Halloween Marketing Strategies For Any Industry

Halloween is one of the most lucrative annual seasons. Million Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, looking for several different activities to do with their family and friends, taking advantage of promotions on candy, decorations and costumes. But Halloween marketing isn’t limited to those who sell candy corn and goblin masks. You can transform browsers into customers if you make your brand relevant to both, the holiday and your customers.

Send catalogs to a targeted mailing list. Showcase your best-selling customs, decorations and other products. According to NRF, those celebrating Halloween will spend the most on adult costumes ($1.2 billion), $950 million on children’s costumes and $350 million on fashionable and fun costumes for their furry friends, the pets. It’s estimated that 68 million Americans will dress up this Halloween and another 20 million pet owners will dress up their pet.

If you don’t sell Halloween products, offer “Halloween deals”, time-limited discount coupons to motivate quick sales that you can track. Give your customers multiple ways to buy: by phone, email or website.

Nearly one-third of consumers (31.5%) plan to throw or attend a party with friends and family. If you are hosting or attending a local Halloween event or attraction,  use a poster in targeted, public areas with high visibility. If you are not hosting any, become a trick-or-treat destination yourself with candy and coupons. Offer free face painting for kids in your retail location, parents will shop while they wait.

Work with a local haunted house, maze or cornfield event company to get discount ticket pricing and give away tickets to customers on a given day.

Similar to past years, the majority of consumers will find inspiration for their costumes online (31.4%) or will head to costume shops and retail stores (26.8%) before they make a final decision. Use social media platforms to give ideas for hosting Halloween parties for kids and adults, costume ideas, how to be safe during trick or treating, and list all the haunted happenings in your area.  Pinterest continues to grow in popularity among those looking for costume inspiration (13.3%).

Have customers submit their best Halloween or trick-or-treat photos to your social media page to compete for a prize.

Don’t to wait too long to start marketing your Halloween sales, and keep them to the end of October. More than one-third of consumers (34.1%) will start their Halloween shopping before the first of October, while 40.9 percent will get started in the first half of the month and one-quarter (25%) of celebrants will wait for the final weeks of October.

Not everyone is in to ghosts and ghouls. Develop a campaign to help customers take advantage of the other things October has to offer.

Source:NRF