13 Wickedly Good Marketing Ideas for Your SME

Halloween is just around the corner, and the time is ripe for your marketing campaigns to go around trick-or-treating the neighbourhood.

Especially for small and medium enterprises, getting creative with holiday marketing can create numerous opportunities for business growth.

Here is a list of 13 smashing Halloween marketing ideas for SMEs straight out of the pumpkin.

READ: 5 Clever Holiday Marketing Ideas for Your Ecommerce Biz

13 Halloween Marketing Tips to Drive Revenue to Your Business

Do trick-or-treats

Capitalize on the sweetest part of Halloween – candies. Leave the lights on and place a bowl of free candy for the tricksters and treaters on your premises to create a positive brand image.

Throw in coupons, scratch cards, and other “treats” for good measure, so the parents/guardians can return to your business after the rush.

Theme it up

Sharing your patrons’ excitement for the holidays is best displayed by theming your store up with the essence of Halloween.

Order a special batch of shopping bags with spooky designs or create a dedicated Halloween section in your store. Stock up on themed products or offer your visitors a slice of pumpkin pie. The possibilities are endless!

Embrace Halloween’s costume culture

Halloween is fun for everyone and your brand should reflect that. Invite your staff and employees to work dressed according to the season or, better yet, Halloween costumes.

For promotions, you can set up special offers, discounts, or deals for customers that show up in costumes or are dressed in fall colours.

Burger King did it best when it offered burgers for free to the first 500 customers who came dressed as clowns on Halloween (it was a jab at McDonald's, though).

Organise a community event

Community events allow a mass of people to associate your brand with goodwill and positivity.

Halloween is an excellent opportunity to bring people together for events like scavenger hunts or costume competitions, where you can place your products, services, deals, and promotions as a reward.

Butterfinger topped the Halloween marketing tier last year with its campaign. The brand dared candy-stealing parents to come clean for a $25,000 cash reward on a dedicated website.

Plan apt digital campaigns

Online presence is central to marketing for all SMEs today. Spookify your digital campaigns to better suit the mood of the season.

Integrate the theme to your web design, ramp up the animations, add eerie audio to websites, dress up your newsletters in fall colours, and send ghostly emails to clients.

Update all your channels

It’s essential to leverage as many channels of marketing as possible. Let your target audience know your business is ready for Halloween by updating your Nextdoor, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, and wherever your audience can find you on their online directory with spooky visuals and deals.

Join the fun

Halloween has its own kind of fun in the community. The pop-up, seasonal businesses (like haunted houses, Halloween bake sales, and more) could use a little win-win team-up with your brand.

Try to find partnerships where you can subtly advertise your products and services. Make the collaboration relevant to your niche for maximum impact.

Groove with the right music

Gather all your employees and have them share their favourite Halloween-related songs.

Create a playlist from these tracks and play it during business hours. It helps customers of all ages feel the vibe and get into a spending mood during the festivities.

This can create a bridge between the customers and your business by playing relatable music. Spotify’s groovy and spooky playlist has that effect.

Host your own haunted contest

There is no better way to engage with your target audience than setting up a Halloween competition for them. You can host a simple costume, pumpkin carving, or the best scary makeup competitions to boost customer engagement.

From here, it is easy to set up brand promotions subtly (like giving out branded hampers to the winners).

Use hashtags

Social media remains abuzz with activity during the holidays. Do some research to discover the relevant hashtags your business can use for social promotions.

Hashtags help draw warmer leads to your marketing campaigns, helping shorten the sales cycle even by just a little bit.

Grant giveaways

Giveaways, when planned well, are a good way to spread the word about your business without pouring in too much expense.

The Halloween traffic does wonders in helping your brand get its name out there. All it takes is a little candy-filled, branded pouches for all the shoppers coming in with kids or memberships.

Introduce “tricky” discounts

You can make marketing more interesting by introducing quirky discounts like an additional 5% off on every 13th product that goes off the shelf or deals on everything that begins with the letter “H”.

This creates a thrill for the customers while shopping, and they may even come back to your store looking for more interesting out-of-the-box deals.

Honor customer loyalty

A business that recognizes and appreciates its loyal customers earns more loyal customers in due time. The Halloween season is a great way to express gratitude toward those who stuck by your side.

Spin up hyper-personalized email campaigns offering gifts, special deals, and offers for your top customers using the right email marketing platform.

READ: How to Gain Loyal Clients and Reduce Churn Rate

Light Up the Marketing Pumpkin

Marketing campaigns are as effective as their execution. With the right tools, you can make sure that your Halloween campaign reaches the right audience and creates enough hype to help your business grow this spooky October.