Are you wondering what quick Halloween marketing ideas will boost your sales up this Holiday month? Don’t worry at all as you have just come to the right place for all your answers. Instead of jumping directly onto Marketing ideas for Halloween 2019, let us first take a quick look at last year’s marketing trends and predicted present trends.
In this article, you will find various solutions to all your queries about ecommerce marketing strategies and how to boost your sales during holiday seasons using social media marketing and current business trends.
What is Halloween?
Halloween is an annual ghostly holiday celebrated on October 31st every year. This 2019 it falls on Thursday, October 31. It came into observation along with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. On this day, people light bonfires and wear scary costumes to stall away ghosts.
Celebrating Halloween is an ancient practice, but with time it has become trending. According to a research in 2018 by the National Retail Federation (NRF), 175 Million American’s celebrated this scary time of the calendar. They, on average, spent 9 Million Dollars for celebration.
What They Buy for Halloween?
This quarter the estimated Trick or Treat holiday shopping trends are
- 68 percent of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year. Top spending categories for 31st October 2019 are:
- $3.2 billion on Halloween costumes,
- $2.6 billion on Halloween candies
- $2.7 billion on Halloween decorations, and
- $390 million on Halloween greeting cards
- What They Buy for Halloween:
This 2019 October edition holiday has gained popularity because it is an affordable holiday. Right from kids to adults, each and every person loves to celebrate this spookiest day of the year. Shoppers look forward to Spooky items that are bang for a buck.
90 percent of Americans buy candies for trick or treats, spending about $2.6 Billion. Around 75 percent buy decor, and not more than 70 percent spend on costumes.
Top five trending costumes for adults were:
A witch, vampire, zombie, pirate, and Avengers character.
While for children, the costumes were Princess, Superhero, Batman, Star Wars character, and Witch.
In recent times shoppers even buy weird costumes for their pets. The five most popular pet costumes were Pumpkin, hot dog, bumblebee, devil, and cat (for dogs).
When Should You be Ready for Halloween?
- 6% of shoppers will start shopping before September.
- 28% of shoppers will start their shopping during September.
- 41% of shoppers are likely to get done with their shopping in the first week of October.
- 25% of the shoppers wait until the latter half of the October month in search of more profiting offers.
If you have not yet started with ecommerce marketing, it is never too late. You can begin with it even now.
What channels you should use to sell your products?
Social Media channels are considered to be the most effective channel for marketing during holiday seasons every year. Most of the traffic for your business flows in through these online channels like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest.
We have included an image below, which helps you analyse how online media has influenced purchases and increased sales over a few years.
Here are a few Halloween marketing ideas that would boost your sales this Scary season:
1. Customizing Your Website:
Customizing your Website is the best way to start your business strategy for this ghostly season. It is an excellent ecommerce strategy. You can customize your Website in various ways.
Here are the best customizing options for your Website:
It is the best way to attract customers, and be a part of this creepy Day celebrations. Even Google uses this method.
Use a Spooky Favicon:
Favicon is nothing but a tiny icon that appears on the top of your browser’s tab for your Website. Though customizing favicon seems to be a small change, it has a significant impact on attracting the audience.
Add a Scary theme:
Apart from the logo and favicon, what gives your Website festive feel is the theme. If you are willing to get into the holiday theme, you must revamp your Website by giving it the holiday edition touch. This themed Website modification is for providing your visitors holiday season spirit.
Apart from these few customization’s, what could really attract customers to your websites are the use of Chatbots. Chatbots are conversational agents on your site. With the help of chatbots, you get a chance to wish all your customers who visit your website and create an emotional bond with them.
2. Launch Limited Edition Products:
One Halloween business marketing idea used by many chocolate companies and other brands is they launch limited edition products. This practice of launching customized products keeps fans eager for your companies collections. This practice increasing brand value and trade.
There is an added advantage when the product also targets Christmas. Starbucks, in 2003, launched Pumpkin Spice Latte flavor. This product might not have been wholly linked with this scary day.
However, this flavor is available only during the months of September to December. Along with many other limited-time products, it has become a trendy item. This product is selling more than 200 million units over the last 15 years.
Plan your limited edition products in such a way that they are unique and catchy.
3. Bring back fun with Halloween contests:
User-Generated Content (UGC) is a successful way to attract customers. Running a themed Halloween social media contest for your Company or business is the best way to get UGC.
This scavenger hunt time is all about Halloween outfits, pranks, fun, and entertainment. By launching such themed festival contests, you can bring in a lot of organic traffic.
Social media algorithms are being modified over a period of time. The algorithms for Facebook are prioritised for posts with meaningful interactions i.e., post which has a greater people engagement (comments, likes, and shares) appears on top of your feed. For Instagram, the algorithm is set to feature new posts on the top.
Hence to avoid such risks of a failed campaign, promote the contest through paid media. This contest idea is to not only get UGC but also to generate brand awareness to a new audience.
For these spooky media campaigns, you can give corporate gifts to the top one to three entrants. Otherwise, you can have one main prize and provide coupons to all entrants to redeem at the store or online.
4. Offer Spooky Deals or Discounts:
This creepy day is the time where 40 percent of the buyers start their holiday shopping.
When you club coupons, deals, or discounts with holidays, your customers, it encourages them to take up these luring offers. This 2019 Halloween is one that will not ‘trick your customer but will only ‘treat’ them.
You can give discount vouchers, coupons, or deals on the themed products of your Company. Else you could do the same for all commodities depending on your companies retail strategy.
Offering discounts or coupons just around the holiday season can lure customers into shopping for more than they would have.
5. Customize your Social Media Pages:
You can create your vouchers, images, and other similar products in the same manner.
Just like your Website, try customizing your online pages into creepy themes. This ecommerce trick attracts customer’s attention to your establishment. Customizing social media sites is an essential ecommerce methodology. On the other hand, it is a great Halloween marketing idea 2019.
Customizing is necessary as the current trend is all about web networking. Most of the traffic flows through your online channels. When you add a little pinch of holiday touch to your social accounts is always welcomed by the customers.
You can customize your online pages using Dot Template.
6. Launch theme-based Media Marketing Campaigns:
After customizing your online channels, you should tailor your social media posts too.
As trick or treat occasion is not as huge as Christmas, you need not have to customize all your online posts. Yet, you should have at least two Halloween posts a week during October and September.
Your themed campaign shouldn’t be only about these one or two themed posts. If any other thematic promotions of your organization are running, promoted them too. Use regular web posts and standard online advertising for promotions.
Online advertising can be done using Google, Amazon or other social media.
Generating Social media campaign templates is very easy.
- Create an Edit account.
- Choose professionally created templates from their library.
- Upload your personalized photos or you can select from their images.
- Add filter and text.
- Save the template and share it with others.
7. Run a Themed Email Marketing Campaign:
Adding a small theme to your email campaign can boost sales, or bring in brand awareness for your firm. When you link festivals to industries such as health, security, or other services, it adds benefits.
Dentists and doctors can share emails about the risks of overeating candy, or the type of candy children should avoid.
A company selling security services could share tips on how to stay safe during trick-or-treating.
A restaurant can share details of exclusive food items and discounts at their place.
One email marketing tip is to include a sized image for sharing on social media. This image can feature one or two tips that allow people to share among their family or friends.
An essential point for you to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t change the frequency of your email marketing. Changing the frequency rate can turn the mails into Spam.
You must always aim at boosting your email conversion rate while you are doing email marketing.
8. Link this spooky day to your business:
This holiday season can boost up sales for Realtors, Restaurants, and Real estate.
#1. Halloween marketing ideas for REAL ESTATES:
Like other ecommerce businesses, Real Estates can also use a few strategies.
- You can run a themed email campaign sharing details of your market history, ongoing projects, and why you are unique.
- Launch deals and special offers for 31st October.
- Run online creepy home decor contests in the neighborhood.
- Attach a business card to your trick or treat candies and pumpkins.
- Send corporate gifts to both old and new clients and make them feel special.
You can use Edit to create your business card designs or flyers.
Top 10 Halloween corporate gift ideas are:
- Mini Ghost candles
- Carved Pumpkins stickers
- Ghostly molded chocolates
- Horror shot glass sets
- Customized goody bags
- Flickering fright lights
- Personalized cards
- Flavored box of ghost Cookies
- Party flavored candies
- Customized witch survival kits
.
#2. Halloween marketing ideas for Realtors:
- Customize cards and send them to the whole neighborhood.
- Send wishes via email to all your potential customers as well as prospective customers.
- Write blog posts linked to the ghostly theme Like How to decorate your home this Halloween?, How to celebrate Halloween? Or What to wear this Halloween?
Top 10 Halloween party themes for decoration are:
- Haunted House
- Willy Wonka
- Scary Carnival
- Superhero
- Graveyard
- Scavenger Hunt
- Vampires
- Pumpkin blast
- Monster gang
#3. Halloween Marketing Ideas for Restaurants:
The food industry is an evergreen business during all holiday seasons. For this Scavenger hunt time, here is what you can do.
Design a tasty menu using scary names or combinations.
Launch limited edition food items using Pumpkin as the main ingredient.
Top 10 Halloween food recipes are:
- Pumpkin Caramel cake
- Eerie eyeball pops
- Eyeball pasta
- Pumpkin hummus
- Spooky fruit punch
- Maggoty Apples
- Caramel Apples
- Mac-o’-Lantern and Cheese Bowls
- Mummy hand pies
- Graveyard Cup Cakes
Decorate your whole restaurant in a scary theme.
Launch special offers, discounts, coupons, combo offers over food items.
Burger King, during this trick or treat season, launches a spooky campaign every year called, “Halloween Horror Nights.”
9. Host an Event
“What should we do for Halloween?” is the question everyone would have on their minds. Answer their call by hosting an event under your banner. Your event could be a simple Halloween theme contest or a blockbuster show.
One best idea of an event is the Pumpkin Carving Contest. The Carving can be about themes for your Company or Name of your firm. Hosting an event is an impactful ecommerce idea for small businesses.
But whatever you plan for, propagate the event as early as possible so people can block their dates for it.
Promote your event via emails, web channels, or any other media according to your budget.
If you feel that hosting an event is not a cup of your tea, you can always take the help of event managing companies. Top Event Management companies in the USA are Sensis Agency, Bigfish Communications, Blanc and Otus.
“It’s not Halloween unless you go to @horrornights at Universal! Thank you #UniversalHHN for the tricks & treats with some of my favorite people 🎃🖤👻 always a blast.”
source Instagram profile : ddlovato
10. Write Seasonal Blog Post:
Writing a Halloween theme content is an attractive way to grab customers’ attention. You can write about various topics like History behind this Spookiest year? What to wear, How to Celebrate and other related season topics.
Writing about the small articles, and publishing them online increases organic traffic. Along with the post, you can add about the ongoing Halloween 2019 ecommerce campaign or deals you are offering for 31st October. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Tools for optimizing your blog.
Call to action is a necessary step when you are providing customers with such content. Most of the customers tend to look for a call to action once they feel the blog interesting. Hence you should always guide such leads to your merchandise page.
Blogging is an essential SEO (Search Engine Optimization) recommendation. When your SEO ranking improves, it makes your site rank higher. If you have no idea about how to do SEO or other digital marketing technical works, you need not worry; you can follow the easy SEO guidelines.
11. Use Hashtags:
Hashtags are the basics of all social media platforms. Hashtags organize similar events, ideas, and trends together. When you check for that particular hashtag, you can view all related posts at a single platform. Adding hashtags like linked with this creepy night like #happyHalloween, #trickortreat, #HalloweenCostume, add an advantage.
Social media channels are full of videos and photos for these specific hashtags.
A hashtag contest is the simplest way to gather user-generated content (UGC). It increases brand awareness and reaches a new target audience.
If you are facing a problem in creating hashtags or want to cut some time in creating hashtags you can generate trendy hashtags using: Seek metrix for Instagram and Facebook and Hashtagify for Twitter.
12. Plan for Giveaways:
Free Giveaways are the best way to gather UGC. It is the human tendency to get anything that is FREE. Free Giveaways help in exposing your brand to other customers. When you implement such marketing ideas, people are most likely to participate.
When you plan for giveaways, include aspects such as share, tag, or like our social media pages. This helps in free promotions and increases organic traffic.
Never do a bogus giveaway. When you announce a giveaway, there should always be some or the other item which would reach the winners. When false campaigns are run, customers lose trust in you and would not recommend buying from you in the future.
Giveaways gifts need not be costly. They can be anything related to that particular holiday and promote your brand. For giveaway ideas, you can refer to Give away monkey site.
Here are some of the easiest and effective Halloween social media contest ideas for giveaways:
#1. Run a photo contest:
Photo contests are among mostly loved contests on the web. These contests get your entrants involved in the contest themselves. Running a photo contest helps you in collecting user-generated content (UGC). This content you can use in your future for retail purposes.
Apart from these outfit photos, another vital aspect of this ghostly day is weird makeup photo updates.
Top 10 Halloween makeup ideas are:
- Poison Ivy
- Zombie
- Vampire
- Scare-Crow
- Pennywise
- Joker
- Killer clown
- Harley Quinn
- Annabelle
- Creepy Ghost
#2. Run a referral contest
A social media referral contest helps you generate social engagement. A referral is where your giveaway or company page is shared. When participants refer your Company with others, they help in promoting your brand. This is a fantastic way to build a social following and spread the word about your brand to others.
#3. Share entries
Sharing Entries on Facebook and Instagram has been a best practice for giveaway campaigns. These share entries contests firstly involve the purchase of your Company’s goods. Secondly, they help in the free promotion of your brand on social media. It increases sales of your brand as well as brand awareness.
13. Team Up with Similar Campaigns:
Teaming up with similar 2019 Halloween social media campaigns is a wonderful ecommerce idea for small organizations. You can create promotional materials that highlight what each Company is offering. This extends the target audience to large portions targeting both organizations. This idea can come to implementation at any point during the year. Yet, it works very well during significant promotional periods.
Conclusion:
So, these are a few tricks which you could put in place this quarter. Remember, these marketing strategies are not limited only to E-commerce. They can also be used for realtors, real estates, apartments, and restaurants. Also, the only mantra to boost your business sales is by planning it accurately.
We hope that these marketing ideas are of great help to you this holiday season. If you have other ideas of marketing, do share it with us.
We also would love listening to your stories about how this holiday season marketing. So, do write to us in the comment section below or contact us.
Best wishes to you and your Company this Spookiest day of October, Happy Halloween!!!
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