Tricks And Treats For Pet Stores On Halloween

Later this month, the spooky Halloween holiday will land on a Saturday, and while social distancing measures are still in place due to COVID-19, it isn’t too late to plan and throw a Halloween event party at your pet store! After all, isn’t the October 31st holiday all about–tee-hee–wearing masks?

Joking aside, you don’t need much time, preparation, or party funds to pull together a fun Halloween event for all of your loyal customers…thanks to this quick guide that the strategists at Loyal~n~Save have compiled for all of our pet groomers, pet store owners, animal shelter directors, and pet-preneurs–wink, wink–you know who you are!

Why did the witch look so angry? She had resting witch face!

SPOOKTACULAR ADVERTISING

If you’ve been keeping up with the Loyal~n~Save blog, then you’ve already caught on to the fact that we’re more than just a loyalty rewards program. We’re actually all about marketing! Our mission is to equip our clients–pet store retailers just like you!–with the digital marketing tactics to easily enroll customers and engage them into investing more and more of themselves into your brand. The first step to throwing a killer Halloween event party at your pet business begins with getting the word out on all of your digital platforms, including inviting your loyalty members via push notifications and email newsletters. So find your purr-fect cat and most photogenic pup, dress them up in spooktacular Halloween costumes, and snap some fun-tastic pics to use in your digital marketing ads and invitations–but no resting witch faces in the shots, please! A week’s notice is enough time to generate interest with your customers and loyalty members, and be sure to offer some enticing bonus points for your members who tag, share, and repost the invitation on social media!

Why do they put fences around graveyards? Because people are dying to get in!

TREATS WITHOUT A KILLER TRICK

Your loyalty members will be dying to attend your Halloween party, but you don’t want to really kill anyone who comes… or their pets! If you’re going to offer spooky snacks, be sure to keep the human treats far from your customers’ doggies’ reach! Chocolate is toxic to dogs and human snacks made with Xylitol will cause a dog to downright keel over and kick the bucket…which is not the direction you want your party to go in, no matter how “meta” that would turn out. Whip up some dog-safe recipes to offer as dog treats, and be sure to have clear signage so that your guests know the difference between the pet versus people treats! Better yet, list ingredients, too, on all snacks so that people can avoid allergens. And be sure that all customers who show up with costumed pets have been informed to keep their fur-babies on leashes. Better safe than sued!

Why didn’t the skeleton like the Halloween candy? He didn’t have the stomach for it!

CREEPY COSTUME CONTESTS

Now we’re getting down to business with thrills and chills! Hold costume contests for both pets and people! You can incentivize the contest by including the opportunity for winners to win bonus rewards points if they, or their pets, win! Have you recently gotten new products and services? You can offer those as prizes too to generate buzz about your latest offerings. The more personalized you can be about the prize, in fact, the more appreciated your loyalty members will feel, so get geeky and use your rewards program data and analytics to understand the popular products and services that your customers purchase most often. Any event, including a Halloween party, is an opportunity to strengthen customer relationships and amplify your brand in consumers’ minds! Lastly, be sure to take plenty of photos during the contest and post regularly on your social media platforms throughout the party. You can even live stream the end of the contest as you announce the winners and hand out prizes!

Why did the ghost go to the bar? To get some boos!

HAUNTED HOUSE & OTHER HAPPENINGS

You might not have time to put together a full-blown haunted house, but you can throw some cat trees together, cover them in cobwebs, and create a play area for the kitties and kiddies! Get creative and transform a section of your store so that it has a real haunted house feel and appeal. Place doggie water bowls down and provide other amenities like wee-wee pads so that the clean-up afterwards isn’t, for lack of a better phrase, a fright! If you do set up an agility course for the doggies, make sure the decorations won’t choke the animals. And be sure to keep in mind what pet parents might appreciate. If you offer boos–ahem, we mean booze–be sure to serve responsible portions! The point here is, you can make this a real party!

What would zombies say to these jokes? “Haha, these are killing me!”

These fun Halloween party ideas for your pet store, animal shelter, or veterinarian business prove that you don’t need to spend a frightening fortune to hold an awesome event that promotes your brand while delighting customers, rewarding loyalty members, and boosting your autumn sales revenue. If you would like more marketing ideas that boost enrollment in your customer loyalty rewards program, the loyalty specialists at Loyal~n~Save can speak with you about tactics to elevate your brand’s standing within the pet industry!