Being one of the spookiest nights of the year, Halloween has always managed to gather a lot of attention from marketers, small business owners, as well as advertisers. Before going into the nitty gritty of how marketers can use the Halloween season to their advantage, it will be interesting to take a note of what makes Halloween such an important event in a majority of American households. If you are a person who believes in numbers, then here are some interesting statistics for you:
According to the National Retail Federation, in the year 2016, Americans spent close to 8.5 billion dollars during the Halloween season. The same organization expects the spending to spike up this year and cross the mark of 9 billion dollars. While a major chunk of this spending goes on costumes and decorations; Halloween greetings and candies are the next biggest spend areas. These figures are sufficient to prove the massive appeal of Halloween, from a creative marketer’s perspective.
How to spice up Halloween this season?
While all the major stores, and online platforms are offering an amazing number of Halloween costume ideas, what really is spicing up Halloween 2017 is:
- Fall front porch
- Outdoor Halloween
- Haunted house
Haunted house has been a constant hit among Americans, with many choosing it over outdoor Halloween and fall front porch. But, a good number of millennials still prefer a lot of experimentation with outdoor Halloween options. It is this preference, which has opened up huge number of marketing options for real estate firms, and event organizers.
Fall front porch, on the other hand, is the traditional way in which Halloween is celebrated. Our research shows that regardless of choosing the haunted house theme, or an outdoor Halloween, decorating the front porch will all the elements of Fall is something which every household is looking forward to.
What is haunting marketers this Halloween?
The scariest thing which marketers are facing this Halloween is how to convert the data collected on customer behavior in the most intelligent manner possible. The data overload somehow emerges as a major challenge for most marketers, as leveraging it to one’s advantage is a puzzle which many struggle to solve.
The second tricky situation is to engage the customers in a meaningful manner. Customer engagement has turned into a rather harrowing situation for advertisers, because, in today’s world of information overload it has become difficult to measure how much information is too much information.
Lastly, the goal of every marketer is to not only sell their products, but also build a stable base of loyal customers. Loyalty is a rather tough asset to gain, and requires immense amount of thought process, and planning. So, the target of most Halloween marketing strategies should not be a mere showcasing of their products and services – but rather, building a customer base for Halloween celebrations for the next 5-10 years.
Top three ways in which marketers can make the most of Halloween
#1. Understand what your customer is looking for
Now, this does sound cliched, but trust our analysts when they say that understanding customer requirement is the foundation stone on which one needs to build their business plan. So, while you might have amazing number of Halloween inspired products, it will not bring any profit to the company if they are not advertised in an appropriate manner. It is recommended that marketing campaigns be crafted based on the requirements of your target customer base.
#2. Do not limit yourself to one single platform
The key to reaching out to your audience is by being present in the right place at the right time. While there is always the threat of going overboard with marketing campaigns, it is only rational that there be a clear marketing strategy for both online and offline platforms. From decking up your stores with Halloween goodies, to using the right hashtags on Twitter and other social media platforms – nothing attracts a customer more than the right information at the right time.
#3. Most of all, start early!
Starting early always gives you the time required to understand which campaign is working best for you, and how is the audience responding to your product. There are good chances that you can improvise on your products, and hit the bullseye. Be it in the form of traditional marketing mediums like fliers, or setting the tone on Twitter and Instagram– starting early is the key to gaining more space in your customers’ minds and pockets.
