I poster throughout the neighbourhood - even a bit beyond - a week or so before Halloween.. (I take the posters and tape in my knapsack when I walk my dog). I make sure I poster near schools and community centres.
I advertise games with prizes and free apple cider. The adults who read the poster love the word FREE.
I also place an ad on the free Kijiji website (sort of like a Craig's List) and pay about $10.00 to keep it bumped up to the top.
I'm the only house on the block that decorates so I always have lots of lights that you can see for a couple of blocks!
I start decorating on October 1 and slowly add props, lights and decor throughout the month.
A couple of weeks before Halloween, I fire up the lights and any other effects I have every night so people see it in advance and can plan to come. (This also has the advantage of testing the lights and troubleshooting any problems).
I definitely have sound on Halloween. Spooky music, sound effects, whatever works with the theme that year.
These are the things I've found have worked to increase the TOTs. It's a shame to put all that work into it and not get the traffic on Halloween! Of course it depends on the demographic of your neighbourhood and the day of the week. I'm a little worried about it being on Friday this year. I've found weekend Halloweens are the slowest. Also, the weather is a huge factor. We've had great weather the last 5 or so years even if the weather earlier in the month is cold and rainy. I just WISH the weather to be good and so far....it's worked!
