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13 Good Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas

Thanksgiving has become a holiday where people give thanks for the blessings they have, the loved ones with which they spend time, and the many things in life that gives them joy. Thanksgiving has also become the start of the Black Friday shopping frenzy, which means your marketing ideas must include this holiday if you’re going to be able to take advantage of the spending surge that many consumers have.

A Thanksgiving marketing push must always revolve around value. You must be able to provide a better overall value than your competitors in order to find success. Because this is a time of deep discounted sales which you might not be able to provide, you must stress the actual return on the investment here more than the final price a customer will pay to stay competitive.

Best Marketing Ideas for Thanksgiving

1. Utilize Incentives
You might not be able to offer 90% off, but what if you could offer 50% off on a buy one, get one promotion? Or could you offer free coffee to shoppers? A small incentive can bring in big sales, especially when people are tired from being up most of the night trying to find the best deals possible on all their Christmas gifts.

2. Create Comprehensive Packages
Shopping on Thanksgiving is also about speed, even if there is an emphasis on value. If you can provide a comprehensive package of products or services that can help people take care of a lot of their Christmas lists with one stop, then you’ll have a better chance to compete.

3. Free Wrapping Is Always Positive
People hate to wrap presents. Last season, Amazon charged customers four bucks to wrap gifts for them and they made a killing from it because people hate to wrap so much. It takes time to make it look good. Free wrapping will draw a crowd, but even if you charge $1 or so for it, you might find a lot more traffic coming through your door.

4. Have a Gift Exchange
The holiday season is all about giving to others, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t give something to yourself as well. Stores that offer an appreciation gift, such as a gift card for a specific purchase amount, will encourage more traffic and sales because people can get a gift for themselves as they are getting gifts for others in your store.

5. Start Even Earlier
You don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to start marketing for the holiday. Get a jump on the holiday shopping season and offer people Black Friday discounts on Monday. It doesn’t have to be a gimmick one-day sale like some stores have tried the past few years to be successful either. Hold your own event instead. Open up early at the start of the week, promote it as a means of spending the holidays with family, and maybe even close on Friday to enhance the marketing experience if you want.

6. Get Involved
The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the biggest charitable needs in every community. Every non-profit agency needs help in some way, whether it is through product donations, cash donations, sponsorships, or volunteer work. Get involved in a way that works for you to help get those who need some help during the holiday season and you’ll create a lot of good press that will translate into short-term and long-term sales.

7. Show Some Love
Something as simple as a greeting card can communicate to a customer that you care about them during the holiday season. This shows you have placed an emphasis on the personal relationship that you have with that customer and you’ll increase your chances of getting a visit over the holiday season.

8. Spruce Up Your Website
One of the best ways to promote a business today online is through visual graphics. Infographics are a tremendous resource for you to use because you can give someone the same amount of value as 500 words of content, but do so through an easy to digest method. Get some infographics up about Thanksgiving that relates to your niche and you’ll be getting traffic online and offline.

9. Throw Your Own Party
If you’re afraid that your regular customers will abandon you for the huge deals on electronics and other big ticket items, then get them into your store on Thanksgiving by throwing your own holiday party. Have a meal with all the fixings, make it a night-long event that is filled with fun, and your customers will be in your store first when they’re ready to shop.

10. Get Local Celebrities Involved
When local talent is promoting your store, you’ll create a good impression that will create an urge within a customer to shop with you. The bigger the name you can pull in, the better the temptation you’ll create. If you can create some interaction with a celebrity within your store, you’ll be able to pull even more people out of the woodwork to begin shopping.

11. Make the Most Out of Video
Videos have the ability to go viral more than most other items online today, which means if you don’t have a video promoting your organization, you’re missing an opportunity. Video testimonials are always a good thing, but it’s Thanksgiving. Create a video that’s fun, that promotes the holidays, and tells a story. You’ll have a better chance of enhancing your brand.

12. Form a Hotline
A lot of people call ahead on Thanksgiving to ask questions about what sales, products, and services you’re offering. Instead of missing calls, which translates into missing revenues, create a Thanksgiving hotline with dedicated staff so that every call be quickly answered.

13. Got an App?
If you don’t have an app yet, Thanksgiving is the time to introduce one. You can save people time, energy, and maybe money with a helpful app and that will encourage downloads, use, and potentially lead to more sales later on down the road.

Facts About Thanksgiving You Did Not Know

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