Spooky season is once again upon us. Halloween has people thinking about their costumes, putting on the heating again, and digging out that favourite horror movie. For affiliate managers, it’s a good time to get more traffic to your site and products and give affiliates an incentive. A themed campaign around the holiday could entice new and existing customers to visit your site and look at your products through your affiliates.
But it will take some forethought. For information on what a Halloween-themed affiliate campaign will take, read on.
Plan ahead
The key to any affiliate marketing program is planning ahead, and with Halloween having a set time in the year, you should already be putting in place some light marketing techniques. Sure, it’s November before Halloween is over with, sometimes later if the clubs have anything to do with it, but consumers are thinking about it as soon as the sun leaves. It’s the next big thing to look forward to once summer is gone, and you should take advantage of that eagerness.
You will also have to think about your budget. Set aside some extra money for new spooky-themed content for your campaign, as well as bonuses for your affiliates. It will take time and money to create new content for your website and social media, or even new products. All this extra effort will have to be reflected in your affiliates’ payments.
To give ample time for your team to get the best campaign you have, you should start now.
Gather inspiration
Take a look at your competitors’ campaigns. Are they doing something innovative or something you can build on? Take a look at past Halloween campaigns and learn what works and what doesn’t. What approaches have gained the most traffic and exposure? What campaigns have stayed in the minds of consumers?
You can even immerse yourself in aspects of Halloween you haven’t traditionally considered. If you’re one for watching a horror movie at home, look into the other options, like party decorations, the cosplay community on Instagram, Spotify playlists, etc.
Know your audience
Halloween is a pleasantly adaptable concept. It can’t even be said anymore that is exclusively about invoking a feeling of fear. It means something different to everyone. This is something that you can take advantage of.
There are plenty of things you can do to add some spooky festivities to your marketing campaign. The spirit of Halloween is full of icons to get you and your customers into the mood. Halloween is also very adaptable as a graphics concept. Is your brand more playful and light-hearted? Cartoons of blanket ghosts will suit better than the Pennywise appearing in the background of your graphics. Witchy memorabilia can be either horrifying or trendy. Pumpkins can be adapted into a modern kitchen with fall flowers for a snug appreciation of autumn or gutted for Jack-O-Lanterns with the kids.
Remember that there are no hard and fast rules on how to celebrate Halloween either. Some Trick or Treat, some build a bonfire, some dress up, some go clubbing or to a party, some have horror movie nights, some see it as a celebration of the dead, and some even detest it and try to avoid it. Think about what your demographic is likely to be doing and plan accordingly.
Spook-ify everything
You can put an offer in your email chains, offering a Trick or a Treat. It can come in the form of a mini-game within the email, for example, offering various discounts depending on what the customer wins. Or in the spirit of Trick or Treat, you can offer freebies to your customers, using the spooky season as a mask for every day promotions. In turn, affiliates can use these promotions to their advantage.
Halloween is a great opportunity for storytelling, whether it’s a folk tale around the campfire, or the Celtic and Pagan origins of the holiday. And storytelling is a great way to make customers engage with products. You can think up some stories that have a spooky slant to a tale relevant to your product and incorporate it into your campaign.
Like any decent horror movie, you should build the suspense. Promote your spooky-themed products with the idea that once the Samhain is over, so is your offer. Consult the thesaurus for creepy terms to add to your subject lines, taglines, and captions.
And if possible, tailor your products to appeal to the Halloween spirit, if even only in the form of graphics in your marketing campaign. If you sell candles, a spooky edition with autumn spicy scents would be a great special edition. But if, say, toothbrushes can’t really be moulded into the spooky aesthetic, you can still get involved by making a witch fly one instead of a broomstick.
As with any kind of promotion, communication with affiliates is key. If you’re creating something special for Halloween – you need to tell those who can drive traffic to your site about it. Get planning and shout about your exciting Halloween campaign!
To find more information on running an affiliate team at this chaotic time, you can look at the Affiverse blog. Or you can book a free call with a member of our team for more assistance in this area.
