Halloween is big business for small business. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend $6.9 million on costumes, decorations, candy, greeting cards, and party favors. More than 157 million will participate in Halloween festivities. Twenty million Americans will even spend $350 million on pet costumes. I have to admit that I’m one of them.
In honor of this important and fun holiday for both kids, adults, pets, and big and small business, I’ve written a Halloween Poem.
‘Twas the Week Before Halloween
(With apologies to Clement C. Moore, author of A Visit from St. Nicholas)
‘Twas the week before Halloween
And all thru the mall
The shoppers were spending
They were buying it all
They were scooping up candy
Decorations and masks
How much were they spending?
Oh, don’t even ask!
With all of those dollars
And credit cards flying
Halloween’s now number two
In holiday buying
Not Thanksgiving or Valentine’s
Nor that day set for Mother
Except for Halloween
There’s only one other
Merchants and restaurants
And businesses galore
Find ways to use Halloween
To sell even more
“It’s a holiday for kids,”
I hear you say
Yeah, just visit a bank
On Halloween Day
All the tellers wear costumes
Some even quite funny
And these are the people
Who’ve got all your money
Halloween’s now part
Of all business culture
So if you use it too
You won’t seem like a vulture
You, too, can get a piece
Of all this spending flurry
But Halloween’s soon
So you better hurry
“But Rhonda,” you cry
“There’s just one detail,
The business I own
Is not in retail.”
It’s not like a lawyer
Has much they can do
They can’t really offer
A special Halloween sue
Use Halloween to let clients
Know of them you’ve been thinking
So they’ll remember your name
Through all their holiday drinking
You can send them a card
Or hold a party
It’s different than Christmas
You’ll seem like a smarty
Run a Halloween special
Offer good things to eat
Be creative, be clever
Find a trick, find a treat
If nothing works now
When Halloween’s near
Just print out my column
And save ‘til next year
Then plan a promotion
With a Halloween tie-in
One that will get
All your customers buyin’
As I close out this column
Only one thing’s to write:
“Happy Halloween to all
And to all a good fright.”
Copyright, Rhonda Abrams, 2015
This article originally ran in USA Today on October 30, 2015
The Reinvention of a Small Business Classic
