If you’ve been in a brick-and-mortar store lately, you can’t miss the Halloween marketing displays already popping up.

That’s because the end-of-October holiday has become nearly as big as the end-of-the-year holiday season. Spending on Halloween is currently an $8 billion dollar business, so you don’t want to miss out.

Yes, it can be a bit cheesy, especially with the groan-worthy puns (see our headline above), but that’s part of the fun. And goodness knows we could all use a little fun right about now.

Let’s break down how to make the most of the coming holiday and ramp up your Halloween marketing strategy.

Planning

As with any marketing campaign, you have to have a strategy. 

For starters, unless you own a Halloween store, don’t make every post about the upcoming holiday. A little kitsch goes a long way, and it’s easy to overdo it.

So plan your marketing campaign carefully, and limit your Halloween-related posts to just two or three a week.

Then decide how far you want to take it. Will you redesign your logo, profile image and cover images for the holiday? If your budget allows, or if you can do it yourself, this could be a real attention-grabber. (Again, if it’s not overdone.)

Will you create a new line of products based on the holiday? If you own a bakery, this is much easier to do than if you sell garden statues. But you can still capitalize on the Halloween theme by draping your garden statuary in faux spider webs or by adding a raven or pumpkin in photos.

Decorations

The cool thing about Halloween is that there are so many images available to spice up your online walls. 

  • Black cats
  • Bats
  • Pumpkins/jack-o’lanterns
  • Cobwebs/spiders
  • Gravestones
  • Ravens
  • Moon
  • Skulls/skeletons
  • Ghosts
  • Bite-size candy

The predominant colors, of course, are orange and black. But again, don’t overdo them to the point that you make your posts difficult to read or your videos too dark to see easily on hand-held screens.

You’ll also need to take your aesthetic into account. Kitsch might match up perfectly with a big-box store or a pet supply warehouse, but you’ll need to dial it down a bit if you sell high-end jewelry, for example, or run a yoga studio or spa.

But there are still ways almost any business can capitalize on the holiday. A luxury clothing shop could still showcase its classy models in evening wear, for example, but the dresses could all be black. 

Videos

Social media, of course, is all about images, and videos are king. Whether you’re live-streaming a Halloween costume party at your store or a virtual tour of a haunted house, motion captures attention.

What kind of videos can you use? GIFs, of course, with their Halloween themes sprinkled liberally across your posts.

Or you could offer DIY decorating or baking ideas, how-tos on creating unique or low-cost costumes or Halloween-themed facemasks, even provide safety tips for when the kids are out trick-or-treating.

Or how about ghost tales for your Instagram Stories? You can either make up one yourself, or retell a classic like “The Headless Horseman” and spool it out in “chapters” every few days leading up to Halloween.

Contests

Contests are always a good bet any time of year, so a Halloween-themed contest is a natural.

  • Best costume
  • Best video
  • Best decorations
  • Best jack-o’lantern
  • Best cupcakes or cookies
  • Best-dressed pet

Contests not only help engage fans, but are also a great way to obtain user-generated content (UGC) for future posts.

Countdown

Plan a great sale on Halloween. Your marketing should include teaser posts and reminders leading up to the big day. 

Or do a holiday countdown, with a daily contest: the 99th follower of the day wins a 50 percent off coupon; anyone who leaves their email address gets a 10% discount; etc.

And here’s a place to toss in a few memes, which are always popular. They keep your fans’ attention on you and your products without making them feel like it’s always all about marketing.

Plus, clever memes are more likely to go viral, and thus more likely to gain you new followers.

Sales

What would an effective marketing campaign be without sales? Not to mention that they’re a reason to post more frequently leading up to the big day.

Offer your fans discounts, coupons, promo codes, and giveaways. In short, gather all the types of offerings you make to your customers throughout the year, and run them all between now and Halloween. 

And be sure to key your hashtags to the holiday. Try popular hashtags like #HalloweenSales or #HalloweenDeals along with your brand-specific hashtags, and vary them throughout the month.

The social media management experts at 101 Management, Inc., can help you scare up more ways to boost your online sales. So be sure to contact us today.