We’re nine days into September and we saw that Starbucks rolled out its Pumpkin Spice Latte. Then we saw the costumes were out at CostCo and thought, “Hey, when in Rome.” So in the spirit of introducing things way, way to early, we decided to go ahead and do a Halloween smail strategy post. Because, why not?
#noshame
So here then for your benefit are some tips you can apply to your email marketing program to get a piece of that sweet, $6.9 billion pie that Americans bake every Halloween season.
3. Promote All Month Long (And Early)
Like wanting to throw the slammingest costume party since the days of Nero, all successful endeavors require a sufficient amount of time to pull off. Wait until the last minute, you can end up walking around in one of those lazy “Well, I have a Superman tee and a suit. Guess I can just go as Clark Kent” costumes.
This came up while searching for a picture to fit that analogy. Wouldn’t be a Halloween post without genuine terror.
Like the Clark Kent wannabe, you don’t want to put off your marketing until it’s too late to capitalize on it. And why not get a jump on it like so many of the retailers we love to beat a dead horse about? We can hem and haw about it, but while we’re looking down our noses at them, they’re busy getting a bigger piece of the multi-billion dollar pie we mentioned.
So kick off your Halloween campaign early and start shaping that strategy around the trends that are starting to work. Remember, the more value you can add to your emails, the more subscribers will engage with you.
2. Have Fun With Subject Lines
Recently — like, super recently — we talked about emojis in your email subject lines, concluding with a thought out, fact-based, scientific response of “We don’t really know. Can’t help to test it, though!”
Science!
And when better to give it a shot than during the time leading up to Halloween? Test your emoji lines against traditional ones, see what’s doing well, and start guiding your strategy in that direction. Heck, take it a step further: Throw some ghosts ‘n’ goblins or whatever in there and test to see how that content is performing. After all, you can’t tease subscribers with a Halloween-themed subject line and then not deliver in the body of your message.
Might be a liiittle early for winter-themed stuff, though.
1. Get Social
It’s hard to decide which holiday goes most appropriately with social media posting: The 4th Of July or Halloween. But for the purposes of this post, we’re going to say Halloween.
Sorry, America
With people in a hurry to show off their awesome decorations, racy costumes, or how adorable their wiener dogs looked dressed up in hot dog buns, there’s a lot of wiggle room to capitalize on those tendencies and work your social-email magic. Things as simple as contests mixed up with hashtags will help to keep subscribers engaged, and also will work to promote your brand to those who aren’t on board yet.
So go forth, strategize, create, and conquer, and punch Halloween right in its spooky face.
