Halloween: The Pre-Holidays Holiday
Halloween is often inaccurately reported as the second biggest spending season after the winter holidays. In actuality, it’s behind other giants such as Back-to-School, Mother’s/Father’s Days, and Valentine’s Day. However it’s still a $7 Billion opportunity worth embracing. One might think, “I don’t sell candy, costumes, decorations, or party supplies. What does Halloween have to do with my business?” While this is a reasonable question, it’s also important to remember that while you might not be donning a hockey mask or vampire teeth any time soon, many of your customers are likely in the spirit of the ghoulish holiday. After all, it’s all about your customers. So, don’t think of October as only an opportunity to promote exclusively pumpkin and werewolf related products, but as a chance to connect with your customers on a fun, new level.
One idea is to consider holding a contest. A great example is last year’s Dunkin’ Donuts Twitter/Instagram competition where customers were encouraged to dress up their cups in costume and winners received gift cards. Other options could be a traditional costume contest where customers can submit pics of themselves dressed up for the occasion, or maybe even a pumpkin carving contest.
Another attention grabber is making a viral video. Sears caught the Halloween bug a couple years ago when they shot this short video promoting their fitness equipment for zombies. They even had a zombie-branded landing page on their site.
If these are too over-the-top for your brand, consider something a little more subtle, perhaps sending an email campaign with a picture of your staff in costume promoting your scary-good prices. Or, you might customize your Order Confirmation and/or Shipped Emails with a Halloween inspired logo or theme. On the Treat side of things, how great would it be if your customers opened their packages to find a piece of candy with a ‘Happy Halloween’ greeting on their packing slip? Let’s be honest, if someone doesn’t like candy, do you really want them to be your customer?…..Probably not. Whatever you choose to do, have fun with it and don’t be the house that hands out tooth brushes.
Nexternal clients are able to customize their Order Confirmation/Shipped Emails and Packing Slips in Settings>Policies, Addenda, and Disclaimers.
Chris is a Senior Account Executive at Nexternal and has been with the company since 2005. Before joining Nexternal he worked in the cloud-based educational software industry. Chris enjoys establishing new relationships with online merchants and working closely with those clients as they grow.
