That special time of the year is almost upon us again! Family, friends, and of course, food. Lots of food. It’s time for Thanksgiving!
This year, make sure your marketing game is on point and take advantage of the holiday season with some creative Thanksgiving marketing ideas. Let’s take a look in deep.
Thanksgiving Day: Facts and Figures
In certain nations, like the United States, Canada, and others, Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday. It is what sparks the festive season. The Christmas shopping season officially begins on Black Friday, the first day after Thanksgiving. It’s interesting to see that 2 out of 5 respondents intend to purchase gifts right away following Thanksgiving. And 47% of them intend to purchase for the holidays during the seasonal deals (IPSOS and Yahoo, 2014).
Online purchasing is more favored on Thanksgiving because it is the day when most consumers opt to spend time with their family and friends. 2018 saw $5.27 billion in internet sales over the Thanksgiving weekend (MuchNeeded, 2019).
Why Is Thanksgiving A Boon For Retailers?
Because Thanksgiving is one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the US. Over the weekend, there are a number of shopping opportunities, such as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday bargains.
The statistics also speak for themselves.
In 2021, the five-day holiday shopping season from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday saw almost 180 million Americans shop (both in-store and online). They even participated in early holiday sales, according to 49% of them.
Unavoidable Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas to Spice up Your Sales
1. Host a Contest on Your Social Media Channels for the Best Thanksgiving Recipes
The holidays are a great time to get creative in the kitchen and come up with new recipes to share with family and friends. If you’re looking for some inspiration this Thanksgiving, why not host a contest on your social media channels for the best holiday recipes?
You can ask your followers to submit their favorite Thanksgiving dishes and then have a panel of judges choose the winners. Be sure to offer some fun prizes for the top recipes, like kitchen gadgets or gourmet food baskets. And don’t forget to share the winning dishes on your blog or website – everyone will be eager to try them out.
2. Give Out Free Thanksgiving-Themed Prizes
As Thanksgiving approaches, many stores begin to offer special deals and promotions. One popular promotion is to give out a free turkey or other Thanksgiving-themed prizes to customers who spend a certain amount of money. This is a great way to encourage customers to do their holiday shopping at your store. Not only do they get a free turkey, but they also get to save on their holiday shopping.
This promotion is also a great way to build brand loyalty among your customer base. Customers who have a positive experience with your store are more likely to come back in the future.
To make this promotion even more successful, you could partner with a local grocery store or butcher. This way, you can be sure to have enough turkeys for all of your customers, and you can also promote each other’s businesses. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
3. Decorate Your Store/Website With a Festive Fall Theme
As the leaves begin to change color, it’s time to start thinking about decorating your store or website with a festive fall theme. This is a great way to get customers in the holiday spirit and encourage them to do their shopping with you.
There are plenty of ways to decorate with a fall theme, so get creative and have fun with it. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Use fall-themed colors like orange, yellow, and red
- Incorporate seasonal elements like pumpkins, gourds, and leaves into your displays
- Play festive fall music in your store
- Offer fall-themed promotions and discounts
4. Run a Black Friday Sale That Coincides With Thanksgiving
Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and offering a sale on Thanksgiving is a great way to attract attention to your business. By running a Black Friday sale on Thanksgiving, you’ll be able to capitalize on the holiday shopping rush and get your products in front of a large number of potential customers. Running a sale on Thanksgiving will help you stand out from the competition, as many businesses don’t open until Black Friday itself.
Offering a sale on Thanksgiving also allows you to show your appreciation for your customers. Many people are busy preparing for Thanksgiving dinner on the holiday itself, so by offering a sale, you’re giving them an opportunity to do some holiday shopping without having to worry about missing out on family time.
Additionally, providing a discount on Thanksgiving shows that you’re willing to go the extra mile to accommodate your customers’ needs. This type of customer service is sure to be appreciated and will likely result in repeat business.
5. Use Omnichannel Marketing Communication Strategies
Omnichannel marketing communication is a term that encompasses all of the various channels through which a business can reach its customers. This includes traditional channels like television, radio, and print, as well as digital channels like social media, email, and websites.
By using omnichannel marketing communication strategies, businesses can reach their customers through multiple channels and provide a more cohesive customer experience. Additionally, businesses can use omnichannel marketing communication to target specific customers with tailored messages. This is especially important for holidays like Thanksgiving when businesses are competing for attention from customers who are bombarded with marketing messages from all sides.
Some omnichannel marketing communication strategies that businesses can use to reach their customers during the Thanksgiving season include:
- Using SMS Drip Campaigns to promote Thanksgiving sales and discounts
- Sending holiday-themed email newsletters
- Creating Thanksgiving-themed Landing pages and linking them with your Email and SMS Campaigns
- Run Press-1 Survey for wider and faster reach and collect the opt-in leads with Press-1 functionality
- Segment Your Opt-in or Qualified leads and run the Omnichannel Follow-ups on it with customized workflow designs.
FlowUp is the perfect tool to help you manage your omnichannel marketing communication campaigns. With FlowUp, you can easily track your progress and see which channels are performing the best. Additionally, FlowUp provides detailed insights and analytics that can help you fine-tune your omnichannel marketing communication strategies and get the most out of your campaigns.
6. Make Sure Your Website is Ready for the Holiday Rush
As the Thanksgiving season approaches, it’s important to make sure that your website is ready for the influx of holiday traffic. This means ensuring that your website can handle the increased traffic, as well as making sure that your site is optimized for conversion.
Some things you can do to make sure your website is ready for the Thanksgiving season include:
- Test your website’s load times and make sure they’re fast enough to handle the increased traffic
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly, as many people will be shopping from their smartphones
- Ensure that your website’s checkout process is smooth and easy to use
- Make sure your website is properly secured and encrypted
Final Thoughts
Thanksgiving is a great time to show your customers how much you appreciate their business. By offering a sale, using omnichannel marketing communication strategies, and making sure your website is ready for the holiday rush, among our other marketing tips, you can make the most of the Thanksgiving season and boost your business.
FlowUp can help you every step of the way, from planning and executing your marketing campaigns to tracking their performance and analyzing the results.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you grow your business this Thanksgiving season!