When it comes to your October marketing calendar, you don’t need a reason to post every day.
But the right holidays and remembrances can make it easier to plan useful, timely content.
October offers several opportunities for Chambers of Commerce, tourism organizations, and small businesses to highlight local businesses, recognize their teams, connect with customers, and share what makes their communities unique.
Here are holidays and remembrances to consider adding to your October marketing calendar.
- Download: October National Days for Chambers of Commerce and CVBs
- Download: October National Days for Small Businesses
Add These Ideas to Your October Marketing Calendar
National Women in AI Month
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of how many businesses work and serve their customers. National Women in AI Month offers an opportunity to recognize women contributing to this field and share useful information about AI.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Highlight women in your community or on your team who work in technology, AI, or related fields. You could also feature local businesses using AI or share educational resources that can help your members better understand the technology.
- For small businesses: Share how you’re using AI in your business, if applicable. You could also introduce a woman entrepreneur or business leader you admire and share what you’ve learned from her.
National Arts & Humanities Month
The arts and humanities play an important role in many communities. October is a good time to introduce your audience to the people and organizations contributing to your local arts and cultural scene.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Feature local artists, galleries, museums, theaters, historic sites, and cultural organizations. You could also create a guide to upcoming arts and cultural events or highlight a local artist each week.
- For small businesses: Feature a local artist you work with, showcase artwork in your business, or highlight a local arts organization you support. Businesses in creative industries can also use the month to share their work and the people behind it.
National Women’s Small Business Month
When you add National Women’s Small Business Month to your October marketing calendar, it’s an opportunity to recognize women who own and lead small businesses and share their stories with your audience.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Create a series featuring women-owned businesses in your community. Introduce the owners, share their stories, and make it easy for your audience to learn more about or support their businesses.
- For small businesses: If your business is women-owned, share your story and what you’ve learned as a business owner. You can also recognize another woman-owned business.
National Manufacturing Day: October 2
Manufacturing Day is an opportunity to introduce your audience to the businesses, people, and careers behind the products they use every day.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Feature local manufacturers and give your audience a look at what they produce. Consider sharing photos or video from a local facility, highlighting career opportunities, or creating a series of member spotlights.
- For small businesses: If you manufacture a product, take your audience behind the scenes. Show how it’s made, introduce the people involved, or share something customers may not know about your process.
Bookshop Day: October 3
Independent bookstores can be an important part of a community’s downtown and local business landscape. Bookshop Day is a natural opportunity to highlight them.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Feature local bookstores and libraries, share recommendations from community members, or create a list of books by local authors. You could also highlight upcoming literary events.
- For small businesses: If you’re a bookstore, share what’s new, your staff’s favorite books, or upcoming events. Other businesses can participate by recommending a favorite book, highlighting a local author, or partnering with a bookstore.
National Get to Know Your Customers Day: October 15
Use this day as a reason to start a conversation with the people you serve. It’s a no-brainer to add to your October marketing calendar.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Ask your members a question and share their answers. You could also feature a member business and introduce the people behind it. For tourism organizations, ask your audience about their favorite local places or experiences.
- For small businesses: The goal is to create a conversation, not simply collect responses. Ask your customers something you’d genuinely like to know.
National Boss’s Day: October 16
National Boss’s Day provides an opportunity to recognize the people who lead your organization or business. You can also use the day to recognize the employees and partners who help make the business successful.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Introduce your executive director, CEO, board chair, or another leader in your organization. Share a little about their role, their background, or what they enjoy about serving the community.
- For small businesses: Give your audience a glimpse of the person behind the business. Share why they started the company, what they enjoy most about their work, or something customers may not know about them.
Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day: October 21
This is a natural opportunity for Chambers and their members to talk about the role a Chamber plays in the local business community.
- For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Show, rather than simply tell, how your organization supports local businesses. Share member success stories, community initiatives, events, advocacy efforts, or other work happening behind the scenes.
- For small businesses: If you’re a Chamber member, share how you’ve benefited from your membership. You might highlight a relationship you’ve built, an event you’ve attended, or a resource that has helped your business.
Halloween: October 31
Halloween gives both organizations and businesses plenty of opportunities to create seasonal content while promoting local experiences. Remember that Halloween content can be useful throughout October, (not just on October 31), so add it throughout your October marketing calendar.
For Chambers of Commerce and CVBs: Create a roundup of local Halloween events, highlight businesses with Halloween activities or decorations, or create a guide to Halloween in your community. You could also create a map of decorated homes or businesses if your community has a tradition around Halloween decorations.
For small businesses: Share your decorations, costumes, seasonal products, or Halloween traditions. You could also host a contest, create a seasonal offer, or show your audience what goes into preparing for Halloween.
Choose October Marketing Calendar Topics That Make Sense for Your Audience
You don’t need to use every holiday on your marketing calendar.
Choose the ones that connect naturally to your Chamber, business, or community. The best holiday content gives you a reason to do something useful:
- Highlight a local business.
- Introduce your team.
- Share a helpful resource.
- Start a conversation.
- Give your audience a new reason to explore your community.
Use these holidays as starting points, then make the content your own. Looking for more ways to fill your marketing calendar? Download our free marketing calendar for more holidays, remembrances, and content ideas.
