Transform Your Halloween Marketing into a Hallo-Win with Direct Mail

If your marketing prep style lies somewhere between holiday super planner and procrastinator, September is the time to ramp up for the heavy spending season by stocking up on products and crafting promotional plans. Popular celebrations like Thanksgiving and Christmas get a lot of play among B2C and B2B businesses, but don’t miss the chance to leverage Halloween for freakishly good fall sales before the big-time holidays arrive. Fun Fact: 179 million Americans celebrated Halloween last year, with each spending an average of $86.13 to enjoy the festivities.

Halloween spending is hitting record highs, posting $9.1B in 2017, so ignoring the influx of prospects is a missed opportunity that comes only once a year. Where consumers might cut back on Christmas spending, more and more are expanding their Halloween repertoire, with 71 percent of Americans joining the candy rush. Direct mail marketing is a powerful and proven channel to boost October web visitors, in-store and online orders, phone calls and more. Bright, themed-out postcards, high-visibility booklets and hyper-realistic tri-folds are just a few ways you can dress up your marketing to make ghoulishly grand impressions.

What if my business doesn’t sell Halloween-related products or services? 
Don’t be frightened, it just takes a little ingenuity to make Halloween work for your business. Whether your clientele is comprised of consumers or other businesses, there is one thing in common: customers of all types appreciate being acknowledged with special offers, extra savings, freebies, event invitations or whatever you can dream up. Simply use Halloween to make your marketing more spirited, from creative copywriting to head-turning graphics. It’s your chance to break free from the corporate branding and everyday marketing your customers are expecting to see.

1. Masquerade Your Marketing
Surprising and delighting your audience is the essence of a well-themed campaign. A fun and interesting technique for Halloween mailings is to send out folded cards that look very different from outside to inside. This could mean designing a direct mail piece that appears to be normal on the outside, but drastically changes to wacky, scary or cool once opened. Or, create a piece that’s unusual on the outside and typical on the inside to keep your customers guessing. You can even disguise coupon offer codes with scratch-offs or other unique redemption ideas. Delivering an unexpected design generates more interest and more opens, putting your marketing front and center when prospects are ready to make a move.

2. Customize Your Folds and Shapes
You’re not limited to a simple fold with a single edge. You can try tri-fold designs where the edges meet in the middle (known as a gate fold), or even off center folds. Folded products are excellent for a surprise factor, from tear-off coupons and tip-in cards to hidden design elements that entice customers to open your mail piece. Unique shapes and sizes are also an excellent choice to grab attention. Pick a pumpkin die-cut shape and you can stay seasonal while also delivering your latest promotion, event invite or sale. Plus, you can save money by using the same pumpkin die for your Thanksgiving marketing – just change the design and messaging, then segment your audience as needed. Go for a terrifying touch with the addition of textures that mimic blood, or grab some attention with foil finishes and glitter. Glossy postcards are common, so it pays to be different and draw the eye with something that contrasts against the standard stack of white envelopes and mail pieces.

3. Put Together a Halloween Lookbook
Mailed booklets and mini catalogs not only give your audience ideas of what seasonal products to put together, they help drive in-store and online sales. Show off Halloween fashions, décor, creative ways to make costumes, entertainment tips, recipes and more. Even if your business sells none of the above, you can promote your usual products and services inside a special edition Halloween booklet that incorporates spooktacular graphics, content and timely offers. Clever marketing works just like a too-cool-to-ignore costume! Fun Fact: Americans spend a whopping $3.4B on Halloween costumes and candy sales are expected to top $2.7B.

4. Make Shopping Fun and Festive
Sending out a jumbo card like Modern’s Sumo Size^® postcard is a great way to demand attention straight out of the mailbox. These ginormous postcards have more surface area, so you can post more content without worrying about the message getting lost. Plus, they are the largest to mail at a letter rate! Since the biggest return on any direct mail campaign comes from coupons and offers, it’s important to incentivize shoppers with great deals. BOGO (buy one, get one) sales or a hefty percentage off on a top seller can draw a lot of business. Once consumers are in the door or logged on to your website, you can work on adding to their order or marketing to them in the future.

5. Insert a Loyalty Card
Business cards can do more than just offer your address and contact information. They can also act as a coupon, multi-use discount code or in-store punch card. With a creative format that has a pocket, you can hide a fun loyalty reward in your next mailing and watch the sales roll in throughout October and beyond.

Modern is here to help your brand stand out with successful print promotions and direct mail campaigns.

Call a Direct Marketing Specialist at 800.959.8365.