Small Business Edge Newsletter

1) BOO-st Your Sales with These Halloween Marketing Ideas

2) 13 Sources for Halloween Marketing Ideas

3) Podcast Wisdom

Hello Friends and Fellow Business Owners,

My word for this week is Halloween! 🎃

The history and traditions of Halloween are impressive. The holiday is one of those rare occasions that blends ancient customs with modern-day excitement. It’s one big, full of fun celebration—and it’s also packed with big business potential for small business owners.

Halloween traces its roots back over 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “Sow-in”). The Celts believed that on the night of October 31st, the boundary between the living and the dead blurred, allowing spirits to roam the earth. They lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off ghosts. When the special day later merged with Christian traditions, it became “All Hallows’ Eve,” and eventually evolved into the Halloween we know today, complete with costumes, candy, and bobbing for apples.

Over the years, Halloween has grown into a massive commercial event, especially in the U.S. In 2023, Americans spent over $12.2 billion on Halloween-related items! From costumes and decorations to candy and party supplies, this holiday is a BIG win for retailers, and small businesses play a huge role in that.

Here are some more numbers from 2023:

• $3.6 billion was spent on costumes alone (for kids, adults, and yes, even pets!).
• Consumers shelled out around $3.4 billion on decorations to spook up their homes and neighborhoods.
• Americans purchased over $3.1 billion worth of candy, handing out nearly 600 million pounds of sugary treats. I can take some credit for this statistic as my house gets over 400 trick-or-treaters every year. This is what happens when your house is down the block from the only K-6 elementary school in our town.

Halloween is also a windfall for millions of small businesses across the country. Whether you own a costume shop, a local bakery making pumpkin-themed treats, or a pop-up haunted house, there’s no shortage of ways to tap into the Halloween spirit. Consumers are willing to spend on unique, creative, and personalized experiences, which is where small businesses really shine.

For my readers who love numbers and fun facts, here are a few more for you:

• The first citywide Halloween celebration in the U.S. happened in Anoka, Minnesota, in 1920, and the town still calls itself the “Halloween Capital of the World.”
• According to the National Retail Federation, one in five pet owners dress up their pets for Halloween! The most popular pet costume? A pumpkin.
• Americans spend more money on Halloween than any holiday except Christmas.

This week is a great opportunity for you and your business to embrace the traditions, creative costumes, and community spirit of Halloween. If you do, make sure to take plenty of pics and post them online! I love looking at them.

Happy Halloween!

Peace,

Brian

1. BOO-st Your Sales with These Halloween Marketing Tips

My friend Rieva Lesonsky wrote this article eight years ago, but it’s stood the test of time. Here are three of her Halloween marketing tips.

1. Add Halloween-themed items to your offerings. People love limited-time products like Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte. Naturally, restaurants, bars, coffee houses, or bakeries can attract fans of seasonal flavors with menu items like pumpkin-flavored drinks and desserts. But other businesses can get in on the action. Beauty salons can offer hair and makeup services for Halloween parties, or create spooky nail art. Pumpkin peels are popular year-round, so spas and facialists should consider offering extra discounts for these in October.
2. Sponsor a local Halloween event. Look for Halloween parades, trick-or-treat events, parties, Zombie walks, or haunted houses held by local community organizations that you can sponsor. These are great places to hand out promotional products, coupons or product samples.
3. Create a Halloween contest for your customers. Make it relevant to your business. For example, a pet store could hold a best pet costume contest; an interior decorator can have a contest for the most elaborate home or front door decor; a craft store could hold a poster-coloring contest for kids.

Read more time-tested Halloween marketing tips.

2. 13 Sources for Halloween Marketing Ideas

It’s too late for this season since Halloween is in a few days, but you can file these ideas away for next year.

1. 13 of the Best Halloween Marketing Ideas
2. Relishing the Spooky Season
3. 35 Halloween Marketing Ideas for Businesses of All Sizes
4. 7 Halloween Marketing Ideas for Local Retailers
5. Summerween: Should You Start Your Halloween Marketing in August?
6. 14 Frighteningly Easy Halloween Promotions & Marketing Ideas
7. 12 Halloween Marketing and Promotion Ideas for Small Businesses
8. 10 Low-Budget Halloween Marketing Ideas
9. Boost Your Small Business with These 18 Halloween Marketing Ideas
10. Small Business Halloween Marketing Ideas
11. Halloween Marketing Ideas to Scale Your Small Business
12. How Businesses Can Make the Most of Halloween
13. Celebrating Halloween: A Business Owner’s Guide to Harnessing Seasonal Opportunities

3. Podcast Wisdom

Click HERE to listen to the podcast.