In advertising and marketing, you need to stay ahead of your customers. This could mean you’ve been getting ready for Christmas since the last Easter egg was sold – or even earlier. However, there’s still one seasonal event to consider, as Halloween comes back this month. While it’s not an official holiday in the UK, people celebrate it with just as much excitement as any other holiday.
Halloween is another perfect time to emphasize smart copywriting, since the chances to incorporate puns, metaphors, and words that rhyme with ‘pumpkin’ are nearly limitless. However, there’s a risk of relying on too many clichés, resulting in copy that appears as ugly as a zombie’s face. Our tips for Halloween writing aren’t much different from our earlier advice on Christmas copywriting, as it’s simple to get caught in the same old patterns.
Try not to overdo it. We’re not talking about the haul of sweets from a night spent trick-or-treating here. Use your Halloween copy sparingly, in the same way that horror movies limit the shocks and build tension for maximum impact.
Stay on message. Whether you’re having a sale, promoting a new product or opening another store, make sure that’s the message that readers take away from your copy. Shoehorning Halloween references into every sentence will make the meaning less clear overall.
Make the tie-in appropriate. When we covered this point for Christmas copy, our advice was to promote a relevant product or service. There admittedly aren’t as many for Halloween, but you should attempt to keep the connection as believable as you can.
Keep it SEO friendly. The traditionalists might frown at you for not using an apostrophe in Hallowe’en – but how many people will remember to add it in their search? Similarly, changing the names of products to include spooky words and phrases might adversely affect your rankings.
There’s no magic or witchcraft involved in creating effective copy and other online content – we know, because we’ve been doing it for decades. For powerful copywriting at any time of year, get in touch with the Stratton Craig team.