Thread: ToT traffic advice

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I live at the end of a small dead end street. The bottom of a private drive off the last cul de sac actually. Thusly my haunt is named Dead End Manor.

Here's the problem. I started decorating in 7th grade, in 1999, and steadily built up a group of ToTs and parents who would come every year as the haunt became more complex and interesting. I took a 4 year hiatus during college and now that I'm back, and the haunt will be better than ever, I'm afraid I've permanently lost my ToTs.

I was thinking about making flyers and putting them in areas nearby where I could and thought people would see them and even maybe a few signs to put on street sign poles as the date approaches.

Any other ideas for getting my ToT traffic back up?

I was thinking of having business type cards printed up with free admission for your group, or something like that.Every chance I get at yard sales, thrift stores anywhere I can bring up the subject, I could give them a card. ..and I hit ALOT of yard sales!
I also put up flyers at the schools around my area. grade school and high schools.

I would start by setting up early. I also live on a culdesac as was worried about getting TOTers so the 1st year I was here I set up early to get the word of mouth out there. No, I get more TOTers then I can handle.

Two years ago I put one sign at the the corner at the beginning of the Cul-de-sac. That did the trick. Said 'Haunted House' and an arrow. It was sorta like a garage sale sign. heh. That did the trick too.

Yep...set up early and word of mouth will bring the ToTs. I plan on getting orange icicle lights up at the beginning of October and setting up a countdown calendar...that'll get people to notice something. Out local elementary school has a Harvest Festival the Friday before Halloween...that would be a great place to get the word out...make up some flyers and hand them to the parents in the "haunted house" line at the school.

Another idea I have in mind is to let my 8th grade daughter have a Halloween party the weekend before Halloween. I should have enough stuff set up to take advantage of the inability of young girls to keep anything secret...they'll go back to school Monday morning blabbing about how cool the house is

Those are all really good ideas. I'm worried about setting up early for 2 reasons. 1) Most of my decorations are not weather resistant. 2) I am not within visible distance of ANY other houses. The only way someone would happen to pass my house is if they come down by accident. It is occurring to me that I really need to get some pictures into some albums...

"If you build it, they will come"

Word of mouth... I think it would be interesting if you randomly picked phone numbers from the book of people who lived nearby and left them a creepy message or invited them to stop by with their friends/ kids/ grandkids.

Does your newspaper have a "things to do" or "local interest" section? You can contact the editor for that section and explain exactly what you're trying to do. They may come out and do a featurette about your haunt.
Papers are always looking for seasonal interest stories. The fact that you started so early and had such a good response, and you're back doing it for the kids again is pretty compelling.
I did something similar - I'm an illustrator and had been doing hobby kits and toys with monster themes. On a whim I contacted the paper a few weeks before Halloween to tell them about the work, and was rewarded with a full page article with color photos on the front of the "Accent" section.
Good luck!

^That's a great idea. Thanks. I'll look into it.