Coming up with a spooky party idea is fun, but when thinking about how to promote a Halloween event, you need both tricks and treats to generate ticket sales. Whether you host drive-in horror movie nights, a Halloween market, haunted dinner cruises, or virtual pumpkin carving classes, you want to share your spooky scares with as many people as possible. But preparing that corn maze takes time (and serious hedge clippers). Your marketing strategy needs to be scary-good — and scary-simple. Promoting your event with Facebook ads and getting more followers on Instagram are only part of it: You want details that make you look legit, like branded event pages and emails that engage your contacts.
Whether you dig Halloween for the candy or the “Candyman” frights, these marketing tips will guarantee your October 31 is ghoulishly good.
How do you market a Halloween event?
If you’re wondering how to promote a Halloween event, it’s not that different from general event marketing, though you certainly want to lean into the theme. We’ve come up with a few ways to help you get started:
1. Start early
Start event planning for Halloween early so you can begin promotions in August and September. Spooky season enthusiasts will already be looking for great ways to celebrate their favorite holiday all October long. Marketing tickets before everyone else — and potentially with added early bird deals — may help you sell more tickets. Halloween is also one of those holidays that creeps up on many people; one minute, you’re enjoying the summer, and the next minute the kids have been back in school for two months. With early ads or promotions, you might catch the eye of parents before they get distracted by the back-to-school season.
2. Dress up your event pages
Aesthetics are important for snagging potential attendees’ attention, so ensure your landing page embodies your Halloween event’s theme with embedded images and video. If you’re planning an event for children, focus on fun costumes, smiling jack-o-lanterns, and candy. Consider creepier imagery for an adult event geared toward horror enthusiasts.
Utilize images and videos you already have if you’ve previously held this type of event. These visuals give your potential attendees an idea of what they can expect from your event and hopefully demonstrate that they’re going to have a lot of fun.
3. Reach out to local press
People don’t get the day off to celebrate Halloween, so many revelers are looking for local events or weekend events. Sell tickets to your local community by working with local publications in print or online. Most publications offer advertising for a fee, though you could also propose a partnership where the publication receives a booth or marketing at your event in return for running your ads.
Consider asking the publications you’re reaching out to if they’re working on any stories covering Halloween events, and offer to let them profile your event. It’s a good idea to have an elevator pitch prepared so the publication or reporter can get an idea of why they should cover your upcoming event. Tell them if you’re partnering with charitable organizations, raising money for nonprofits, hosting high-profile entertainment, or other tidbits that would be considered newsworthy.
How can I promote my Halloween party?
When thinking up Halloween marketing ideas, make sure your potential attendees will understand what they’re receiving as part of the ticket price. Follow these tips for promoting a Halloween experience that’s all about having fun.
4. Creep it real with user-generated content
In addition to ads, consider using user-generated content to pique attendees’ interest. Consider running a contest for people who engage with you and post about your event on social media platforms. Prizes can include things like free tickets or extras. Encourage your followers to share their own related content using your unique event hashtag. If other social media users enjoy your event enough to post about it, that will help get other potential attendees interested.
5. Offer incentives
Sweeten the deal for your attendees with exclusive perks or freebies that encourage them to take a particular action. Consider offering a free add-on (such as a drink ticket) for attendees who purchase tickets online before the event instead of at the door. Want to make sure your event fills up? Give away exclusive merch to a certain number of attendees who arrive first.
6. Share last year’s freaky fun
Media from previous events is crucial to your Halloween marketing campaign. Use Eventbrite Boost to share dynamic photos of last year’s party and video clips of the action. This gives potential attendees a peek into the event if they’ve never attended it before.
What should I post on social media for Halloween?
You might find some fun Halloween event ideas online, but social media is also a powerful marketing tool. Making short posts that tease exciting aspects of your event will help generate interest and ticket sales.
7. Build excitement with behind-the-scenes action
If your event is something that needs extensive setup time, such as a haunted house, corn maze, or scary farm tour, use that extra time to your advantage. Post exclusive looks at how the event is coming together, mysterious photos that leave viewers wanting to see more, and other media that help your followers feel like they’re getting a peek behind the curtain.
8. Share eerie-sistible content through local influencers
Local influencers likely have a lot of followers who live in your community, making their endorsements particularly valuable. Invite them to enjoy your event for free or get a behind-the-scenes look in exchange for promotional posts. You can also sponsor posts about how the influencers are getting ready for Halloween and celebrating the holiday by attending your event.
9. Run killer Halloween ads on Facebook
There are several ways to sell more tickets with Facebook, and paying for ads is just one of them. You can easily publish your Eventbrite event to Facebook with Eventbrite’s Add to Facebook tool. Doing this will allow attendees to buy tickets, register for your event, or RSVP, all without leaving Facebook.
RSVPs on Facebook are an excellent way to extend your reach on the platform, and Eventbrite Boost’s Event RSVP ads help you get more RSVPs and more marketing in one fell swoop. These ads mimic regular event invites and prompt users to indicate whether they’re interested in or attending the event. Friends of RSVPers then get a post about your event in their organic feed, and your RSVPers get more reminders about your upcoming event.
10. Don’t forget frighteningly powerful Instagram ads
Instagram is the crown jewel in most social marketing strategies these days. Boost’s Instagram Growth Playbook lets event organizers increase their following on Instagram by creating Instagram Story ads that funnel fans directly to your profile. Help more fans find your profile today, and you’ll have an even larger group to target for your events down the road.
To create engaging Instagram Stories Ads, you can recycle your video content or photo montages from past events. Make sure to include your brand’s name, high-quality video or images, and enticing swipe-up copy.
11. Host a spooktacular contest
There are many different ways you can run a contest on social media. For enter-to-win sweepstakes, fans enter their email address for a chance to win a pair of tickets to your All Hallow’s Eve Ball. This allows you to attract more attendees and build out your email list for future events. You can also ask followers to retweet a specific tweet, take a survey, or tag a friend, so your event gets in front of more potential attendees.
Hold a contest and encourage user-generated content by asking followers to post pictures of their best Halloween makeup look or costume using your unique event hashtag.
How can I build anticipation with Halloween email marketing?
Email is an excellent way to reach contacts you already have, but there is heavy competition in every inbox. Make your emails stand out with these Halloween marketing tips.
12. Create customized emails
Grab your audience’s attention with customized emails that put the personality of your events front and center. Add personalization by including your recipient’s name in the email’s greeting. Also, take the time to think about the sender profile that your messages are coming from. If your email recipients don’t recognize the sender, they aren’t likely to open the email. In the worst-case scenario, your email might end up in their spam folder, and they’ll never see it.
Send your event emails with the name of your organization or event in the from field, or use a company email address that is recognizable as being from your organization. Sometimes emails from a personal email address (i.e. yourname@company.com) are less likely to end up as spam, so A/B test a few different options to see what works best for you.
13. Segment your email lists
Your customers or audience probably have a lot in common, but they still have their differences. Depending on what your brand or business does, you may have several types of customers who will respond better to different kinds of marketing. To ensure that you’re targeting all your email recipients with messaging that is right for them, segment your email lists and send a different, tailored email to each of them.
14. Get creative with your color palette
Think about ways to incorporate thematic colors into your email to get your readers’ attention. If it’s allowed within your company’s marketing guidelines, consider switching button colors to bright orange and adding black cobweb borders or illustrations to make your emails just a little bit spookier.
15. Use some hauntingly good puns
If you’ve enjoyed some of our Halloween puns in this guide, don’t you think your attendees will, too? Have fun playing with words and creating Halloween-related phrases that correspond to your event. Here are some fun and punny subject line examples for your event:
- Halloween cocktail party: Here for the boos
- Spooky girl’s night: Where my ghouls at?
- Costume party: Come as you aren’t
Ready to have a fang-tastic Halloween event?
When you’re ready to market your event, Eventbrite Boost has you covered. It’s the only all-in-one marketing platform designed for event organizers. Boost has all the tools you need to reach new people, grow your brand, engage your community, and sell more tickets — right from your Eventbrite account.
