8 SMS Campaign Ideas for October
Here’s the deal: you need SMS campaign ideas for October, and we’ve got SMS campaign ideas for October. You can have all of them for the low, low price of free.
Really. We want you to use these ideas next month. We’ve picked some fun campaign ideas that should stand out in inboxes and begin warming up your subscribers for the BFCM season.
The first day of October is a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure situation. And while International Coffee Day is a big one, we’ve written at length about coffee-themed texts this year. So we’re going to yield the stage to some lesser-known celebrations, like the following:
October 1: World Vegetarian Day
Are you a food and beverage brand? Share a vegetarian recipe with your list. Are you an apparel brand? Share a vegetarian recipe with your list. Are you a boutique jewelry brand specializing in the repurposing of ancient dinosaur fossils into wearable earrings? Doesn’t matter; send a vegetarian recipe to your list. Better yet, build a campaign flow that prompts subscribers to respond with pictures or reviews of the meal once they’ve tried it.
October 1: Random Acts of Poetry Day
The list of things we’d be okay with randomly receiving is not very long. But poems? Poems are on that list. Instead of a generic promotion today, flex your rhyming muscles and reformat your SMS into a poem. Concoct a couplet. Apply some alliteration. Employ some enjambment (kudos if you know what enjambment means). Now, the following texts are from a variety of holidays, but they still serve as great examples:
October 5: World Teacher’s Day
School has only been in session for a month or so, but in teacher years that’s like 12 months. We all know how much teachers sacrifice in terms of their time, energy, and resources as they pour knowledge and love into our kids, so be sure that your brand acknowledges them today.
Encourage your subscribers to purchase a gift for the teachers in their lives, or run a steep, teachers-only discount. Here are some lovely texts we spotted from Postscript brands last year:
October 10: World Mental Health Day
While this day should first and foremost be about YOU taking a beat and taking care of yourself (BFCM season sure doesn’t help with the stress)— don’t miss a chance to check in on your customers with an earnest text. Here’s a campaign that doesn’t need to be overtly promotional; instead, just drop a positive note to brighten subscribers’ days and lift their spirits.
October 12: National Savings Day
We’d wager that this day is supposed to be about retirement savings, emergency savings, and rainy-day coin jars. But how about savings on your product? Write an SMS promoting a one-day sale and encourage subscribers to put the money they’re saving away for the future.
Or give some straight-up, long-term savings advice like Bad Girl Finances did!
October 16: Dictionary Day
Here’s a fun one. Share a definition with your subscribers. Does your brand make organic snacks? Define ‘organic’ to your list and why it’s important.
Define the word “deal” by using your product in the definition.
Or come up with a fun, tongue-in-cheek definition for your brand’s name and format it like an entry in Webster. Observe:
Postscript (noun) post•script
The undisputed, best-in-class, money-making SMS platform that inspired the song “Love on Top” by Beyoncé.
October 25: National Art Day
Need some user-generated content? Throw a little art competition in honor of National Art Day. Field some artistic submissions from your subscribers with a simple campaign flow that invites them to enter their work for a chance to win one of your products.
Any subscriber who takes the time to send in art they’ve done should be considered one of your most loyal, so reward all participants with a deal of some kind.
Alternatively, consider supporting a local artist and commissioning a fun piece for a campaign or new packaging. Spotlight the artist and artists everywhere with a campaign that showcases their work and the story behind it.
October 31: Halloween
It’s back. All Hallows Day. Hallowe’en. You love it, or you don’t, but we love it here at Postscript because it yields some of the most enjoyable SMS campaigns we see all year.
We’ll let some fantastic Postscript merchant texts do the talking here, but remember:
Halloween is an excellent opportunity to test the waters with some full-list sends and begin warming up your subscribers for the BFCM weekend. Test your segments and identify weak points in your opt-in flow. This is one of your last big sends before game time next month—so glean as much data as you can from it.
WodBottom
While we're on the subject of BFCM, be sure to join our live event on September 24. We’re talking about three brand new features to help optimize your BFCM this year, AND we’re releasing four masterclasses on SMS strategy. All for free. Grab your seat, and we’ll see you there!
