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George - 14 Oct 2022 08:00:00In this blog, we will look at how frighteningly ghoulish a good idea it is to use Halloween as marketing theme and we will highlight some spookily effective ways to boost your ecommerce sales this Halloween.
The evenings getting longer can only mean that Halloween is beckoning its spooky bony finger. For Americans that means parties, candy and costumes, whilst the Brits try to hide and refuse to answer the front door. Or is that just me?
But why do we even celebrate Halloween?
Are you ready for a quick but highly interesting Halloween history lesson? Here goes...
Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. 2,000 years ago life centred around agriculture and the year was determined by the growing seasons. Samhain marked the end of summer, the harvest and the beginning of winter. The festival symbolised the fragile boundary between the world of the living and the dead and the Celts believed that on the night of October 31st, the ghosts of their dead would revisit, but in order to ward off any evil evil spirits who fancied visiting too, the villagers would light large bonfires.
The Celtic priests, known as Druids, would have led the Samhain celebration. They would also visit each house and re-light the home fires of each dwelling with the burning embers of the sacred bonfires, to protect the occupants from evil as well as keeping them warm through the long and dark winter months.
That’s where Halloween originated anyway, but after the Romans left and Britain was invaded by the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, Britain was also invaded by a new religion. Christianity. The Christians brought with them a festival called ‘All Hallows Day’ also known as ‘ All Saints Day’, which was a day to remember those who had died for their beliefs. Kind of similar to Samhain.
It was originally celebrated in May, but Pope Gregory decided that it would be a fab idea to move the date to Nov 1st, which was more inline with the Samhain celebration date, and therefore he could subtly replace this non church approved festival with his ‘proper’ one.
So from the evening of Samhain the celebration of ‘All Hallows Even’ became ‘All Hallows Eve’ which then became ‘Hallow Eve’ and then, you guessed it ‘Halloween’.
It was believed by many that Halloween was the day of the year when the dead could make contact with the living. Spooky!
Halloween is celebrated today, by carving strange faces into vegetables and plopping a candle inside, to ward off any lurking evil spooks from front doors. Children put tablecloths over their heads and visit their neighbours in the hope of a sugar overload. We can thank our US neighbours for the ‘trick or treat’ idea…rotten egg anyone?
With all the fun and mysticism going on, you would probably think that it doesn’t relate much to running a successful ecommerce business. Well, how wrong can you be? Believe it or not Halloween is one of the most lucrative holidays to generate more sales. Celebrating Halloween is an effective way to draw new and existing customers. Your online and bricks and mortar stores can benefit from taking on a gruesome theme and drawing in the curious minds of passers by.
Who ever knew that Freddy Krueger cared about his beauty regime? Lush store in Bath, UK shows a very simple way to grab attention on a Halloween theme.
It is a great idea to start your Halloween focused marketing campaigns at the latest, two weeks before the event. Some would say that the best time to launch your Halloween marketing campaign is in August or September, to allow people to find your brand in time to plan their purchases. The earlier you start it the more time you will have to plan what you would like to achieve, making your campaign more successful.
The key to a successful Halloween themed marketing campaign is planning and cohesion. Without either of these elements your campaign’s message can be lost and lack impact.
Here are 5 simple ideas to get you started on how to launch a Halloween themed marketing campaign.
Host a Halloween themed party.
Socialising and networking is a great way to spread the word about your business.
Create Halloween themed social media content.
Have fun and be as inventive as you dare. If people love what they see they will be more likely to share it with others.
Offer Halloween Discounts and Offers.
Everyone loves an offer, encouraging sales by offering time limited discounts and special one off prices is a great idea to increase revenue.
Join local events or collaborate with other businesses in your area to promote Halloween offers.
Joining other similar or complementary businesses to have fun and spread the word is a great way to increase your exposure and get your brand noticed.
Create email marketing campaigns on a Halloween theme.
Keep in touch with customers and prospects, by dropping a Halloween themed newsletter into inboxes. This will keep your brand in the minds of your customers and don’t forget to include a call to action to encourage either sales or interactions.
Halloween marketing is a fun time to share your online and offline store with others. It doesn't have to be tricky, treat your customers to some fun and spooky ideas and you can be sure that you will see those customers again. you can be as creative as you dare. So this Halloween don't throw eggs at your neighbours house, instead throw caution to the wind and get making some monster marketing messages.
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