7 Halloween Marketing Tips

7 Halloween Marketing Tips

Search Engine Pros Halloween Newsletter

Personal Note From Founder:

Dear Friends,

You’ve heard of newsjacking, but are you familiar with holiday-jacking? If it isn’t an official marketing term, it definitely should be. The bigger the holiday, the larger the interest among consumers and the associated volume of search on Google.

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By effectively targeting your marketing materials to upcoming holidays, you can capture the interest of consumers who are attuned to the season. According to the National Retail Federation, a record 170 million Americans say they’ll celebrate Halloween this year. Halloween is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas and spending in the United States this year is estimated to reach $6.9 billion.

The Halloween market is bigger than ever, and adults are having just as much fun as kids. There’s a huge opportunity for your business to join the celebration with some seasonal online content and clever Halloween social media marketing.

7 Halloween Marketing Tips:

1.  Hold A Halloween Contest
A fun Halloween contest could be for the best jack-o-lantern, the best costume, the best recipe – you name it. Ask your customers to post pictures of their entries, and don’t forget to offer a prize; a free e-book, gift card, or coupon would be perfect.

2.  #DoAHashtagContest
Setting up a hashtag can help your Halloween contest or promotion get seen by a wider audience. Even those who don’t participate could retweet it or mention it on Twitter getting you on more timelines and generating more buzz.

3.  Engage Facebook fans with images
Images are a proven tactic for attracting attention to your website, Twitter timeline or Facebook page. On Facebook specifically, with the new timeline for brands, images pop on your news feed and engage visitors, often earning more likes and comments than other posts.

4.  Write A Halloween-Themed Blog Post
This idea is truly limited only by your imagination. Relate Halloween to some aspect of your business and run with it. Do you have a pet supply business? Blog about tips for keeping your pet safe when trick-or-treaters flock to your porch. Run a home improvement website? List your top ten scariest DIY mistakes made by homeowners. This is also a good place for “awareness” topics like child safety or drunk driving on Halloween.

5.  Make A Halloween Video Dress up team members in Halloween costumes and make a promotional, entertaining, or educational video. Halloween tips are a good place to start for inspiration. Tips for applying Halloween makeup. Tips for examining your child’s trick-or-treat candy. Exercise tips for working off all that Halloween candy. The witch-filled sky’s the limit.

6.  Do a tweet-vote
A tweet-vote can help you earn new followers and engage your current ones. For Halloween, you could have followers vote on the costume contest you held in your office, which has the added bonus of humanizing your brand.

7.  Host a Halloween (social) event
Making your event social can help you not only generate buzz and attract attendees before it starts – it can also help you engage followers and fans during the party and after it’s over.

Fun Things to do in Santa Barbara on Halloween:

Downtown Halloween Safe Trick-or-Treat
October 31, 2013
Times: 3-6PM
Location: Downtown Santa Barbara
Address: State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Phone: call 962.2098 ext. 24
Downtown businesses get into the spirit of the haunting season by welcoming hundreds of costumed children with treats, stickers, coupons or other Halloween goodies.

Halloween Bash at Carr Winery
October 31, 2013
Times: 7:30PM-11:00PM
Address: 414 N. Salsipuedes Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Phone: 805-965-7985
Venue: Carr Winery
Join us in the haunted wine cave! Sip wicked wines and jam to music by Tommy & the High Pilots. Georgia’s Smokehouse will be serving up their frightfully delicious BBQ. 21+, Costume required. A Halloween party you will die for…Get on the list before the event sells out.

Voodoo Lounge 2nd Annual Canary Rooftop Halloween Dance Party
October 31, 2013
Times: 9PM-1AM
Address: 31 West Carrillo St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Phone: 805-895-3402
Venue: Canary Hotel
VIP Access 8:00 – 1:00 am $75 in advance, space is limited – Enjoy Bubbling Brews and Bewitching Bites- 8:00 – 9:00 pm – VIP Entrance to the Party – Two complimentary drink tickets to be used at the Voodoo Lounge Party – Access to VIP bar General Reception 9:00 pm to 1:00 am General Admission $40CURATED COCKTAILS WITH ASCENDANT SPIRITS October 31, 2013 Times: 5:30PM-9PM Address: 653 Paseo Nuevo Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone: 805.966.5373 Venue: Paseo Mall MCASB partners with a new local mixologist every Thursday in October from 6-8 pm to offer unique $5 MCASB signature cocktails.  Visitors can enjoy music from DJ Emtpy Priest and guided tours of the current exhibitions: Call For Entries and Bloom Projects: Ro Snell, All that is left.

Must See Videos:

Hilarious Halloween Prank on kids!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQpbzQ6gzs

Halloween Light Show “Thriller”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUAV_1jBJB4

Haven’t decided on a Halloween costume for your pet? Watch this video for some creative ideas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYY6YmoHD5Q

Google Reveals the highest searched terms for Halloween costumes of 2013:

Thinking of dressing up as a Minion for Halloween this year? Judging by recent searches, you aren’t the only one. Both Google and Yahoo agree that Minion costumes – from the “Despicable Me” movies – are the top trending costumes of 2013. With Halloween less than a week away, here’s a look at the top 5 costumes people are searching for most this year:

1.)   Minion – from the movie “Despicable Me” is popular with both adults and kids
2.)   Breaking Bad – searches are up nearly 3x vs. last year for the popular AMC series, which just saw huge ratings for its series finale.
3.)   Fox – supposedly inspired by Ylvis’ viral video “The Fox”.
4.)   Duck Dynasty – searches are 3x higher this year vs. last year; search volume is highest in Texas.
5.)   Miley Cyrus – not surprising following her post-VMA performance and latest “look at me” antics.

Join us at Lunch & Learn e-Marketing Tomorrow
Time: Fridays 12:30pm-2pm
Location: 532 State Street (Next Door Joe’s Cafe)
Join The Facebook Event

Lunch and Learn e-Marketing is a web marketing seminar presented by yours truly, Taylor Reaume, Fridays 12:30pm-2pm at Verde Restaurant @ 532 State Street. I would like to welcome everyone to this new venue for our e-marketing discussions every week.  VerdeSB.com is a new mexican cuisine restaurant located on lower State Street. At this lunch meeting you will have a unique opportunity to share online marketing secrets with other business owners.  Learn online marketing and social media marketing strategy on the web. One lucky attendee will have their web site analyzed live by the lunch group and feedback is provided, to help optimize online presence.

Upstairs3

Expand your knowledge of web marketing and learn advanced search engine optimization strategy. COST is $20; Includes lunch, a drink, e-marketing discussions with local business people – GREAT BUSINESS NETWORKING. Discover valuable web marketing secrets that will help you outrank your competition on Google. Bring your questions, business cards and laptop (optional). Leave with a full stomach and clarity/sanity on 2013 web strategy and web marketing options. Attendees participate in a live web site review and offer constructive feedback as part of the group. It’s educational. It’s informative. It’s delicious. Find out if your web site is winning the race to the top of Google. Open to everyone!

RSVP not required but appreciated.
https://www.thesearchenginepros.com/seo-workshop.html

Sincerely,
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