It’s more than just wearing scary masks and cloaks. Halloween can be hugely profitable for retailers. Halloween has become so hugely commercialised its now increasingly popular throughout the UK. But how can your cafe benefit from this fab-boo-lous season and increase profits spook-tacularly? Here’s six ways to market your cafe this Halloween.
Decoration
To get your staff and customers into the mood for the season you have to set it! Taking into consideration your space, the current look of your shop and avoiding hazards, creating a decorative and engaging interior will guarantee to put smiles on your customers’ faces. Simple ways of decorating can include: bunting, pumpkins, (fake!) candles, fake cobwebs, and using a fun spooky playlist. For the more adventurous decorators, creating cauldrons with dry ice, creating some fun coloured ‘potions’ or even scattering a few ‘spell books’ on the shelves are also options.
Pumpkins
No Halloween themed cafe is complete without pumpkins. Get your staff to come together and think of some elaborate designs to bring people in. Having original and creative pumpkins could get people to stop and take a photo; but even if they don’t, they’ll likely come in to have something to eat or drink. Hosting a voting booth could be another way to engage your customers and your staff could win some goodies! Treats for all!
Halloween Specials
If you want to continue your theme, ‘spicing’ up your drinks suited to the season could be a great way to advertise your cafe; new drinks brings new interest. Beverages and treats are the main attractions to Halloween now-a-days, and it can be a simple as putting a light dusting of cocoa in the shape of a web over your coffee to putting pumpkin spice into your latte and creating orange and green icing for your cakes.
Games
We don’t mean hosting a Monopoly game. Having a ‘pay-to-play’ game can work to your advantage; invite customers to play a few Halloween games to give them a chance to win something back. Keeping them quick and easy will ensure your staff won’t get overworked and it brings entertainment to your customers. Games can include ‘Guess How Many Eyeballs are in the Jar’ or ‘Drawing a Straw’ to give your customers the opportunity to win a free drink or a discount. It's worth noting that it's a good idea to ring-fence rewards to your business, to ensure they spend their reward with you. However, an alternative option is partnering with another local business to offer rewards. This ensures mutual promotion, which could generate sales for your business.
Costume Customers Win a Free/Discounted Coffee
‘Kids Eat Free’ is a common tactic used in many restaurants; changing it so your customers wear a cape would bring more fun, atmosphere and entertainment to your shop. Helping on a promotional side, taking photos of your customers dressed up could help promote your shop online to bring more interest to visiting your shop. Create a specific hashtag for the event and have customers share their snaps on relevant social media channels to give your coffee shop some free publicity and generate more awareness!
Dress to Impress
Your customers can dress up. So why can’t your staff? Having your staff dressed up can make Halloween more entertaining. Working this around your time and budget should be considered; finding ideas online or getting help from a professional can help your staff to look the part. Other things to consider are making sure costumes don’t cause hazards but otherwise, it’s a fantastic opportunity to take photos to put on your social media sites.
Whatever you’re planning on doing to your cafe we hope it’s a spooky one! Happy Halloween
