Traditionally, Halloween has just been a popular celebration in the US, but in recent years this holiday has crossed over into other markets. In the US, total spending on Halloween has grown by more than $1-billion since 2012. Also, Halloween spending in the UK topped £310 million in 2017.
Many retailers think that Halloween is just a “holiday” for candy, treats, decor, and costumes businesses. However, for other businesses, Halloween also offers a unique opportunity to launch some fun and interesting marketing campaigns. In this article, we will give you some suggested ideas for your Halloween marketing campaigns.
Revamp Your Stores with Halloween Elements
Although Halloween is not as big as Chrismas, do not forget to add any Halloween elements to your branding. Because a small change can make a huge difference.
Design a Halloween Themed Logo
Whenever a shopper visits your website, the first thing they may see is your logo. Therefore, designing a Halloween themed logo will be a great way to attract visitors and to become a part of the Halloween Day 2019. For example, you can see how Google did it.
Change the Cover and Profile Photo
After having a nice Halloween logo, you can use this logo to change the cover and profile photo for all social media platforms you are active on. In case you don’t want to set the logo as your profile photo and cover, you can use something Halloween related, or just add Halloween related elements to your existing profile image.
For your cover, let’s use it wisely. If you are running any promotions for Halloween, include text in your cover image that conveys this. This simple thing not only let your customers know that you have some ‘holiday’ spirit but also allows them to see how they can benefit from supporting you.
Customers, who already follow your social media accounts may not always see your cover image, but they will see your promotional offers in your regular social media posts. The cover image is for new customers searching for your name or products/services on social media platforms. The cover picture can encourage them to explore your feed further to see what other offers you have available.
Add Halloween Elements to Your Website Design
Besides the logo, cover and profile picture, you also can bring the Halloween feeling to your customers when they visit your website by changing the fill-up forms, product pages, checkouts, etc. Understand that the idea is to become Halloween friendly and giving your visitors a Halloween feel during the festive season.
Launch a Themed Social Media Marketing Campaign
These above changes are not enough to grab shoppers’ attention. A themed campaign should be put on your social media marketing strategy.
- For hardware or camping supplies stores, put together posts that highlight the products you sell that could be used to defend oneself against zombies, vampires, and witches. Depending on your market, you can either be very edgy, or slightly humorous.
- Art, crafts, and stationery supply stores can share mini-tutorials on how to make Halloween decorations.
- Bars can create unique Halloween cocktails – or modify popular cocktails to have a Halloween twist – and share the recipes on their social media feeds.
- Grocers can share recipes for making Halloween treats – using ingredients they sell, naturally.
One note that not only Facebook, but there are also other social platforms too catering to a large number of audiences, for example, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Offer Great Freebies and Discount
Buyers always looking for sale, offers, and discounts during the eCommerce Holidays. Here are some products you should put on discount on Halloween:
- Costumes: Research reveals that in last Halloween’s Day, more than 50% of the American population bought costumes.
- Candies: In 2018, more than 70% of Americans gifted candies.
- Pet costumes: Around 16% of Americans loved dressing their pets on Halloween Day 2018.
- Festivities: Average spending per person for the decorations and festivities came out to be $30.
If your business is not selling these above products, you also can offer special discounts during Halloween Day 2019, such as Time-Bound Offers, Countdown discounts, User-Generated Content-based discounts, Flat % off, and much more. Consider using our app, Free Gifts to make it easier for you to create gifts and discounts on your website.
Add Ghoulish Elements to Your Mobile App
If your business has a mobile app – or Progressive Web App, it is a good opportunity to add some themed elements to your app. In addition to adding Halloween elements into the app itself, you also can consider giving your app icon a slight Halloween look. That will help your app stand out from other apps.
Most of the games developed or distributed by King add a bit of Halloween flair to their app icons each year. And this idea can be applied for most apps, including business apps.
Host a Halloween Contest
Large corporations and brands have made use of the power of user-generated content (UGC). However, for small and medium businesses, due to limited marketing budgets and resources, they can not tape into this UGC. Then, there is an easier way for them to get UGC is running a themed contest.
You can invite your customers to share photos of their Halloween decorations, attempts at making Halloween treats like cupcakes, cake pops, and more, or something related to Halloween. In order to drive brand awareness, you should host these contests on your top social media platforms and adding some conditions like a hashtag and entrants liking and sharing the post.
In this way, you also can get more new customers. You can either offer a prize to the top one to three entrants, or have one main prize, but give all entrants a discount voucher or coupon to use in-store or online.
It is an obvious fact that being boring and lazy in your approach is not going to win more customers. So just because you’re a small business doesn’t mean you should ignore this Halloween Day. Try to apply as much as possible the ideas that are suitable for your budgets and resources.
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