In this blog—I’m going to break down what you can learn about website design & marketing from the Hocus Pocus movie franchise.
You’ll learn:
- Why the timing of your launch can make or break whether it’s successful or not ⏳️
How not knowing who your ideal client is can affect your business’s success 🎃 - Ways to make it easier to navigate your website 🧟
- What not to do with black flame candles on Halloween night 🐈⬛ 🕯
(Never watched Hocus Pocus before or need a refresh? Click here & here for the summaries.)
Let’s start with the marketing & launch for Hocus Pocus.
Hocus Pocus was released in July of 1993 (making this year the 30th anniversary 🎉).
Yes, you read that ^^^ correctly a Halloween movie premiere…in July…
Apparently, it was originally going to premiere on Disney Channel (probably in October) but then they decided to release it in theaters instead.
Part of why they chose July was to make sure Hocus Pocus wasn’t released at the same time as The Nightmare Before Christmas, so they wouldn’t be in competition with each other—but it ended up going against Jurassic Park & Free Willy instead…
And what can you learn from this?
What time of year you launch your offer can make or break whether it’s successful.
Hocus Pocus has a huge fan base now—but it was considered a box office flop when it premiered in theaters.
To give you a business example, let’s say you’re a social media manager who helps mompreneurs market their businesses & you want to launch an Instagram Reels membership.
August/September wouldn’t be a great time to launch this type of offer. <<< Why you ask?
Because it’s back-to-school season. In other words, the moms that you’d need to market to are BUSY & probably not as focused on their businesses compared to other months.
Even waiting a few weeks until October would help this offer launch at a better time.
Bottom line: Before choosing a launch date, think about when your audience is more likely to be in the right mindset to purchase it.
Another thing to keep in mind is that regardless of seasonality…
Your audience might want your offer—but not right now.
Hocus Pocus saw an increase in popularity from broadcasting every October on ABC Family & the like every year leading up to Halloween.
In business, it’s VERY common to see someone suddenly inquire about working with or buying one of your products months, if not years, after they’ve first “met” you.
The caveat to this?
It’s hard to measure how long people are waiting before deciding to hand over their hard-earned money to you—unless they happen to mention it to you.
One way you can check this is with your email list. Take a look at your subscribers who have worked with or bought from you. Make a note of when they first invested in one of your offers & then look at when they first subscribed.
You may notice a pattern within your subscribers or it might be a complete mix—but this is going to be your best (and probably only) way of telling.
Bottom line: You’ve got to keep nurturing your audience consistently because it might take a long time before they buy.
Now let’s talk about the marketing & launch for Hocus Pocus 2
While Hocus Pocus didn’t have a great premiere compared to the second movie—over the years it’s become a fan-favorite Halloween movie. (<<< Slow growth really isn’t a bad thing.)
Hocus Pocus 2 on the other hand broke streaming records—BUT got very mixed reviews from fans.
My theory on why this happened?
The creators of the second movie couldn’t figure out which audience they were making it for.
And if you’re struggling with consistent marketing (or in general not liking having to create content) for your business—not being clear on who your ideal client is might be the problem.
The majority of Hocus Pocus fans are now adults, so it would make sense to cater to that part of the fan base—but reimagining the series for a new younger audience wouldn’t have been a bad idea either.
The problem? <<< They tried to appeal to both audiences.
For the second movie, they only brought back ⅓ of the OG cast. The now adult audience wanted the nostalgia of the entire former cast back together, to continue the story arc of the characters they were already invested in.
The younger audience might have been served better by an entirely brand-new cast & a reinvention of the franchise because they didn’t have the nostalgic feelings per se for the OG movie.
And let’s be real—some things were just better done in the ’90s (see ^^^ you need to launch at the right time section.)
Bottom line: VERY RARELY can you serve two types of clients well at the same time. There are some caveats to this of course—BUT you’ll be better off in the long run speaking to ONLY one ideal client at a time.
And to finish off this blog…
Here are some notable quotes & plot points from the scripts of Hocus Pocus that can help you with your website design & marketing.
Quote: Jay: “And this is Ernie.” Ernie ‘Ice’: “Yo, how many times I gotta tell you, it ain’t Ernie no more. It’s Ice.” “Jay: Oh yeah. This is Ice.”
Business Lesson: You’ve heard it before in this newsletter that your work doesn’t speak for itself—you need to use words (aka. copywriting) to describe how you can help someone with your products or services. While you don’t need to shave your business name on the back of your head—making it stupidly simple to navigate your website is vital to your business. Using call actions throughout your website can help with this—but imagery & icons can help with this too.
Quote: Winifred Sanderson: “Therefore, it stands to reason, does it not, sisters dear? That we must find the book, brew the potion & suck the lives out of the children of Salem before sunrise. Otherwise, it’s curtains. We evaporate! We cease to exist! Dost thou comprehend?” Mary Sanderson: “You explained it beautifully, Winnie. The way in which you started out with the adventure part & slowly.” Sarah Sanderson: “Explained what?” Winifred Sanderson: “Come, we fly!”
Business Lesson: While your business certainly doesn’t solve a problem as ridiculous as ^^^ this—you’ve gotta make sure there’s a “What if I don’t buy this?” consequence that happens if someone decides not to work with you aka. you need to add scarcity to your marketing. <<< And adding a deadline (cart closing) never hurts.
Quotes: Winifred Sanderson: “Sisters, we’ve been gone 300 years.” & Thackery Binx: “I had to wait 300 years for a virgin to light a candle.”
Business Lesson: It’s very common to feel like designing your website is taking 300 years to complete. <<< My best advice to solve this problem? Publish your website as you go & don’t worry if you don’t have all of your pages “perfect”. Your website is gonna need to change with the ebbs & flows of your business—so it’s better to publish now & edit as needed.
Now I could also go into why I think the ending of Hocus Pocus 2 made ZERO sense for the Sanderson sisters…
But I digress because that is going to make this newsletter run amok & get off-topic 👻
Your action step for this week:
Look at ALL of your main website pages, primary email sequences & marketing content. Does everything have your ideal client in mind? Or do some things need to change to better help your ideal client?
