October 24, 2022 Halloween is only a week away and you can see evidence of it everywhere! Stores are filled with costumes and candy, houses are decorated in cobwebs, and events are being advertised all over the place to invite others to join in on the fun. I find Halloween to be one of the most magical holidays… but not for the reason you’d think. Sure, it’s a fun holiday where we get to dress up and collect (or give out) candy – but it’s an amazing opportunity to get to know your community! I can think of few other times of the year that so many people at once spend time walking outside and talking to strangers. And after these last couple years, we’re all hungry for more connection with those around us too, wouldn’t you say? Today we’re going to dive into how you can use Halloween to get to know and serve your community… and how, in the long run, it will also grow your business. So go find those Reese’s Peanut Butter cups you’re hiding in your closet (no judging here… we all have them!) and let’s do this!   Are you pumped and ready to use Halloween to grow your business, but you’re not sure where to start? I have 10 marketing ideas for you so let’s take a look at each one! 1. Get Involved in Your Community’s Trick-or-Treat Night This is an easy one with so many possibilities! You can pass out candy at your house or get a booth at a Halloween event. Just find out what your community is already doing and find out how you can be a part of it! 2. Run a Costume Contest This is one of my favorites (more on that below!) but this gets everyone involved – families, kids, young, old – who doesn’t love to admire the creativity of other people’s costumes? 3. Send Out an Interactive Direct Mail Promotion Don’t get me started on the importance of direct mail with your business, but I will say this… It’s so important! That said, while sending a letter or a postcard is effective, a special day like Halloween deserves something special in your marketing efforts also. What if your postcard had a map of your city with all the best trick-or-treat routes? Or maybe your letter could include a bag to use to collect candy? This takes some extra time and effort (and possibly money) but the possibilities are endless… and so are the returns. 4. Create a Spooky-Themed Email Series If every email you send out is only about your business, it’s time to change it up! This next week you can write a simple series where you share about your favorite Halloween as a child, your favorite scary movies, or your favorite candies and why! It doesn’t have to be profound… just something different that also shows your audience you have a fun, spooky side too 😉 5. Develop Halloween-Themed Product Bundles Do you have multiple products that you’ve considered bundling together? If there are 3 or 4 that most customers seem to purchase together, you can bundle them together and give an it’s so good, it’s scary deal for the bundle! 6. Host a Spooky Scavenger Hunt on Social Media What mysteries are hiding on social media? That’s for you to know and your audience to find out! Prepare for a day or two beforehand by posting seemingly pointless posts and then, on the day of the scavenger hunt, give a list of things people need to find on your page! Make them search for a pumpkin, a ghoul, or a piece of candy, all hidden in your posts. The first person to come back with links to the found items wins a prize! 7. Generate a Local Halloween Event Guide If you live in an area where there are more events than you can count for Halloween, people may worry they’re missing out. That means you could help them keep track of it all! Do your research, find all the events that are happening this next week, and put them in an easy-to-read PDF for people to download. You’ll be their Halloween hero! 8. Publish Halloween-Themed Content A lot of the ideas I am mentioning today may be time consuming, but if you’re already posting content regularly, this should be easy. Make sure your content – on social media, in emails, or in your blog – are Halloween themed! 9. Build a Limited Edition Halloween Product People can’t get enough of limited edition or only available for a short time type products. If you already have a product in mind and you can flesh it out in time (and give it a Halloween theme too!) you’ll have an offer people can’t refuse! 10. Produce Halloween Party Favors for Your Top Clients With all this focus on new customers and building relationships with your community, don’t forget about those who are already loyal to you – your top clients. Put together a basket of goodies or party favors that they can dig into as Halloween gets closer. Show them your appreciation and they’ll continue to appreciate you too! You now have 10 ideas at your fingertips with even more ways than I can count that you can use them! Pick your favorite and take action!  One of my favorite marketing ideas from above is the costume contest. There are so many ways you can do it! You can have a costume contest at your house, your place of business, your church… or even online! People – young and old – love to show off the creativity of their costumes, so today’s content prompt will be along that same idea. This week in your newsletter, on social media, or anywhere else that you connect with your audience, I want you to share your favorite Halloween costume that you’ve worn. This can be this year’s costume or something more recent. It can also be a picture from your childhood that you keep on your phone just for this occasion. Or it may not be the most amazing costume, but if it has a story behind it, people want to hear it! Share that costume and then ask your followers to do the same! You’ll be surprised at how many others were also pirates like you or you’ll have fun reading the funny yet embarrassing Halloween costume stories – or embarrassing pirate costume stories!   Emojis are boosting open rates! – Have you been turning up your 👃 at emojis, convinced they are just a silly annoyance? If you want to 🔼 your email open rates by 20% (or more!), you may want to think again! 🤔 Read More Create engaging email marketing videos! – If you’ve been looking for Instructions on how to incorporate and create engaging email marketing videos, don’t look any further because we have found an easy-to-dig-through post on email marketing videos just for you. Read More Don’t make these 15 critical email marketing mistakes – Today I gave you 10 ideas that you should do… now for 15 things you absolutely should not do in your emails – given to us by 15 email marketing experts. Read More I can’t wait to hear how your week leading up to Halloween goes! Let’s do this! Alex Branning Branning Group alex@branninggroup.com  Hey! Want to chat? My team and I are here to serve your needs and business! You can grab a free marketing strategy session phone call at branningcall.com. Free Courses in the Branning Library Join our Community! |