Marketing For Local Stores On Halloween

Use Natural Opportunities To Market, Advertise, and Promote Your Local Business

Marketing during Halloween, or the lack of it, is truly frightening…

Recently, a new client said to me, “I’m in the marketing business. And I use [xxx] as my vehicle.” HE GETS IT!

Replace, [xxx], with your business. Pizza parlor, Quick Oil Change, Hair Salon, Art School, Accounting, Insurance, Direct Sales, Information Publishing, Web Design, Chiropractic, Copywriting, Real Estate, Mortgage, Biomedical Testing Equipment, Enterprise Software, Pet Sitting ….

It doesn’t matter which business you think you’re in. You’re always in the marketing business. The business itself, the product, the service is your vehicle.

This Halloween We Took The Kids Trick-Or-Treating To The Mall

The kids are small and it’s easier for them to walk around the Mall than blocks and blocks of houses.

We hit every store. At least 80 all together. Most hand out candy or stickers. Some have signs “No Candy”.

And can you believe it?

Only two stores bothered to do any special promotion for this annual event (I trick-or-treated at this same Mall when I was a toddler).

Only two stores out of 80. That’s appalling. I think our economic worries can be solved, quickly, if businesses actually tried to market and advertise.

Here is what the two stores did:

First One) Good: Handed out their store paper bag (logo) with one candy, stickers, and their catalog.

EVERYONE who stopped by now has their catalog. It’s safe to assume that these “everyones” live within driving distance and are familiar with the Mall. A good way to target potential customers.

Second One) Better: Handed out a sticker and a business size card (coupon) for 15% off purchases only between November 1 and November 10.

EVERYONE who stopped by now has this special coupon, an offer to shop at a discount, And a deadline! A strong and direct approach. If I didn’t want to use this coupon myself, I’d think of giving it to someone who could use it before November 10th. A Better approach.

Before you start spending a lot of time on advanced marketing strategies and Marketing Guru tactics, make sure to cover the basics.

This example proves that 95% of your competition is too lazy or isn’t even capable of doing basic, low tech, neanderthal-level marketing. Handing out a catalog or promotional coupon. How hard is that – and it’s cheap, too!

And it’s not like the Mall was caught by surprise with a sudden rush of FREE foot traffic. Halloween happens every single year. And this Mall has promoted trick-or-treating for decades!

Use natural opportunities to market, advertise, and promote your on-line or local business. It doesn’t take much effort either. Make sure your customers and prospects know you care about their business.

Even during a weak and defecating economy (when you expect entrepreneurs to be more aggressive) nearly 100% of your competition is sitting on their hands waiting for “something” to happen. Give me a break!

Strike where they are weak!

Call me and let’s work together to move your business, kick out the weak competition, and get this country back on track. Call me now