. Hotels, clinics, grocery stores, and all sorts of other businesses can bring a smile to their customers’ faces with their own custom branded teddy bear giveaway! If you’re looking for some September content ideas, be a little silly on social media by giving a tour of your business and products through the adventures of your own teddy bear mascot.
The 15th day of the 8th Lunar month
A traditional Chinese holiday, the Chinese Moon Festival is already so full of great traditions going back thousands of years, including moon cakes, family gatherings, moon gazing, colorful lanterns, gifts, and more. Show some love for your Chinese-American customers while spreading appreciation for this beautiful holiday by bringing some of these traditions into your own small moon celebration.
First Sunday after Labor Day
Show some appreciation for the parents of our parents! Grandparent’s Day is celebrated both in the US and Canada, and offers a great opportunity for selling greeting cards, flowers, treats, and other gifts. Help your customers show their love for these beloved family members. You can also celebrate yourself by offering discounts for grandparents who can show a cute picture of their grandkids!
September 12
Put chocolate milk and ice-cream in a blender, and you’ve got a recipe for great September promotion ideas. This tasty theme can be utilized by any company that wants to get some extra feet in the door in exchange for a discount, a freebie, or a brand new milkshake invention. Can’t sell milkshakes? Share your favorite recipe on social media for some easy and exciting content your customers will love.
September 13
Bring some smiles to your customers with a holiday that’s all about optimism. Share your own motivational thoughts and quotes with a motivation wall in your business, and post some of your favorites on your social media! With just a few simple gestures like these, this holiday can quickly become a favorite local tradition that brings customers in with a smile every year. Note, this day is also on International Chocolate Day, so feel consider sharing some treats with your smiles!
September 19
Already utilized by many businesses, this holiday is a great opportunity to bring out the silly side in everyone! Find the best pirate impressions among your customers and reward them with treats, coupons, and giveaways. You can even go all out and have all of your staff be pirates for a day with a nautical in-store theme your customers will come for miles to see.
Third Sunday in September
Girls have to stick together, and this holiday is a great way to celebrate the bond between women that so many rely on. Help your coworkers, customers, and others celebrate the women friendships in their lives and how they have impacted them for the better. Even the men can get in on the celebration by learning more about the women in their lives and the friendships that sustain them.
September 24
It’s time for bakeries and restaurants to show off their mad vegan skills with something special for the vegetably inclined. Vegans are hungry for anything suited to their diet, so any marketing campaign you make to celebrate this event is sure to attract their attention. Offer discounts on vegan treats, share your favorite vegan recipes, and encourage vegans to share their best vegan baking hacks on your social media to make the most of this holiday for your brand.
Autumn Equinox
A popular pagan holiday and a total celebration of Fall, the Autumn Equinox often falls in September to celebrate when there is exactly 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness on the equator. Let this day help your business get into the seasonal spirit with colorful leaves, pumpkin flavors, and harvest-style celebrations that set the mood for the big holidays to come.
Fourth Saturday in September
An excellent holiday for sporting stores, this holiday is all about customers who love spending time outdoors finding their own food. Help awaken that love of the outdoors with your own promotions for hunting and fishing gear, nature getaways, and more. You can also ask customers to share their own favorite experiences and even photos on your social media to help get people engaged in this fun little holiday.
September 28
The perfect way to generate September content ideas, this holiday is something anyone can participate in! Let your customers compete to create the dumbest questions, or even encourage customers to come forward with real questions they may have been too embarrassed to ask about your business. No question is too dumb or silly for this made-for-social-media holiday.
Didn’t find a holiday that suits you? These are just a few of the many fun holidays in September that can inspire your next promotion. Next time you’re feeling at a loss for social media content or promotional themes, check out the silly holidays of the month to help get your customers engaged with your brand and social media.
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