Marketers Market for Halloween

Yes, "holiday creep" has Halloween candy/costumes in stores even before back-to-school marketing begins. But marketing trends go well beyond these basics.

No matter what you're marketing, be aware that if you're using Halloween themes in email marketing, you may have fewer folks open your messages. Yet the conversion rate is solid, meaning those who open messages can be converted into buyers.

Some marketers prefer to intro or preview Halloween goods and services early, little by little, to build anticipation and awareness. This is certainly the case for theme parks and other service marketers that offer special Halloween experiences.

Seasonal products or campaigns related to Halloween need time to reach audiences and generate response. The soft-drink brand Fanta rolled out Halloween-themed Snap filters early to encourage usage and viral reaction.

Halloween and pumpkins are a traditional association. Pumpkin food products are selling well as the fall season gets into full swing before Halloween. As usual, marketers are pushing pumpkin spice everything. In fact, Starbucks and Dunkin' began marketing pumpkin flavors in August this year. But, despite rumors, there is NO Oscar Meyer pumpkin-flavor bologna.

Should You Collaborate with Competitors?

Competitors are stakeholders. I've established this numerous times on my blog. As shown above, two of my original posts about this topic have attracted more than 16,000 views in 9 years.

What's been changing, in recent years, is the trend toward actively collaborating with competitors for mutual benefit. This does not mean setting prices together, which is illegal. It does mean looking for specific areas where collaboration would be advantageous for two competitors (or perhaps the entire industry).

For example, what about sharing resources with a competitor to give each something unique to market? Read how a brewer came up with a novel idea and recruited competitors to work together.

Advertising agencies are working together, in some cases, to win and service clients. Maybe an agency sees a competitor with a particular focus that can add value for part of a big project. Or maybe an agency wants to bolster its bid for work by combining forces with a specialized agency.

Are there situations when collaboration can help you be a more effective marketer?

8 Sources of Info about Specialized Marketing Topics

Looking for info about specialized marketing topics? Here are 8 good sources to keep you updated:

• Automotive marketing - weekly news from MediaPost
• Social media marketing - news from Social Media Today
• Sports marketing - news from The Drum
• Mobile marketing - news from Marketing Land
• Digital marketing - news from Advertising Age
• Retail marketing - news from Retail Dive
• Content marketing - news from Direct Marketing News
• Online marketing - news from Entrepreneur