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What follows Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter? If we’re talking about the popularity of holidays the answer is Halloween. Surprised? For generations the last day in October has been a time when children dressed up in their favorite costumes and went door to door collecting candy. It is the most enduring example of legalized extortion. Pity the poor homeowner who failed to provide a ransom of something sweet to fend off an impending trick for failure to comply. The penalty often took the form of a thorough papering of the home with toilet tissue, window soaping, water ballooning or something even less desirable to experience.
Rooted in the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, Halloween has been observed during the change of seasons when believers felt they could connect with the dead. Participants dressed in costume in order to hide their true identity from the evil spirits that arose from the ghostly darkness to haunt them. Over time the holiday became just another excuse to gather with friends and family to celebrate and party.
This year it is expected that these parties and celebrations will initiate more than $9.1 billion in spending on decorations, costumes, jack-o-lanterns, all things “goodie” and various recipes of witches’ brew and inebriations. Last year 70 percent of consumers celebrated Halloween, spending on average $90 each. The mystic celebrants spent more than $2.7 million on decorations alone last year, a ritual of adornment exceeded only by Christmas.
For retailers, advanced preparation is a key factor in harvesting the bounties of Halloween. While incorporating traditional symbols and phrases into holiday marketing messaging is a well demonstrated tactic for success, true marketing strategists go beyond the simple chatter and create an event atmosphere around the brand. It is a well-known fact that anytime you can gather together a group of consumers around a celebration they are inclined to spend more freely. Simply stated, “events sell”! Costume contests, fashion shows, hearty parties and even outdoor parades punctuate community activity all across America. Savvy merchants piggy-back on these events with content declaring screaming, killer deals, scary discounts and spooky offers.
Connecting relative, targeted content with popular Halloween symbols is important to attracting a respectable share of holiday revelers. Stay on brand and utilize recognized colors and phrases that connect your message with the holiday. Establish simple, achievable and measurable goals and objectives to the campaign. Select social media platforms that offer the most likely success for your targeted audience. The use of video across all digital platforms is on the rise and effectively structured emails continue to produce results. Focus particular attention on your email’s subject line. Failure to get the reader’s attention to open the email is a message never to be heard. Keep the subject line short and to the point; 30 to 50 characters is an optimal length for a subject line.
Marketers, take note! Positioned perfectly between the lucrative back-to-school selling events and the profitable Christmas holiday sales season, Halloween is an opportunity to build on your year-end strategy for closing the gap on profitability. Whether digital, mobile or traditional, the trick is to engage in effective Halloween marketing activities to capture your share of the holiday’s treats.
For more on how to construct a successful Halloween campaign, contact the expert ghosts and goblins at Junction Creative Solutions (Junction) at 678-686-1125 today.