Content marketing is an excellent way for small businesses to engage with their customers. November is an important month for small business marketing, second only to December. It is packed with important holidays, celebrations, and big marketing events as people start shopping for Christmas. You can use all these events to post relevant content and amp up your content marketing strategies.  

To take advantage of these opportunities, you must plan ahead- especially if you want to do something bigger, like host an event or hold a huge sale or a giveaway.

In this article, we share ten content marketing ideas your small business can use in November 2022. 

What is Content Marketing for Small Businesses?

Content marketing is curating or creating blog posts, podcast episodes, or videos to attract, engage, and retain customers. It is the most powerful when it provides helpful, informative, or entertaining information that works with an effective search engine optimization strategy.

Content marketing has been around for years now! When a term is used so frequently, it can be hard to focus on the more significant meaning and even harder to determine its application to your small business. However, content marketing is a necessity for today’s small business owners. For small businesses, content marketing can result in a six times higher conversion rate than non-content-marketing users. 

Here are some inspiration and ideas for November to help you come up with great ideas for marketing campaigns and social media posts. So, take a look at the special dates this month, then start planning your social media calendar!

1. Celebrate Vegans

November is World Vegan Month, and November 1 is World Vegan Day. For some brands, this presents an opportunity to connect with a moderately small but dedicated audience. There are reportedly approximately 79 million vegans worldwide, including 12% millennials. Dietary vegans or strict vegetarians consider veganism a healthy eating strategy that avoids all animal products — basically having a plant-based diet.

They willing to invest in products and services that fit this specialized lifestyle. If vegans are part of your small business’ target market, consider posting content supporting those choices and calling out the vegan items you offer.

2. No-Shave November

November is the perfect month to grow a beard or mustache and create content about it. No-Shave November is a global campaign asking people to withhold shaving to raise cancer awareness. This observation is specifically for issues in men’s health, such as testicular cancer, prostate cancer, and mental health. The campaign encourages men to grow mustaches or beards throughout November. 

Your small business can participate in the No-Shave November campaigns by producing content that promotes the cause and inspires people to donate to related charities. For example, you could write blogs about the importance of men’s health, share stories about how cancer has affected people you know, or produce social media posts showing mustache and beard styles men could try.

Your small business could also donate a portion of November sales to related charities.

3. Dear Santa

Traditionally, schools ask children to write letters to Santa Claus to ask for Christmas gifts during the second week of November. Therefore, the second week of November is “Dear Santa Letter Week.”

For content marketing, you could publish engaging posts featuring your customers' or staff's  Dear Santa letters, or you might feature such letters from celebrities or famous personalities.

A great approach would be to host a contest wherein consumers submit their Dear Santa letters to your small business for a chance to win. All submitted letters could be used as user-generated content on your site.

4. Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is celebrated on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, and it is a content marketing opportunity for small businesses that sell online and from physical shops. The observation was started in 2010 by American Express as it encourages people to shop at smaller firms.

Small Business Saturday is a content marketing option for small business owners to publish content that focuses on their business’s contribution to the community.

Share some interesting facts about your business and how you started, ask customers to share their favorite memories with your business, or discuss what small businesses mean to your local community. Being a small business owner isn’t easy, so use this opportunity to highlight your business's importance and encourage your followers to do the same.

5. Last-minute Gift Guides

Some shoppers will wait until the last moment to shop. The 2022 holiday shopping season usually begins in October. But don’t forget about the procrastinators in your audience of customers and prospects. Many folks will wait until the last minute to do their gift shopping.

Aim at this group with a series of last-minute gift guides. Target specific recipients, such as “Last-minute Gifts for Moms” or “The Procrastinator’s Guide to Shopping for Your Favorite Niece.”

6. November 11th – Singles’ Day 

Where are all the single people at? November 11 is the perfect day to spotlight your single customers! Businesses usually make a huge fuss and put so much hype around Valentine’s day, so why not make a big deal about Single’s Day? You could give away a table for one at your cafe or restaurant or host a “singles only” event for your single customers to engage and have fun!

7. November 13th – World Kindness Day

Any small business can celebrate kindness. On this day, you can actually do something kind on behalf of your business. You can do this by giving a portion of your profits of the day to those in need, offering someone a warm meal, or asking your customers to donate clothes they don’t wear to your local charity. Take responsibility and work with your customers to be kind. Use this opportunity to stand up for a cause by setting an example of kindness. When you do, your customers will see your values and feel closer to you.

8. November 19th – International Men’s Day

You can celebrate International Men’s Day by doing something nice for your male customers. You can give them a discount, a special giveaway, or host an event. You could also use this holiday to raise awareness about a subject important to men, create workshops, videos, live chats, and forums on your social media or community page, or even dedicate a series of posts on social media. Use this day to show the men some love and help them relax or treat themselves.

9. November 20th – Universal Children’s Day

This isn't just the day to celebrate our own kids; it is also a perfect opportunity to raise awareness for struggling children worldwide. Your small business can celebrate by creating posts, coming up with fun games for kids to enjoy, or giving parents ideas of special things they could do to spend time with their kids. You could also host an event for children and donate some of your profits to an organization supporting underprivileged children. If you can, use your business to encourage your followers to join you in helping those in need, especially this year when people might be struggling more than ever.

10. November 23rd – Espresso Day

Coffee shop owners, this is your big moment! Create a sale on your espresso drinks, or curate a limited edition new drink just for that day! Host a fun social media giveaway and award the winner with a gift card. And who says only coffee shop owners can celebrate this? Even if you don’t own a coffee shop, you can collaborate with a local one to do a giveaway. Because really, who doesn’t love coffee? The free caffeine is a surefire way to win over new customers and create fans for life.

Planning Out Your Content Calendar

These are fun holidays and days of observance; you might feel tempted to celebrate all of them, but we suggest you choose only the ones that make sense to your business. For example, you might LOVE coffee, but if you own a small clothing boutique, you might not be able to celebrate World Espresso Day (unless you get really creative). There are probably plenty of other options that make sense for your business to participate in.

We hope that this list has given you some ideas and inspiration for this month’s content. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!