From Tricks to Treats: Essential Halloween Marketing Insights for Brands

From Celtic roots to the highly commercialized season we see today, Halloween isn’t just about kids in costumes receiving sweet treats. In fact, advertisers and publishers can also benefit from this holiday marketing opportunity through Halloween ads. So, why is it worth executing your Halloween campaign ideas? Because the use of Halloween ads isn’t limited to candies, costumes and other spooky products and services. Seasonal marketing, in general, urges people to take action because it has a built-in timer. And when you learn more about how to create a powerful Halloween ads campaign, you can take advantage of these returns.

Marketing Trends You Need to Know Before Creating Halloween Ads for 2024 and Beyond

Existing trends tell you whether the cards are stacked against you or in your favor. So, before you start any kind of campaign or implement your best Halloween promotion ideas, make sure to learn about the direction that the market is taking. This way, you’ll be able to form a relevant strategy that takes into account what’s happening on the ground. Consider these marketing trends, when you design your Halloween ad campaign. Let’s take a deeper look into each of them, shall we?

Rise of Online Shopping During Halloween

E-commerce is booming! And even though it’s not only those who want to create Halloween advertisements that benefit from this, the reason for the rise itself is all the same.

Convenience: The days and weeks leading up to Halloween can attract heavy traffic in physical stores. People looking to avoid this hassle may be more receptive to Halloween ads.
More choices: Buyers aren’t limited by the items available in their area.
Routine: Because of the pandemic, people didn’t have any choice but to shop online. And now, we all just got used to it!

Both Halloween brands and non-Halloween brands have greatly benefited from the rise of e-commerce.

Popular Halloween Consumer Trends

Because of what the season requires, consumers will tend to purchase certain types of products over others.

Purchases driven by nostalgia: Vintage Halloween advertising that focuses on selling thematic items tends to do well not just because of nostalgia. They can also double as an accessory or be part of Halloween designs.
Costumes: Halloween ads for all kinds of costumes have the potential to do well as dressing up is part of the Halloween tradition. Even pets these days wear costumes!
Halloween-themed experiences: Looking for Halloween marketing ideas? Parties and related events tend to do well during this season.

If your offer is aligned with any of these, you may have an easier time getting great results from your Halloween ads.

Social Media Influence

Social media has become a formidable force in creating trends and providing consumers with opportunities to discover. Halloween social media posts for businesses are no different, allowing their content to become a part of the holiday buzz. Short-form videos do well in this season because they deliver a message concisely. Seasonal image filters for social media Halloween interactive posts can also do well in getting users engaged. Harnessing the power of social media for your Halloween ads means you can improve reach and amplify your brand’s message.

Sustainable and Ethical Trends

There is a huge demand for all sorts of products during the season. For some segments of the market, ethically sourced and eco-friendly products are preferred. Halloween ads can highlight characteristics that will appeal to these audience segments. For example, are the products that you’re selling recyclable? Or perhaps they can be used even after the end of October? Your Halloween ads can demonstrate that their purchase will not be a waste. However, how you can promote sustainability will depend on your offer.

Effective Halloween Marketing Strategies

We’ve just covered the trends. But how can they be relevant to your strategy formulation process? When relevant, there should be a strong connection between your Halloween ads and what is considered “in.” So, if you’re ready to take advantage of the opportunity to improve brand recognition and/or drive more business for your company, consider these factors when formulating Halloween marketing campaign ideas. If you believe that some of them don’t fit with the brand or the goals, no worries! Your capabilities in running and managing a campaign are still at the heart of your success here.

Seasonal Branding and Theming

Since you want to run Halloween ads, make sure that every element is aligned with this season. These are the major elements that you’ll want to pay attention to.

Visuals: Just because you’re not marketing Halloween costumes, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to use colors associated with the season. Integrating seasonal colors like deep purples, autumnal oranges and charcoal black can make your Halloween ads truly festive.
Copy: The language of your copy should also reflect the theme. By using words with heavy associations with the season in your Halloween ads, users can easily identify the theme.
Offer: Perhaps you can even launch special offers specifically for the season. For example, in 2023, Heinz created a unique campaign featuring "Tomato Blood" ketchup. This special Halloween edition not only included themed packaging but also a highly engaging shoppable livestream where customers could purchase exclusive costume kits.

Content Marketing: Spooky Stories & Interactive Campaigns

Halloween content marketing campaigns can be very exciting because there’s just so much material that you can use! However, it doesn’t need to just be about pumpkins, witches and ghouls. Halloween ads and content marketing strategies can also focus on these strategies.

Create spooky-related content: An example is how MAC has a page dedicated to Halloween makeup looks.
Encourage community-driven content: You can launch Halloween ads to encourage your target audience to create content, perhaps as a part of a contest to create a buzz and promote collaboration.
Use quizzes: Which of your offers is best for them? Set up seasonal-themed Halloween quizzes to help educate your audience while also driving sales.

Social Media Campaigns

Do you remember how we said that the influence of social media is just undeniable when it comes to Halloween? If you’re making creative Halloween ads, you should allocate some budget to publishing them on social media platforms. Try these tips to capture the excitement that comes with this spooky season.

Create themed hashtags: You don’t always need Halloween ads to generate buzz. Even riding on generic — but relevant — hashtags like #HalloweenMakeUp can help increase the visibility of your brand.
Explore video content: Short videos can go viral, so it’s no surprise that the best Halloween social media marketing campaigns include them.
Use filters and AR: It’s so effective that all these brands used AR for their Halloween campaign to encourage the sharing of user reactions and to promote storytelling.

Video Advertising and TikTok Ads

Since short videos are already doing so well, why not make Halloween ads in this format? Video advertising provides you with an exciting opportunity to get that click.

Make shoppable ads: TikTok Halloween ads can be made in such a way that the users can purchase items directly from the social platform.
Engage in storytelling: Video is a great medium for storytelling, such as Burger King’s Scary Clown Night that rode on the success of the movie “It” and poked fun at McDonald’s.
Demo your product: Through Halloween ads, you can show how your product can be used for the season.

Targeted Email Campaigns

Email marketing gives you an opportunity to communicate with your target market directly. And yes, this includes Halloween ads! Here are a few ways that you can bring life to a regular email campaign.

Create a themed subject line: Horrifyingly limited Halloween deals, anyone? You can even add personalization by including the subscriber’s name! Check out this list for more ideas.
Segment your list: Different offers from your Halloween ads will appeal to various segments of your market. So, why not give them exactly what they want?
Segue into post-Halloween promotions: This gives them a final chance to get value from your Halloween ads. It also lets you build up your next campaigns.

Halloween-Themed Promotions & Flash Sales

Emphasizing urgency has always been an effective way to drive sales, especially for offers that have been tested already. So, for your Halloween ads, these are some of the ways that you can boost revenue.

Emphasize limited-time sales: Just like how Walmart offered up to 70% off last month, you can also design Halloween ads that encourage people to buy now. Using countdowns and promoting flash sales that run for a short period also work here.
Give free gifts with a purchase: Whether we’re talking about Halloween ads or something else, free things grab attention. But this time, just make it Halloween-themed!
Announce sales dates: This will give people something to look forward to. It will also be easy to remember because it’s associated with a holiday.

Partnering with Local Events & Influencers

Instead of just focusing on Halloween ads, why not spend some of the budget on expanding your audience as well? If there’s a party going on, you can provide your product at a discount in exchange for promotion in their Halloween ads on social media platforms. Or, just like what Bud Light did, hold the party yourself! If your offer is not something that is normally used during the season, partnering with influencers will still allow you to benefit from increased engagement. An Instagram deal can work great here if your brand also has a decent following.

Collaborations with Content Creators

Content creators allow you the opportunity to expand your audience without spending on Halloween ads. Here are two ways they can increase your offer’s exposure.

Product reviews: Just like with this review of Trader Joe’s Halloween-themed food, you can increase awareness of what your potential customers can buy from you.
Product placements: These serve as more subtle Halloween ads because the product is just in the background instead of the main focus of the content.

The sky’s the limit in terms of the kind of content that you can create! It’s all about finding the right content creators to bring the right audience to you.

Best Practices for Successful Spooky Marketing

Now you have the trends and the strategies. So, let’s proceed with the last piece of the puzzle. Whether or not you plan to run paid Halloween ads, keep in mind that these best practices will help you generate the most buzz and revenue from your campaign, no matter the season.

Start Early with Your Halloween Promotions

Launching your campaign in late September and early October is ideal for a number of reasons.

It provides you with an opportunity to optimize your campaigns: If the first version of your Halloween ads doesn’t convert right away, you’ll still have time to change things.
It allows you to build momentum: You’ll be able to build up excitement, so your audience is more likely to look forward to Halloween ads and offers throughout the campaign.
**Everyone else starts early: **If you launch your campaign late, it will be harder for you to make an impact.

Optimize for Mobile

Optimization for mobile devices doesn’t stop at your Halloween ads. In fact, everything that you’ll create and use for your campaign should follow a mobile-first design. This is very important because people nowadays tend to use their mobile devices to interact with most ads. If these lead to a website that you manage, make sure that the landing and checkout pages load quickly, even using mobile data. Also, view your Halloween ads and relevant pages on various mobile devices. This is so you can see for yourself if there’s anything that needs to be adjusted.

Leverage User Data for Personalization

Personalization is very important if you want your Halloween ads to make an impact. With it, you’ll be able to present offers that are most relevant to viewers. This can also be a great source of revenue through retargeted Halloween ads. After all, people who have shown interest in Halloween-related content are most likely to purchase. Perhaps all they need is a little push. The great thing about this best practice is that you don’t have to personally collect user data. When you run Halloween ads, this is already done for you. All you need to do is to monitor incoming information and make decisions based on that.

Tap into Consumer FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

No one likes to miss out on an amazing deal. And if you want to emphasize FOMO in your Halloween ads, here are a few things that you can do.

Use countdowns and limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency.
Highlight exclusive products or deals to appeal to the FOMO-driven consumer
Declare that there’s a limited stock of a certain product

Using even just one of these practices in your Halloween ads can persuade viewers to take action right away. Just remember, you have to commit to the scarcity that you create. Even if you don’t end up meeting your sales goals, you can’t indefinitely extend the promotion because users may not trust you again.

Test and Optimize Ads for Better Performance

When you initially run Halloween ads, you’ll most likely be relying on market research and competitor analysis. But even at this point, you should prepare various versions of your Halloween ad messaging and creatives. This allows you to test and optimize based on real-time data on audience interaction and engagement metrics. However, this does not apply to Halloween advertising slogans. Once those are released publicly, there’s no going back.

Localized Campaigns

If you’re advertising for a brick-and-mortar store, highly localized marketing strategies are necessary. This will allow you to drive as much foot traffic into your place of business as possible. For your Halloween ads, think about regional traditions and preferences associated with the season. Is there any reference that only people who live in the area will get? Add that into the mix, too! However, even if you mainly operate online, Halloween ads that have some level of localization are still necessary. Think of them as segmenting based on location.

Native Advertising to Create the Best Halloween Advertising Campaigns

With Halloween nearing, trust us when we say that there will be a lot of noise related to this season. It’s even possible that they’ll eventually get tired of the usual formats of Halloween ads and ignore them altogether. That’s where native advertising comes in. It separates itself from the more conventional modes of promotion because, in this case, your Halloween ads aren’t meant to stand out. Instead, they blend in with the content on the platform where they’re placed. Learn more about this format in the following subsections.

Why Native Advertising Works for a Halloween Advertisement

Native ads blend seamlessly into Halloween-related content, increasing click-through rates and conversions. For example, if the article is talking about cheap Halloween decor ideas, Halloween ads promoting affordable decor won’t seem out of place. Users will be more likely to engage with the ad because it’s relevant to their browsing intent. Compared to your traditional banners, native Halloween ads are less susceptible to ad fatigue.

Best Practices for Native Ads

The best practices that apply to non-native ads also apply here. The most important is to align the copy and creatives of your Halloween ads with Halloween themes. A great example of this is Netflix & Chills 2022, which presented the scary movies that you could watch on their streaming platform. It’s also important for your Halloween ads to have clear calls to action. For example, on all Halloween deals on this Amazon page, it’s clearly indicated that the offer is only available for a limited time. You can also easily add the product to your cart or buy it right away.

Platforms for Running Native Halloween Ads

On most platforms where you can run a regular ad, you can also run a native ad. What will be the best fit for you will depend on your audience. MGID is a top platform for running Halloween ads across many industries. Having a network of more than 32,000 publishers, we can easily match any promotional material with the content platform where it can get the most engagement. Your Halloween ads on social media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube and many more can also be used for the same purpose. These all allow you to create ads following the same content format that’s used on their platforms.

Halloween Ads: Just Like Any Other Season, but with a Spooky Twist!

In the end, Halloween ads are just ads that are dressed in a spooky facade. However, the conventional rules and practices of advertising and marketing still apply. Using native advertising for Halloween ads can be extremely effective because there is already a plethora of Halloween-themed content leading up to this holiday. If you want to do it right, partner with the best! Register on the MGID platform to get access to advanced tools, a personal manager and a department of creative specialists. We’ll help you make your Halloween ads a spectacular success.