Really spooky marketing – Thirteen marketing ideas for Halloween

Halloween is ideally suited for gaining publicity with a few ‘spooky’ marketing campaigns. We have put together thirteen ideas for your Halloween marketing activities so that you can get started right away.

Five Halloween ideas for use on social media sites

Many companies use their social media presence exclusively to present their own content. But social networks thrive on interaction with other people. Halloween offers a perfect opportunity to do just that.

Contest

A contest motivates the active involvement of your followers on Facebook or Instagram.

Since Halloween is the time of wearing costumes, this should also be the motto of your contest. In addition, people love pets. So why not combine them? Who posts the best or spookiest animal costume on Halloween? Let your community decide for itself who wins. And your company will give the lucky winner a terribly nice prize.

If you don’t want to bet on animals, how about human emotions? Organize a contest under the motto: “Scream for us!”. In this contest your followers can post pictures or videos showing them scream in an ear-splitting way. And the most-convincing ‘screamers’ will of course get a prize.

Humanizing companies

Halloween is very well suited to introduce your followers to the people behind your business. If they seem likeable, this inspires trust – and people buy products from those they trust.

Does your team celebrate the craziest Halloween parties? Does everyone who comes to the office on 30.10. dress up? Do you have an exciting Halloween decoration in your shop? Why not share it on Facebook and co. in a video or slide show? This shows your fans that your business is not just business. And don’t forget to ask your followers how they spend Halloween.

Horror movies belong to Halloween like pumpkins and candy. How about starting a small office survey to find out what your employees’ favorite horror movies are? You can publish the top ten favorites on social media sites. Let’s see what your followers think of this list and whether they can recommend other spine-chilling movies.

VViral content

Halloween is ideally suited for creating content that goes viral, i.e. is shared as often as possible.

Present your products or services in a Halloween-themed look. This attracts attention and guarantees that your post will be shared on Facebook, Instagram and the like.

Examples

– Outdoor shop
Do you operate a shipping company for outdoor clothing and accessories? Great! Post an infographic for Halloween: “Humans needs this equipment to survive a zombie apocalypse!” The equipment obviously comes from your assortment.

Here are a few examples of what an infographic can look like.

– Bakery store
A bakery can bake Halloween cookies and post them on Instagram.

– Grocery store
Draw attention to yourself with crazy pumpkin carvings.

– Car dealership
You car dealership shows a picture of a vampire purchasing a new car. The text could read: “Flying was yesterday, because vampires drive …”.

– Shoe store
A witch buys new boots for the party on the witches’ dance floor.

– Cosmetic studio
A step-by-step illustration of how to transform an Undead face into a beautiful human being.

– Locksmith
An employee frees a ghost from its chains.

– Taxi company
Show the ‘creepiest’ passengers on Halloween in your taxi.

Four Halloween ideas for your corporate website

Take Halloween as an occasion to surprise your website visitors. Why surprise them? Because surprise will make them remember you.

6. Customize the color design of your website

Change the color scheme of your homepage to the typical Halloween colors like pumpkin yellow or orange as well as black and red.

That’s not expensive, because the main colors of your design can be changed in many WordPress themes with a few clicks.

7. “Halloweenize” your logo

Adding a small vampire bat or a grinning pumpkin to your company logo will also attract attention. Google regularly makes theme-based adjustments, and what is good for the search engine giant is certainly not wrong for your website.

8. Scavenger hunt to acquire a discount code

In the weeks before Halloween, you can hide a Halloween icon every day on a different subpage of your homepage. The symbol always contains a different letter. Your users must find the symbol every day and write down the letter. The last letter is hidden on Halloween. The hidden keyword or code is made up of all these letters. The code activates a discount in your shop.

Don’t forget: Announce the discount scavenger hunt early enough in the social media and of course on your homepage.

9. Small scary gifts

Customers who order from you on Halloween will receive a small Halloween gift for free.

Newsletter

10. Halloween newsletter

In order to advertise your Halloween promotions, you should definitely send out a newsletter in good time. In addition to Halloween offers and discounts, the newsletter should also contain added value. These can include Halloween decoration ideas or a recipe for a real ‚horror punch‘.

Two scary ideas for the real world

There is always room for Halloween directly in your business premises or your store. You can decorate everything ‘creepy’ or add a piece of candy to every purchase at the checkout. But you can also do more:

11. Scavenger hunt for a voucher

The scavenger hunt, as we explained in tip 8., can be easily transferred into the real world. For example, if you run a furniture store, you can hide letters in the cupboards that form a word when correctly put together. Whoever guesses the right word receives a voucher.

This can also be modified for other stores. For example, hang pictures with Halloween motifs in different places in your store. The pictures contain letters (gladly something hidden in the motive). Whoever puts together the word will receive a discount or a small gift.

12. Halloween reading instead of a party

If you don’t want to have a Halloween party in your store, how about hosting a scary reading instead? It strengthens your company’s ties to your customers and interested parties by giving it a cultural touch. Authors who have been active in the horror genre are for example:

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Bram Stoker
• Mary Shelley
• Gaston Leroux
• E. T. A. Hoffmann

General tip

13. Children are tomorrow’s customers

Keep the following in mind for your Halloween activities: Children are tomorrow’s customers. Be sure to include the little ones.
How about having your customers’ kids submit a self-painted picture of a monster (Facebook or in a store) and have the best pictures published or exhibited?

You can offer a children’s face painting activity on Halloween in your shop. These ‘horror kids’ are great posts for Instagram and Facebook, obviously only after the parents have given their consent! Halloween promotional gifts for children are also an easy way to stay in the minds of the younger generation.

Thirteen ideas at a glance:

1. Animal costume contest on Facebook
2. Scream contest in the social media
3. Show what’s going on in your company for Halloween
4. Your team’s favorite horror movies
5. Present your products in a Halloween setting
6. Customize the color design of your website for Halloween
7. Scavenger hunt on your website
8. ‘Halloweenize’ your logo
9. Small Halloween gifts with every order
10. Halloween newsletter
11. Scavenger hunt in your store
12. Halloween reading with horror stories
13. Keep tomorrow’s customers in mind – organize children’s activities

Halloween makes marketing easy

As you can see, there are many ways to attract attention on Halloween. The feast makes it easy to leave the beaten marketing tracks and try something new. This new experience will certainly surprise your customers in a positive way and inspire you to come up with more great marketing campaigns.

Thomas