It’s the crazy time of year where kids and adults alike dress up and use it as an excuse to party.  Your excuse as a business however, is to use this time to market to your ideal prospects and some businesses have found innovative ways to do this.  From small high street shops to big brands they realise that this is as good a time as any to cash in and have been creative with their input, as you’ll see from the examples below.

So what kinds of company can benefit from marketing their products and services at this time of year?  Let’s have a look at a few examples.

Fashion

Do you have a clothing business which could benefit from a boost, during this time?  Last year, Topshop offered an interactive experience via a virtual reality headset and partnered with Netflix to their branding to Stranger Things, a cult American TV show.  They offered different immersive experiences, such as window dressing based on the scenes of the show and held exclusive screenings.  This offered a chance for Topshop to create a line of clothing, specifically for the show adding another element to the retailer’s experience.  Perhaps you could produce a range of flyers for a Halloween style event at your shop, so that people can enjoy an evening out and be encouraged to buy items on the day/evening.

Food & Drink

Strongbow tied their Halloween themed promotions in with a competition to win a trip to the famous carnival, Mardi Gras, using the strapline “CarnEvil”.   Consumers could also grab a bunch of fun items to celebrate the event at their particular bar or pub.  However, the only downside to this campaign is for those who don’t like cider – although, you could just get your friend to buy the cider and they go to Mardi Gras with you? Competitions based on purchase, are definitely a great way to bring more business through your door.  If you run a pub or cafe, maybe it’s time to try something like a competition or raffle, in order to attract more business.

Automotive

Ford wasn’t afraid to get scary with it’s interactive car washes.  Consumers were offered a free car wash but when they got there, things started to turn sinister with lights going off and strange occurrences happening.  Maybe those people will think twice when they think of Ford or maybe they just took the joke and enjoyed the laugh, at their expense, or not on this occasion.  Along with coverage by AdWeek and Mashable, it got plenty of media and consumer attention.  If you’re a local car wash or automotive dealer, why not team up with each other to offer free car washes and discounts on car products?  Everyone loves a good deal, and you can throw in a trick or treat too while you’re at it.

Beauty

Lux soap created an advert based on a mashup of a couple of horror films, starting with a girl in a shower then a guy with a chainsaw, all with an unexpected ending and a play on words – “Save your skin, since 1924”.  A very simple idea but one that adds to a twist to a product you wouldn’t think could be advertised in such a way.  It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what niche or market you are in, marketing and advertising are there to help all businesses.  Local beauty parlours can really go to town around this time of year – why not run a makeup evening before people go out for their Halloween parties?  This will attract new customers to your business, offer insights in to how to do makeup and create opportunities for potential bookings and purchases of your beauty products.

Health

This is the most scary out of the lot but is obviously designed to scare people into getting something done about their health and taking the effects of heart and stroke health especially, more seriously.  The video, which included a woman being eaten by flesh-eating zombies, racked up over 1.6 million views in the US.

If you work in the health and wellness industry, this is a perfect time to encourage healthy eating due to the rise in obesity and the impact that this can have on our health.  So many different sweets, chocolate and candy get pushed around at this time of year and mainly to children, so it will be refreshing for potential customers to see some new ideas on how to switch up their fitness and health by making better food choices – you may even convert them to this new way of eating.

Whatever your business is, you can be sure that there are creative and new ways in which you can market your services over the Halloween period.  Get your marketing and sales team together and get brain storming!

If you’ve created a video or email campaign for Halloween, let us know how you did.  Our provision of business data and consumer data can help you reach a larger audience and ensure that your plans are successful.