4 spooky offline marketing ideas for your Halloween campaign
It’s almost that time of year again – the time where we celebrate all things spooky, scary and creepy. But the holiday of Halloween isn’t just an excuse for trick and treating – it also represents a unique opportunity to reach new customers and boost your sales numbers.
As we approach the end of September, it might seem a little late to start planning for Halloween – but here’s a few last-minute ideas for a ‘spook-tacular’ – sorry – Halloween offline marketing campaign.
Create spooky promotional packaging
If you’re a product manufacturer, you don’t have to change up your offering or rush out a brand new product to get in the Halloween spirit. A temporary rebranding of your product with spook-themed packaging artwork is often enough to make consumers look twice when they’re browsing the shopping aisles
You could even temporarily rename your product with a super-scary pun, like Heinz did with their ‘Hallowbeenz’ and Nestle did with their ‘Scaries’ – which were actually limited edition Smarties!
You might be wincing at the idea of completely overhauling your product packaging for a single month-long promotion – but there are plenty of ways to modify your existing product stock without limiting its shelf life.
Bottleneck hangers and swing tags are two perfect examples; simply hook or tie them onto your current stock, and remove them from any unsold stock once the witching hour has passed.
If you’re a restaurant or cafe, you could also print new menus and table talkers with Halloween-themed names for all your regular dishes; and perhaps you could even introduce a limited-edition product or two to further entice diners through the door.
Create haunted content – for an offline audience
Serving up Halloween-themed content on your online channels throughout October is a must – but you can also utilise that content in the offline world to boost your product sales.
For the kids, you could offer Halloween-themed craft projects and costume ideas, while adults can enjoy recipes for delicious Halloween treats and cocktails. Alternatively, you might offer a promotional giveaway for some scarily good prizes – perhaps even a ‘scariest costume’ contest?
These tips and guides can be distributed via your traditional marketing materials (such as flyers and posters) or you could print them directly onto the promotional packaging we discussed earlier; giving customers an extra incentive to pick up your product.
Again, if you’re a small business owner, this idea might seem a little out of your budget at first glance; but if you partner up with other businesses who have these facilities, you can both share the benefits of the event publicity.
Plus, you can also use personalised URLs, QR codes and competition entry codes to drive customers to your online channels – win win!
If you’re a shopkeeper or retailer brand, transforming your store space into a Halloween-themed haunting ground is a great way to get customers thinking about the occasion; encouraging them to load up on Halloween purchases themselves.
There’s plenty of options for giving your store a spooky makeover. Shelf wobblers can be used to create the effect of spiders and creepy-crawlies leaping off the shelves at you; floor graphics can imitate terrifying bottomless pits or open graves; and hanging posters and banners can conjure ghosts that float over your shoppers.
Just like the aforementioned bottleneck hangers and swing tags, these marketing products are easy to take down after October; and you can store them in the back room til next year….
Run a spooky event
Online marketing can certainly make an impact, but real-life experiences can leave a far more lasting impression on consumers. Why not invite your most loyal customers to a special Halloween party at a restaurant or bar, a haunted house experience, or perhaps a horror-themed escape room challenge?
Again, if you’re a small business owner, this idea might seem a little out of your budget at first glance; but if you partner up with other businesses who have these facilities, you can both share the benefits of the event publicity.
Stay tuned to the Better Printing blog for more marketing tips, tricks and advice – and if you need print materials for a truly ghoulish Halloween campaign, call us on 023 8087 8037 for a direct quote today.