 Happy Halloween everyone! Welcome to The Journey. Today we're talking about how to boost your sales this Halloween. And since today is Halloween, we'll be of course talking about that. At the same time, these tips go well for any holiday. When you think of Halloween, you think of candy, trick-or-treating, spooky outfits. Yeah, if you ask us, it's the best Smurfing holiday there is. But there's a lot more to it than just that. If you're a marketer, you can bank on those Halloween sales. I mean Americans are looking to spend the big bucks. And this year we're expecting $8.4 billion to be spent on just Halloween season alone. That's billion with a B. It's best to actually start preparing and marketing at least two weeks in advance. That's correct. I was in PetSmart and I saw they already have Christmas decorations up and today is Halloween. So cute though. And to get people excited for that holiday, you can start preparing your inventory, getting your store all ready with those decorations. And if you think it's a little too soon, just space it out a little bit, tease them a little and let them know when it's coming. So the whole point is to be the first thing on your customer's mind whenever that holiday rolls around. Yeah, you want to be top dog. We can have a dog right now. I got that covered. That's okay. So what I miss? A lot winning, catch up. Okay. We're talking about how to boost Halloween sales. Oh, speaking of that, Halloween sales. People are wanting to buy, right? Buy, buy, buy. So why don't you give them a reason to buy? People want sales and deals and promotions around the holidays. Now is a great time for you to create your own promotions around the holidays. And don't they have more disposable income now? Yeah, you're right. And another thing you should really think about with just your sales in general, especially for those online sales, is offering some sort of free shipping. Yes, it's going to be a little bit in the beginning. You might have some extra costs to associate with that, but maybe put some caveats on it. Spend over $60. Spend buy four, get the fifth free, whatever that looks like. Do it, right? That little bit really push people over the edge to buy because people like deals. And if they have to go just a little bit farther to get there, they're pretty much willing to do it. And 60% of shoppers say that they're willing to spend more in their cart so they can qualify for free shipping. I know I am so much more likely to actually check out when I'm online shopping if the shipping is free. Yeah, if it's $10, I'm not about it. If it's free shipping, but the product costs $10 more. There you go. Speaking of shipping, special delivery. So I want to talk about the importance of investing in shareable social media content. That's a key word, shareable. So when it comes to like your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, really think about how you can leverage the holidays. I know one of my favorite ways is through hashtags. So like, it's Halloween. So hashtag trick or treat. Hashtag, I did it all for the cookies. Hashtag, Halloween deals on Thanksgiving. Hashtag, go Cowboys. Yes, I knew there was another Cowboys fan in the house. Hashtag, turkey coma. Trip the fan. That's why you get tired. I wouldn't know. I don't eat meat. But hashtag, toe-ferky day. And that is a way to get like more shareable content piggyback off those trending hashtags with your social media around the holidays. Also, another really great way, because it comes back to content is key, content is king. You want to make sure to post shareable content. So one of my favorite things I see around the holidays, it's like 12 tips for the 12 days of Christmas. Or people do like supporting local a lot or giveaways. You talked about discount codes, for example, maybe a little free shipping. And that's just a way to like celebrate the holidays. But I love the 12 day themed stuff on Instagram. That's my favorite. Yeah, whatever you can do to really piggyback on the holiday and not try to overpower it but play along with it, the better. Whether it's the 12 days of whatever you want or play on Thanksgiving or Halloween, kind of make your own. And Twitter has a pretty cool area called just trending hashtags where you can see what's trending, especially around holiday time. You can kind of piggyback, add those conversations, add your two cents to your contests. So another cool way to get your content exciting and shareable is have a contest or do an event. I know at our work, we do like best dressed for the costume around Halloween. Who's got the best costume? Let us know in the comments below. You know the pizza is the best one here. No. Best smurfing costume right here. Top dog right here. Nobody does blue like me. So definitely think about that. What can you do that would be really fun for your employees, fun for you to get them jazzed and excited and not just the employees that are going to dress up, but all the customers who will get to tune in and they're like, give them a little teaser video about what you're going to dress up as or something you're going to do for the holidays. All right, that's a wrap. Be sure to comment, like, subscribe, and ring that bell so you can keep these episodes first. This is the journey. Peace out.