As the fall season rolls around, it brings with it one of the most awaited holidays of the year: Halloween!
If you own a small business, you’re probably getting ready to change up your theme to match the Halloween season. Adding some cobwebs and witch hat decorations to your shop or cafe might help boost that Halloween vibe, but sometimes it just isn’t enough to get a reaction out of your customers.
There are several ways you can use Halloween to come up with fun and attractive promotional ideas to attract more customers toward your business. And one great idea that no one can ever pass up is, of course, a party.
A Halloween party is the best way to garner more attention toward your business. And with the summer heat out of the way, what better place to have a party than in an open, outdoor setting with space to breathe, dance, and let yourself go.
Your party doesn’t have to be a huge expense. If you’re promoting on a budget, we’ve got you covered. Here are some effective ways to host your own fang-tastic outdoor Halloween bash and attract more customers this October.
Get the optimal location
To throw an outdoor Halloween bash, you need to make sure you have ample space for it. You also need to ensure that your location is central enough to garner attention.
if your store, restaurant, or cafe has sufficient outdoor spacing, you have the perfect venue already. Make sure your party venue is clearly visible to your customers and guests, even from afar. Use cafe posters to talk about your Halloween offers.
If you’re hosting the event at your business venue, don’t just leave the themed decor to the party area. Decorate the interior, front entrance, and as much of the area outside as you can. Make sure people know where the party is and that no one misses it.
Alternatively, you can also look for a more public location for your event. See if you can rent out your local public park for the evening. This will not only allow you to have your party at a noticeable location, but will also increase your chances of being spotted by passers-by who might want to check out the scene.
Work with a fun theme
So you have a venue for your Halloween party. Great! But referring to it as just another Halloween party can get pretty boring. There are countless other generic parties happening on the same night as yours. You need to make sure yours stands out.
Come up with a fun, unique theme for your party and have your guests follow it. Consider going for a theme that relates with the kind of business you own and run. If you own a clothing or retail store, set up a theme where people can dress up using items from your shop. Some fun ideas are a disco party theme, an 80’s night, or a Disney villain theme.
If you own any sort of eatery, go with a Willy Wonka theme, a murder mystery dinner, or a spooky supper. Make sure your outlet decor and social media scream Halloween to get the ball rolling.
This murder mystery Halloween dinner party will give you great insights on how you can add some buzz to your Halloween themed decor and excite your party guests. If you’re an eatery looking to expand its menu, this can help you try out some great new themed recipes.
Plan out your activities
Once you have the location ready, you need to plan out the agenda for your party. Having an outdoor party setup opens the doors to a variety of fun activities that can be conducted in accordance with social distancing protocol.
Set up a costume contest for your guests, asking them to dress up according to the theme of the party. You can set the rules of this contest to make it more relevant to your product. Add in a condition that each costume has to include a unique use of one of your products. Reward the winner with a special gift voucher prize.
Another idea is to set up a fun scavenger hunt around the venue. Hide some token products around the location and have guests look for each one through a set of clues and riddles. To make this game more friendly to social distancing rules, use stick on QR codes that guests can scan to access the next clue without grabbing at the items.
You can do even more to entice your guests. Partner up with other local businesses to set up small stations for games, activities and more. This will not only help divide the cost, but will also help you reach out to a wider customer base.
Send out some scary vibes
Your party planning may be off to a great start, but none of it means much if no one is showing up to your event. Making sure you reach out to the right people is the most important aspect of party promotion.
Take out your customer contact lists and get started on your own email campaign. Go to PosterMyWall to create effortlessly scary invites to send out to your customers. All you have to do is create a free account to get access to a wide range of freak-tacular Halloween party invite templates that you can customize to fit your needs.
Add a wide range of spooky stickers and animations in your invitation to make your invitees jump. Include party details like venue, timings, rules, and more. Finally, finish it up with an eerie soundtrack to induce some extra screams.
Add some extra buzz to your party promotion by converting your Halloween party graphics into social media posts. You can do this by logging onto PosterMyWall and scrolling through the wide range of Halloween Instagram post templates to find one that fits your image. Then hop onto the editor to turn it into the perfect fit for your customer’s newsfeed.
Start by adding some posts that match the Halloween vibe and go with the theme of your party. Throw in a few witch hats, ghosts, and bats in your posts to Halloweenify your feed. Follow this up with a post advertising your party and all its spooky details.
Add in a fun twist to your social media post by offering an exclusive 13% party discount to all followers who share the post and tag 2 of their friends. This will not only engage your followers, but will also create more hype for the upcoming event.
Send your guests away happy with Halloween party swag
End your party with a bang and make it a night to remember by giving your attendees a token to cherish you by.
Plan out the swag bag you’ll be giving away at your event. Add in free samples of your best seasonal product, some discount coupons, and some Halloween treats. Convert your spooky Halloween graphics into a small thank-you card and add it to the bag.
Hand out your spooky swag bags to attendees as they get ready to leave. For more publicity, you can add some Halloween props to your bags and encourage guests to take pictures for their social media and use your store tag and hashtag.
Final Thoughts
Halloween is one of the most marketed events of the year. And if you want to keep up with the trends, you have to make sure your promotional tactics stand out.
And what better way to stand out than by throwing a major event to get the town hyped up? Stay ahead of the generic Halloween crowd of ghosts and witches with your fresh new take on the spooky season and have your Halloween party be the event of the season.
Get started on your hair-raising Halloween promotions today with PosterMyWall’s range of design tools, guides, and more.
