We get ZERO kids knocking on our door at Halloween. 🎃
Which means that the large volume of candy I purchase, the
pumpkin we carve, the seeds we roast and the light up blinking skull deely-bobbers
I like to wear are for no one’s pleasure but my own. My husband makes a jello brain to take to
work.
We are not alone. Halloween is a popular celebration. According to the National Retail Association:
- In 2023, 73% of consumers planned to celebrate the event.
- Adults in the US were projected to spend a record-breaking total of $12.2 billion on the spooky season in 2023.
- 55% of US households without children planned to celebrate Halloween.
- 52% of those celebrating Halloween planned to decorate their home or garden. Total spending on decorations was expected to reach an all-time high of $3.3 billion.
Halloween is a BIG DEAL that’s on most people’s minds.
Which makes it a perfect event to tie your marketing into in October.
Planning in advance allows you the time to get creative and have some fun, and avoid a last minute scramble to get customers into your business. So now is the time to make a plan!
Here’s How You Can Connect Your Business To The Holiday.
What can you do to make a visit to your business memorable using nostalgia, humor or surprise? Once you have those ideas in place, then you can use them in your marketing.
- Special offers:
- What if every customer gets to take home a pumpkin after a purchase? Especially fun for Auto Repair Shops, leave a pumpkin on the front seat after a service.
- What if your restaurant features a signature spooky dessert…something with a fun name and as simple as adding a couple of plastic spiders or candy corn sprinkles. There’s no end of ideas on Google.
- Giving away Trick Or Treat bags that would double as a grocery bag is another fun giveaway idea.
- Candy!: Perhaps a giant jar of familiar Halloween candy everyone can choose from?
- In-house or Online Costume Contest: Encourage customers (or kids) to visit your business in costume. Offer prizes for the best costumes, such as a gift card or free pumpkin. This can also be done virtually, with customers submitting photos online.
- Staff Costumes: Have your staff dress up in costumes and share photos on social media. You can let customers vote on the best costume, with a small prize for the winning employee.
- Spooky Decor: Transform your store, restaurant, or office into a haunted house. Themed decorations create a memorable experience for customers.
- Halloween Playlist: Curate a Halloween-themed music playlist to play in your business or share it with customers on social media.
Creative Marketing Ideas
First of all, Halloween celebrations should last the entire month, culminating in the actual night. Communicate weekly by email and social media telling stories about what’s happening and infuse your personal stories into the content. You are looking to build connection and intrigue and give people something fun to do in October.
- Spooky Discounts: Offer special deals on products or services that tie into Halloween. For example, a Restaurant could offer a “Monster Meal Deal” or a retail store could have a “Trick-or-Treat” sale with surprise deals pulled out of a jack-o-lantern at checkout.
- Limited Edition Products: Create Halloween-themed products or services. For example, a bakery could sell Halloween-themed cupcakes, or a spa could offer a “Pumpkin Spice Facial.”
- In-Store Trick-or-Treating: Invite customers to bring their kids for trick-or-treating in your business. Give out candy or small promotional items like a spooky flashlight. And not on the 31st! Kids love a reason to wear their costume, so let them do it all month long.
- Social Media Challenges: Launch a Halloween-themed social media challenge, like a pumpkin carving contest or a photo challenge. Encourage customers to use a specific hashtag to enter.
- Halloween-Themed Emails: Send out themed emails with special offers, Halloween-themed product highlights, and fun content like recipes or costume ideas.
- Spooky Surprise Sales: Send a “mystery” code to your Rewards Members that they can redeem for a surprise discount on Halloween.
- Spooky Workshops: Offer workshops or classes with a Halloween twist, like a pumpkin carving class, Halloween makeup tutorial, or spooky cocktail-making session.
It’s about embracing the spirit of fun and showing your customers a side of your business that engages them and gives them another reason to visit you.
Gather your team of goblins, zombies, and pumpkin spice enthusiasts, and let your imagination run wilder than a pack of ghost dogs on Halloween night.
We create marketing for every month of the year that you can choose from to increase the sales in your business – direct mail, email, text, push notifications – we can do it all for you. Book a call below to find out more about Royalty Rewards®.
How’s Your Vision?
When it comes to marketing your business and increasing sales and profits, nothing will bring you more success than creating a marketing plan that gives you a vision of the future. Includes a downloadable step by step marketing plan!
Ring In The New Year With A Plan
The benefits of planning ahead are clear: increased revenues, better customer service, improved productivity, less stress, more time off – the list goes on! By taking the time to create a comprehensive plan, you ensure that you have all the tools necessary for a successful and profitable New Year.
Choosing A Loyalty Program
Learn what makes customers stay loyal, how to pick a program with the right features, and how to give your business that extra edge.
