Thanksgiving holiday weekend offers a prime opportunity for businesses to engage customers and boost sales.
It can be easy for a business owner to assume that Thanksgiving marketing is all about offering massive discounts.
But this isn’t always the case. While discounts help, you need Thanksgiving marketing ideas that do more than slash prices.
Brands that create personalized, creative, and engaging Thanksgiving promotions tend to achieve greater returns.
In fact, 84% of shoppers are willing to purchase from your brand if you offer them personalized experiences.
Discounts may attract shoppers, but meaningful connections will lead to loyalty, customer retention, and long-term sales.
The good news is that you don’t need a massive budget to create an impactful Thanksgiving marketing campaign.
Here are the top Thanksgiving promotion ideas that work for businesses of all sizes.
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Top 7 Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas for 2024
Thanksgiving is a time when people get together with their families and give gifts to each other. Retailers regularly offer the best discounts of the year during this weekend to attract buyers from all over the country and increase their sales.
You could join the party too, but only if you have the right Thanksgiving marketing ideas that can help you attract and convert your audience.
Here are the top seven Thanksgiving marketing ideas for 2024 that will help you boost sales figures during this year’s Black Friday Sale and Cyber Monday.
1. Start Early Deals in October
Many retailers prepone their Thanksgiving holiday sale by introducing early deals in October and early November, allowing them to tap into the buzzing market before the main sale starts.
Last year, over 55% of American shoppers took advantage of early holiday sales and promotions. About a third (35%) of these shoppers mainly shopped during the weekend leading up to Thanksgiving, which was November 16th—22nd.
This is why it’s a good idea to have a prolonged holiday sale. You can choose to keep the best discounts for the Thanksgiving weekend.
Note how the following brand started its Thanksgiving holiday shopping sale on 19th September.
Image via Instagram
2. Send Thanksgiving Email Newsletters
If you don’t send email newsletters to your customers regularly, now is the time to start sending them.
And if you already do, it’s time to give your newsletters a Thanksgiving twist.
Email newsletters are one of the most effective Thanksgiving marketing ideas that can help you stay in touch with your customers and inform them about your sales.
Even if the newsletters facilitate one-way communication with your customers, they’re useful as direct marketing tools because they can help keep them engaged.
This would pay off well because they might turn to your brand when they head out to shop during the Thanksgiving sale.
With an appealing email newsletter, you can nudge your customers to pay a visit to your online or even the physical store. Essentially, newsletters can help you directly drive conversions.
So, how do you create the perfect newsletter?
This goes beyond using Thanksgiving-themed templates and a greeting. If your potential customers don’t open your email, they won’t see the content you’ve created.
So, it’s important to craft a powerful subject line that convinces users to open your email.
You can use one of the many headline analyzer tools in the market to create one.
Here is a Thanksgiving marketing idea of how Foodstirs bakery leveraged a catchy yet helpful headline, “The top 5 things you should have on your Thanksgiving list” for its email marketing campaign.
This is what the brand’s email looked like:
Image via Foodstirs
3. Show Some Appreciation Towards Community and Customers
The most common mistake marketers make while coming up with Thanksgiving marketing ideas is that they forget the human element of it. Consider putting your sales pitch aside and think about how you can connect with your customers.
From a business perspective, you can thank your customers for their trust or loyalty. It’s a sensible Thanksgiving marketing idea to convey appreciation via a newsletter or even a text message. This will unquestionably strengthen the emotional connection between your business and the customers.
Moreover, sharing your business journey on your website and social handle is yet another Thanksgiving marketing idea that can help humanize your brand.
While these ideas don’t directly drive sales, they do have an impact on how your customers perceive your brand. And this could make all the difference when the sale arrives as they may choose you over the rest.
Not just the customers, you should also express gratitude to your employees and share it on social platforms. After all, Thanksgiving is about people, and the people behind your products/services matter.
Check out how a retailer put up a post about employees during Thanksgiving in this Instagram post. While it doesn’t thank them, it does bring a human element.
Image via Instagram
4. Sprinkle Some Thanksgiving Charm on Your Website
It’s 2024 — you obviously have a website that you can beautify with some Thanksgiving content to give your website a festive vibe.
This is one of the easiest Thanksgiving marketing ideas that you can quickly implement.
From Thanksgiving-themed banners to holiday-inspired color schemes, adding seasonal touches can help create an emotional connection with your visitors.
If you’re a small-mid-sized retail business, you probably have used website builders to design your website, and making tweaks shouldn’t be a hassle.
Consider updating your website’s homepage with fall-inspired visuals like pumpkins, leaves, or harvest scenes to evoke the warmth of the holiday.
In terms of themes, you can use some popping colors and elements pertaining to the Thanksgiving weekend, like a turkey or a black theme for Black Friday.
Here’s an example of a Thanksgiving-themed landing page:
Image via Freepik
Also, don’t forget to highlight promotional messages and deals on the website banner and pop-ups to make your website more sales-oriented.
This simple refresh can enhance your customer’s shopping experience and encourage visitors to stay longer, ultimately driving conversions during the holiday season.
5. Use Instagram Polls and CTAs to Understand Customer Preferences
Over 500 million people watch Instagram Stories on a daily basis.
That makes it a huge opportunity for you to promote your Thanksgiving sale and gain new customers.
Instagram Stories boast several useful features such as stickers and emojis, including the one that we’re talking about – Polls.
Instagram Story Polls help you understand your target audience's latest wants or needs, and that’s why launching them is a great idea. You’ll be able to identify exactly what they want from the Thanksgiving sale.
With this, you can choose your products for the sale accordingly, which could help boost your sales.
Here’s a Thanksgiving poll idea you can post on Instagram:
Image via Instagram
There is more on the Instagram platter when it comes to Thanksgiving marketing ideas – Story links.
You can leverage this Thanksgiving marketing idea to drive traffic to your ecommerce portal from Instagram and boost sales.
Alternatively, you could use Stories to drive traffic to your Instagram Shop, where you can run your Thanksgiving promotions.
6. Run a Festive Challenge or Giveaway
Challenges and rewards are surefire Thanksgiving marketing ideas that excite your customers about your brand. They work well by generating lots of engagement instantly — something that such short events call for.
But what does it take to succeed?
When it comes to contests, creativity is the key. One of the simplest Thanksgiving marketing ideas is to encourage your customers to submit their Thanksgiving wishlist, and the winner gets what they wanted.
Another Thanksgiving marketing idea is to run a turkey recipe competition. To make it even more challenging, ask people to reinvent a side dish into a dessert.
You can use this user-generated content and share it on social media channels to generate further engagement for the contest.
What’s more?
You can always go charitable if the competitive spirit doesn’t appeal to your brand image. Giving back to the community is a very clever way of associating your brand with the festival.
Hence, it is one of the most promising Thanksgiving marketing ideas.
Whether through donations, hosting a charity event, or supporting a local cause, these acts of kindness can leave a lasting impression on your customers and online visitors.
Check out how Life After Ball showcased its community spirit on Instagram by hosting a Thanksgiving Turkey Drive to help feed families in need in Atlanta.
Such posts spread positivity and increase brand awareness, making it easier to convert online visitors.
Image via Instagram
Also, don’t be afraid of going bold and big.
Take a look at how an online retailer, Zappos, absolutely nailed it with their Thanksgiving marketing campaign in the past.
The story goes back to 2013 when, on Thanksgiving Eve, passengers at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport found the conveyor belt turned into a giant roulette wheel where the passenger’s luggage served as the ball.
Image via Core77
7. Send Special Gifts to Loyal Customers
Customers expect holiday deals and promotions during the Thanksgiving season.
Everyone loves a little extra surprise, and rewarding your repeat customers with special gifts can help them feel more appreciated.
Such a little and thoughtful gesture can help to further foster customer loyalty.
So take this time to show your immense appreciation to your best customers. The special gifts could come in many forms, including:
- Free product samples or trial-sized versions of new items
- Personalized holiday cards with a handwritten note
- Gift bundles featuring your best-selling products
- Branded merchandise like tote bags or mugs
- Offer discount vouchers for their next purchase
FAQ
Q1. How do you market on Thanksgiving?
A. Here are some of the best Thanksgiving marketing ideas for 2024:
- Prepone deals to October
- Give your email newsletter a Thanksgiving twist
- Show appreciation to your customers and employees
- Sprinkle some Thanksgiving charm on your website
- Use Instagram Story polls and CTAs to understand customer wants and needs
- Run a festive challenge or giveaway
- Send special gifts to loyal customers
Q2. How can I promote my holiday marketing?
A. You can try these Thanksgiving marketing ideas in 2024 for holiday marketing:
- Use social media to promote your offers and deals
- Collaborate with influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
- Host contests and giveaways
- Prepone your marketing campaign
- Get your online store ready to handle loads of traffic
- Use email marketing
- Leverage branded hashtags
- Use Google and social media ads
Q3. How do you do a Thanksgiving giveaway?
A. Here is how you can do a Thanksgiving giveaway:
- Offer weekend getaways
- Give out free electronics
- Host an Instagram photo contest
- Gift basket giveaway
- Giveaway decorating items
- Turkey dinner giveaway
Q4. What should I post on social media for Thanksgiving?
A. Among all the possible options, the following are the most meaningful Thanksgiving-themed content ideas for social media posts:
- Thank your customers and employees
- Advertise your festive season deals
- Share recipes, innovative products, and tips
- Create hype with Black Friday sale previews
- Use a Thanksgiving quote that relates to your ideology
- Share turkey recipes
Q5. What do you put in a Thanksgiving gift basket?
A. Here are some of the popular things people often put into their Thanksgiving basket:
- Candies: Caramels, chocolates, apple candies
- Drinks: Apple cider, tea, coffee, beer, wine
- Decorations: Fall-inspired decorative pieces for the Thanksgiving dinner table or living area
- Candles and gift cards
Q6. What are some of the best Thanksgiving marketing slogans?
A. Here are some of the best Thanksgiving marketing slogans:
- This is HUGE. Loot our Thanksgiving sale.
- 30% OFF – Early bird gets the offer!
- Your Thanksgiving begins here.
- Everything you need in your Thanksgiving gift basket.
- No need to thank us for these unprecedented deals.
Q7. How can I increase sales during the holiday season?
A. Try these Thanksgiving marketing ideas:
- Collect the required inventory
- Promote via the right marketing channels
- Create separate landing pages for the season
- Start your sale early and end later, if you can afford to
- Make sure you can increase supply when needed
- Help customers by creating Thanksgiving gift basket guides
- Offer referral discounts
- Run ads on Google and social media
Q8. What are your best Thanksgiving marketing ideas for ecommerce businesses?
A. Try these Thanksgiving marketing ideas for your e-commerce business:
- Start your marketing campaign early
- Improve your website navigation
- Incentivize your customers with steep discounts
- Create a product catalog for Thanksgiving
- Leverage email marketing
- Put shopping ads on Google and Instagram
- Use remarketing tactics to convert your visitors into customers
- Create product videos
- Collaborate with micro-influencers
Q9. How can a small business compete with large retailers during Thanksgiving?
A. As a small business, you can compete with large retailers during this holiday season by:
- Offering special deals or early access to your loyal customers
- Focusing on high-quality, small-batch products
- Providing flexible holiday shopping options, such as same-day shipping
- Creating exclusive, limited-edition products
- Offering personal touches, such as handwritten thank you notes
Q10. What types of promotions work well during the Thanksgiving season?
A. Here are the various promotion ideas that are perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday season:
- Offer discounts with a limited time
- Host Thanksgiving-themed giveaways
- Provide referral discounts to promote word-of-mouth marketing
- Offer surprise flash giveaways on social media
- Feature holiday countdown deals
- Offer free shipping for orders over a certain amount
Increase reward points for purchases made during this season
Start Using These Thanksgiving Ideas!
Thanksgiving weekends offer endless business possibilities. The Thanksgiving marketing ideas we’ve discussed so far can help you make the most of this holiday weekend.
From starting early deals in October to running festival giveaways and challenges, there’s a lot that can be done to help your business grow, attract customers and drive up sales.
Be it email marketing, social media, or even your website, ensure you leave no stone unturned to prepare for the festive rush. Consider using our marketing consultancy to develop tailored strategies for your Thanksgiving campaigns.
Do you have any questions about the ideas mentioned above? Ask them in the comments.
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