What Makes Content Truly Scary? 8 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid This Halloween

Halloween is the perfect time to embrace everything frightening, from haunted houses and creepy costumes to horror films and spooky stories. But there are some things that can be genuinely terrifying for businesses, and they have nothing to do with ghosts or ghouls. Poor marketing decisions can haunt a brand long after Halloween has ended, so you must get it right. Here are eight things to avoid when it comes to marketing this spooky season:

1. Creating content without a strategy

One of the biggest marketing mistakes someone can make, whether it be at Halloween or any other time of the year, is to create content simply for the sake of creating content. Publishing regular blog posts, social media updates, or videos isn’t necessarily going to deliver the results you want or need, as there’s no clear reason behind their publication. Without a strategy, content can become inconsistent, repetitive or disconnected from your wider business objectives. As such, before creating the content you want to publish, you should consider the following:

• Who are you trying to reach?
• What questions or problems does your audience have?
• What do you want the content to achieve?
• Which platforms should you use?
• What action should readers take afterwards?

2. Ignoring the target audience

Nothing is scarier than spending hours creating content that nobody wants to read. Your content should be created with your target audience in mind. If you don’t understand their interests, concerns, challenges or search behaviour, then it becomes a lot harder to create something genuinely useful. Rather than simply talking about your services or products, think about what your consumers are actually looking for over Halloween. The right audience research can help you to discover the following things through both Halloween and the rest of the year:

• Common customer questions
• Frequently searched topics
• Pain points
• Buying concerns
• Popular content formats
• Topics your competitors aren’t covering effectively

3. Keyword stuffing

SEO can sometimes feel like a mysterious part of digital marketing, but one thing is certain: repeatedly forcing keywords into your content isn’t a good strategy. Keyword stuffing can make an article difficult to read and can create an unnatural experience for visitors. Instead of writing for search engines first, focus on producing useful content for real people. Use relevant keywords naturally throughout headings, introductions, body copy, image alt text, meta titles, meta descriptions and internal links. Do this all year round, not just during the season of Halloween. 

4. Publishing thin content

A short article isn’t automatically considered to be “bad” content, but content that provides little value can be a problem at any time of the year, not just at Halloween. Thin content might repeat information that readers can find everywhere else without adding anything new. 

If someone searches for an answer and lands on your page or article, then they should come away feeling as though their question has actually been answered. Before publishing anything, whether it be during Halloween or otherwise, you should ask yourself whether the content tells the reader something useful. 

If the answer is no, then it may require more research, practical advice and some examples for good measure. Quality should always take priority over increasing publishing volume, first and foremost. 

5. Forgetting about search intent

Another common marketing mistake is targeting keywords without considering what the person searching actually wants. Someone searching for “best running shoes” has a different intention from someone searching for “how to clean running shoes”. One may be researching products, while the other wants practical advice. 

Your content should match the intent behind the search. As such, you should consider whether or not your audience is looking for information, advice, product comparisons, reviews, inspiration, local businesses, services or a specific product. Matching content to search intent can help to attract visitors who are more relevant to your business.

6. Neglecting existing content

Businesses often waste time focusing too heavily on creating new content that they forget about everything they’ve already published. Your older blog posts could contain valuable information, but they may have also become outdated, lost ranking, or are no longer accurately reflecting your products, services or brand overall. A regular content audit is something that is beneficial here. It can help with:

• Updated statistics
• New information
• Improved headings
• Additional FAQs
• Better internal linking
• Updated images
• More relevant keywords
• Stronger Calls to Action (CTAs)

7. Not having a clear Call to Action (CTA)

Imagine reaching the end of a great article only to have no idea what to do next. That’s a missed opportunity. A Call to Action (CTA) gives readers a logical next step. Depending on the purpose of the page or the article you’ve written, this could be an encouragement for users to: contact your business, request a quote, book a service, download a guide, sign up for a newsletter, read another article, explore a product or follow your social media accounts. Your CTA needs to feel natural and subtle, not forceful. It also needs to relate to the content the reader has just consumed, so make it spooky and relevant to the season of Halloween.

8. Forgetting to link internally

Internal linking isn’t the most exciting part of marketing during Halloween, but it can play an important role when it comes to user experience (UX) and SEO. If you’re discussing a topic that you’ve covered in another article, for instance, then link to that related article. For example, an article about Halloween marketing could link to related content about social media marketing, content strategies, and other seasonal campaigns. Internal links help visitors to discover more useful information while helping search engines to establish a connection and relation between pages on your website, thus boosting authority.

Kumo is pleased to provide a wide range of digital marketing services, including content creation, SEO, PPC, website design and more. You can rest assured that our team of dedicated experts can set you apart from your competitors with excellent content creation and copywriting services. If you’d like further information about how we can help you today, get in touch with a member of our friendly, specialist team – we’re always happy to hear from you.