6 Last-Minute Halloween Marketing Ideas

1. Promote Exclusive Halloween Discounts and Offers
2. Decorate Your Store and Encourage Photos (Safely)
3. Market Your Inventory as Halloween-Friendly
4. Run a Virtual Costume Contest
5. Send Spooky Sales Emails 
6. Highlight Halloween on Your Website

 

1. Promote Exclusive Halloween Discounts and Offers

Everyone loves a deal. If your business is running any special Halloween offers make sure the world knows about it! We strongly recommend marketing Halloween promotions with clear signage and stickers, on your website, on social media, and through email.

Discounts

Coupons and discounts can encourage spending, bring up your average order value, and move your Halloween inventory out. You can even “gate” your offer by requiring an email signup or social media follow in order for customers to get the discount code. As the holiday gets closer, slash the discount even further to incentivize last-minute purchases. 

Product Bundles

If you don’t want to offer an outright discount, product bundling is another great option to get customers to spend more. For example, you can bundle certain Halloween decor items, candies, or costume pieces together. This makes it easy for your customer to find everything they’re looking for and easy for you to clear out your seasonal inventory. Promote any bundle offers in your physical store as well as online (on your website and social media). 

Freebies

Did somebody say free stuff!? If you have the budget, encourage spending by offering a free, spooky gift with purchase or a BOGO deal. If you’re looking to increase online orders, make the free gift exclusively available for online purchases. 

2. Decorate Your Store and Encourage Photos (Safely)

Did you do a spook-tacular job of decorating your business for Halloween? Market it by sharing your Instagram Stories or feed and inspire others to do the same (at a safe distance apart). Before you post, make sure your Instagram account is optimized for search so that it’s easy for customers and passersby alike to tag you in photos they snap. You can even hang up a branded sign or QR code next to your display with your social media handles listed. Festive decorations are a fantastic way to get organic shares and user-generated content for any season.

3. Market Your Inventory as Halloween-Friendly

You might have spooky items for sale, but if not, you can find creative ways to market your existing inventory for Halloween. For example, if you have a clothing boutique, you may be able to market some of your existing clothes as great for everyday wear and as a costume. If you have a coffee shop or bakery, you could market your fall drink menu or orange-colored pastries as Halloween-themed.

4. Host a Virtual Costume Contest

Hold a costume contest safely and responsibly by taking it online. Ask your customers to send photos of their costumes via email or social media. Encourage your participants to post their costumes to their social media pages and tag your business’s account or use a special hashtag (if applicable) to encourage more entries. Offer a special prize for the winner, such as an exclusive seasonal item or store gift card. 

If you don’t want to host a virtual costume contest, a virtual pumpkin decorating or carving contest are other festive options. To announce the contest winner, broadcast it over Instagram live to create further excitement. 

5. Send Spooky Sales Emails 

Put your email list to good use by sending a Halloween sales email. 75% of consumers actively search their email inboxes to find discount codes and promos. You can send a single email or build out a short series of emails like so: 

Leading up to Halloween: 

• Send an email about any special Halloween promos, bundles, or deals

• Add a Halloween countdown in your subject line or in the body of your email

On Halloween:

• Early in the AM, send out a reminder email about your Halloween deals and create urgency in your subject lines, i.e. “Last Chance to Get ____”

• If you’re holding a contest, tell your email subscribers to look out for another email announcing the contest winner

After Halloween: 

• Share the winner of your virtual costume contest if you ran one

• Extend any existing Halloween discounts or add new ones to clear out your inventory

• Use the day after Halloween as an opportunity to kick off your holiday season marketing

6. Highlight Halloween on Your Website

On your eCommerce site, add obvious nods to Halloween to encourage more spending. For example, add any costumes, decor, sweets, or other items as a featured category on your homepage. Swap out any header images or site banners for Halloween-themed ones, especially if you’re running a limited-time discount. You can quickly and easily design Halloween graphics using free, pre-existing templates in Canva.