What are you going as? I prefer not to repeat myself, but at my age there aren’t many original options, so I may have to fall back an outfit I’ve worn before. Zombie is always good or I might dig out my skeleton suit. Perhaps I’ll reprise the corpse bride. Admittedly it’s not a look that suits me, but then that’s the point really. I’m talking Halloween, a celebration I like almost as much as Christmas and an occasion that’s an equally good excuse for a prize promotion. Whatever your business objective – you might want to boost sales, increase your social media following or simply reward loyal customers with a giveaway – a Halloween promotion can help you achieve it.
Planning is key, of course. It doesn’t have to be arduous and a simple approach is fine, but, as always, you’ll need clear terms and conditions. You should, however, be creative with the presentation of your promotion. Black and orange are likely to dominate your colour palette. You can run, but you can’t hide from them, so embrace them. Likewise, plenty of spirited puns are the order of the day and Halloween-themed prizes are essential.
In terms of the kinds of promotion you could run, you might ask entrants to send you photos of their costumes, pumpkins, decorations, cakes or cookies (remember to include a mechanism for verifying that the content of the picture and the image copyright belong to them). Or you could start a Facebook conversation about what people love most about Halloween, or use Halloween as a peg to conduct a survey or quiz to find out more about your customers, with winners drawn at random.
You’ll find lots of inspiration and advice on running prize promotions if you browse the Prizeology blog. There’s a general piece on running prize promotions here and this time last year I posted about seven scary prize promotions mistakes.
If you’re still struggling to find the right frame of mind, I’d recommend Pinterest. Pinners go crazy for Halloween and there are wild and wonderful ideas on there (I give you spiders in the handwash bottle, candles that appear to drip blood, pumpkins spewing what I hope is guacamole…)
Anyway, I’ve decided I’m going to go for Day of the Dead this Halloween and to get in the mood I’m off to binge-watch all the Modern Family Halloween episodes. The countdown to 31 October has certainly started and I’m excited, although I’ve heard that this year something else may – or may not – be happening on that date, too? Can anyone fill me in on that?!
Sarah Burns is Prizeology’s Chief Prizeologist and listed in the Top 10 Women of the Corporate World to watch.
