The holidays provide excellent marketing opportunities for small to medium-sized businesses, but if you’re stuck for ideas that increase brand awareness and otherwise grab customer attention, check out the following 10 Thanksgiving marketing tips:
1) Host a Food Drive
Since the holiday season is a time for giving, demonstrate your commitment to the community by hosting a food drive or similar event. Collect canned food and other non-perishable items and donate them to food banks, homeless shelters, abused women’s groups or any other local charity of note. If you’d rather sponsor a Thanksgiving dinner for area families in need, go for it.
2) Free Gifts
Show your best clients how much you appreciate their business with free gifts. It’s a fact of consumer psychology that clients enjoy free gifts more than discounts and value propositions, so reward loyalty by sending gifts of appreciation.
3) Online “Decorations”
Why not temporarily redesign your official website and social media channels to reflect the Holidays? Recreate your logo to make it turkey-themed, or add gourd and other festive graphics.
5) Week-Long Black Friday
Create anticipation and excitement by letting your clients know something special awaits them. Have seven Thanksgiving offers over seven days leading up to Black Friday, such as special discounts, gift card giveaways, assorted freebies, etc. Implement
text marketing or
voice broadcasting to alert your opt-in marketing lists each day with a new deal. Have one special per day, and if desired make the offers exclusive to text or email subscribers.
6) Business Partners and Mentors
Send notes to those who helped you make your business a success, partners and mentors alike. Purchase Thanksgiving cards and let these people know how grateful you are.
7) Your Team
Get your team of rock stars involved in Thanksgiving marketing efforts! For example, create caption contests on Facebook or Twitter using employees dressed in turkey or other Thanksgiving-related costumes. Special holiday video messages from your team to followers and fans is another option that shows your company’s human side.
8) Thanksgiving Events
Participate in local Thanksgiving events to again demonstrate your commitment to your community. Become a sponsor for your city or town’s Thanksgiving parade, design a float for said parade, participate in a public Thanksgiving dinner, silent auction or other charity event, and so on. Find an event that speaks to you and your team and go from there.
9) Calendars
Since Thanksgiving is the beginning of the end of the year, why not have calendars printed and sent to customers? Most purchase calendars for the new year during holiday shopping, so save them the trouble with a free option.
10) Thanksgiving Quotes and Posts
Create at least one post about Thanksgiving for your Facebook page, blog and other social media channels. The post can be as simple as an image, quote or infographic, or as detailed as blogs about what the holiday means to you and your team.
