If you ever find yourself scratching your head, wondering what on earth to write about on your photography blog or social media, here’s an idea for you: tap into national awareness days for content inspiration.
Seriously, it’s a game-changer! Let’s be honest, we’ve all faced that frustrating blank screen moment, struggling to come up with something to say or share that might interest followers.
This is where awareness days swoop in to save the day! There are loads of these special days happening every month, so you’ve potentially got a whole host of cool topics just waiting to be turned into engaging content! Keep reading to find out more.
Related reading: A step-by-step guide to using awareness days in your photo marketing content
Awareness days are invaluable as content prompts
Take any awareness day that is centered around a specific theme or topic, and use this to generate marketing content ideas. It can be that simple.
Think of them as your creative jumpstart. When you dive into the theme of a particular awareness day, week, or monthly campaign, it’s like a spark for your imagination. Suddenly, you might stumble upon a fantastic story that’s relevant to share with your audience. The sheer variety of awareness days happening every month means that if you give it a shot and keep an open mind about how they can benefit your photography business, you’re bound to discover ways to put them to work for you.
Related reading: How to use awareness days to inspire photography content ideas
Free calendar and October awareness days (2023 edition)
If you’re reading this around the time this article was originally published, now’s the time to start creating content for your photography marketing channels for October!
In October, there are many awareness days and campaigns, so I’m confident that you should be able to find some that are relevant and which could inspire content ideas you’ve not thought of yet.
Here’s a list of October awareness days that you might want to look out for in 2023:
October Awareness Days
Month-long awareness campaigns in October
There are month-long campaigns during October including:
- Photographer Appreciation Month
- Black History Month
- International Walk to School Month
- International School Library Month
- The Big Draw (Visual Literacy)
- ADHD Awareness Month
- Go Sober for October
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- National Cybersecurity Month
As an example of how some of these could be applied…
Photographer Appreciation Month
This is an obvious to start with! This monthly campaign is all about YOU getting recognition for the incredible work that you do. A simple idea on how to leverage this would be to ask your past customers to show their appreciation of your photography services by leaving a Google review.
Even if happy clients have said previously that they would submit a glowing testimonial for you onto Google, very often it can get forgotten about and doesn’t get done. They’re only human, after all! It’s natural that even the happiest of clients go back to their day-to-lives and your photography doesn’t stay top of mind for long.
Throughout October then, why not remind them with a series of social media posts or even send direct messages or emails to those clients who you certain would be happy to submit a review of your photography services? Just a little nudge could result in you receiving more Google reviews which will play a part in helping to attract more future clients, and could also be shared on social media as well!
Awareness days and week-long campaigns in October
Now, let’s focus on October awareness days and week-long campaigns:
*Please note that the dates below apply predominantly to the U.K. in the year 2023, and are subject to change year on year. Although they are correct to the best of my knowledge at the time of publication, please check the dates of any awareness campaigns you plan to use.
Week-long campaigns in October include:
- National Work Life Week (from the 2nd)
- Backcare Awareness Week (from the 3rd)
- National Arthritis Week (from the 7th)
- Baby Loss Awareness Week (from the 9th)
- National Baking Week (from the 14th)
Awareness days in October: A (non-exhaustive) list of key dates
01 International Coffee Day
01 International Day of Older Persons
01 World Vegetarian Day
01 Grandparents Day
01 Anaphylaxis Awareness Week
02 National Work Life Week
02 Dyslexia Awareness Week
03 World Habitat Day
03 National Curry Week
03 Backcare Awareness Week
04 World Animal Day
04 World Space Week
04 No Disposable Cup Day
04 Champagne Day
05 World Teacher’s Day
06 National Poetry Day
06 World Smile Day
07 National Arthritis Week
09 World Post Day
09 Baby Loss Awareness Week
10 World Mental Health Day
10 National Braille Week
10 Own Business Day
11 National Coming Out Day
11 International Day of the Girl Child
12 World Sight Day
13 National No Bra Day
13 International Sceptics Day
13 World Egg Day
14 National Baking Week
14 National Dessert Day
14 Family Learning Festival
15 Global Wave of Light
15 National Adoption Week
16 World Food Day
16 UK Coffee Week
17 Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day
18 World Menopause Day
19 Evaluate Your Life Day
19 World Values Day
20 Wear It Pink (Breast Cancer)
20 Wear Red Day (Show Racism the Red Card)
20 Loud Shirt Day
20 World Osteoporosis Day
21 Reptile Awareness Day
21 Apple Day
21 World Singing Day
25 National Dog Adoption Day
28 National Chocolate Day
29 Daylight Saving Time Ends
29 World Online Networking Day
30 Mischief Night (USA)
30 International Stress Awareness Week
31 Halloween
Ideas of how you could use these October awareness days
Now let’s look at some ways that you could intepret these events, days and themes to your photography marketing content:
1st October
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Grandparents Day – This is a useful awareness day to piggyback on if you’re a family portrait photographer. Quite simply, you could create a blog article and social media posts inspired by this that emphasise the importance of having portraits taken with, or of, grandparents.
Show examples of grandparent portraits and intergenerational family photographs you’ve captured for clients. Perhaps make an Instagram Reel, with some emotive music overlaid, and with a call-to-action that inspires viewers to book a grandparents’ or family session.
2nd October
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National Work Life Week – Throughout this week, you could share some behind-the-scenes content that reveals what a typical day in the life of a photographer is or that discusses how you balance life and work commitments as a busy working parent, perhaps.
Alternatively, could you share tips about work-life balance with other photographers in online communities you are part of? Or, you could pitch an article idea to a local business newspaper, magazine or website that may be keen to feature local entrepreneurs. For example, “Five things I wish I knew before I started my photography business”.
4th October
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World Animal Day – Whether you photograph animals for fun or professionally, World Animal Day is an event that you could certainly use to inspire animal-themed content.
Since this is a broad topic, there’s lots of scope to make this work for your business if you take photographs of animals or pets. You could share funny pet portraits or images of wild animals in their natural habitats, you could talk about your own animal(s) or share your origin story about how you came to photograph animals for a living.
Some other ideas: Light-hearted social media content could be anything from “caption this” pet/animal portrait, to asking questions such as “If you were an animal, which would you be?” (use Instagram stickers to get direct feedback from your followers), or “what’s your favourite animal and why?”.
On a more serious note, you could create photography content inspired by this day to raise awareness of the plight of endangered animals that you may have photographed or a charitable cause that supports animals or wildlife. Or, tell a compelling or emotive story about an experience you’ve had involving animals, whether at home or abroad.
6th October
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World Smile Day – This is another great opportunity for photographers! Portraits of happy, smiling people – whether photographed on location, in your studio, or during an event or wedding – are eye-catching and aspirational. Don’t forget to share portraits of happy-looking pets too!
Beyond the sharing of your images, on this day you could also share tips within social posts or a blog on how to look good in photos or how to achieve a natural smile. Or, if you’d prefer that your clients don’t necessarily smile during a portrait session – perhaps you’re a documentary-style portrait photographer – you could create some content to explain your rationale behind this.
31st October
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Halloween – Arguably, the spookiest day of the year!
This is a day to share fun content. Perhaps show behind the scenes of you at work, particularly if you’ve decked out your studio or workspace with Halloween decorations or love dressing up for the occasion! Or, reveal portraits you’ve captured during any Halloween-themed sessions you’ve run.
I LOVED this Halloween-inspired boudoir photoshoot Johanna Elizabeth and her team created last Halloween! Totally inspired!
If you’re a food or drink photographer, have you photographed any Halloween-themed confectionary or drinks, for example, this year? Could you share a recipe for a Halloween-themed cocktail, or if you’re a home interior photographer, could you share some stunning Halloween-inspired table settings or seasonal home decorations you’ve photographed?
October awareness days can inspire tons of content
I hope that this may have helped to show you how you can use some of the October awareness days in your marketing content this year. Of course, these are just some ideas I’ve put together and shared just to give you some quick-fire inspiration on how to apply them to your content. Don’t overthink this!
Remember, there are many more awareness days in October than those listed above. Cherry-pick a few of the October awareness days that speak to you and then interpret them however you wish.
P.S. Keep checking back to this blog for more similar articles. This is the tenth instalment of a monthly blog series that I’m creating throughout 2023, focused on awareness days.
Related reading: September Awareness Days
Good luck with your October content planning!
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