5 Thanksgiving marketing ideas for small businesses 

November is a time of huge opportunity for businesses everywhere, especially those serving an American audience. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, followed by its consumer-focused side-kicks, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the spending is happening, you just have to have a Thanksgiving marketing strategy to help you reap the benefits.

While everyone’s out there spending money, that doesn’t mean that you can just sit back and watch the cash flow in. The competition is fierce. Businesses of all industries are pulling out all the stops to stand out and pull in their target audience.

 Last year spending reached a whopping $3.7 billion and this year the amount is predicted to exceed itself. The question is, how do you make sure that your business gets a generous slice of that Thanksgiving pie?

We got you covered.

To inspire your marketing strategy and get you ahead of the game, we put together a list of Thanksgiving marketing ideas for you to browse, borrow and use to boost your business.

1. Don’t wait until the last second

The most important piece of advice that we can give any marketer is to start planning ahead . Don’t wait for the last second to start scrambling and struggling to keep up with the competition. 

By starting a mere few weeks ahead with a solid plan and quality marketing material, you’ll save yourselves unneeded holiday stress and see a positive impact on your bottom line.

We recommend you using a planner for the holiday season. It will help you map out your efforts for the entire season while also inspiring you with new marketing ideas. 

2. Offer a loyalty discount

Let us not forget what this holiday is really about – giving thanks. We all owe a debt of gratitude to someone in our lives, but in the case of a B2C business, it is true for no one more than our customers. Our loyal customers are the lifeblood that allows us to do what we do and it’s not only nice to show them thanks but it’s good for business.

This Thanksgiving, make your customers feel valued with a personalized email that includes relevant recommendations based on past sales. The email can include a loyalty discount, a special gift card or a festive giveaway. This tactic will not only keep your customers loyal to your brand, but you’ll reserve space in their minds for when they start to think about their planned holiday shopping.

3. Contribute to the local community

While Thanksgiving advertising is important, it’s not the same thing as “Marketing.”  Marketing isn’t always about making money in the short term, it’s any action you take that promotes or positions your business. Generating brand awareness and fostering affinity towards your business might not immediately bring in sales but it’s important for your bottom line nonetheless.

The holidays are a great opportunity to generate positive brand awareness. There are so many events to join, causes to sponsor, and fundraisers to hold.

If you are blanking on ideas, remember that Thanksgiving is, if nothing else, a food holiday. By hosting a food drive at your business you can positively position your business while doing something that actually has a direct impact on your community. Canned food drives are easy to set up and promote and there is no shortage of churches, synagogues, food banks, and charities in the area that would love to help you get started. 

As a small business, this is a great way to get your name out and you can even use it as leverage to get people in the door. For example, you can say “For every X you buy, we’ll donate Y for this cause.”

4. Run a social media competition 

Tapping into your audience’s competitive side is a get way to generate engagement. And to expand your reach, we recommend that you run it on your social media channels. 

There are so many different holiday-themed contests and challenges you can run, so be sure that you find one that resonates with your target market. Remember that it’s not only a way to boost social media engagement and brand awareness, but it can also be a smart way to generate relevant leads. You could run a photo caption contest with an industry-appropriate meme, ask them to upload their own video or image, or anything else that relates to both your business and the holiday season. 

You can reward the participants with a giveaway, raffle, sweepstakes or simply the promise of fame on your channels. We recommend that you give away one of your (modest) products or a gift card for your service so that you know you are aiming toward the right clientele. 

5. Create holiday-themed content

Your Thanksgiving promotion ideas are only as good as the way you advertise them. With an overload of ads and sponsored content on everyone’s social media feed, you need to invest some serious thought into what you’re posting and when.

First off, it goes without saying that when it comes to online content, videos trump images. We know that people stay on a video post 5X longer than an image, videos leave a stronger impression and video content overall increase the chance of sales.

Whether you’re promoting a sale, running a contest, or simply sharing festive content, do it with a video to improve your results. 

You can use one of Promo.com’s ready-made Thanksgiving video templates or mix and match premium clips to create a video from scratch. The editor is easy to use and it shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes per video.

To inspire some Thanksgiving video ideas, take a look at some of our favorite templates:

Humor is a great way to grab your customer’s attention. You can use this one to promote a sale, event or anything else this Thanksgiving.

For all you businesses in the food and beverage industry, this is your time to shine. We’ve got endless footage options to get your audience craving holiday food.

Don’t underestimate the value of a simple engagement post. Ask your followers a holiday question and encourage them to tag and share with other friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving provides a wealth of opportunities for businesses of all sizes to market and promote their services. Two of the biggest shopping days of the year are ahead, so plan now and get ready for the festivities that await.

From holiday-themed offerings to blowout shopping sales, get ready to make this season the best your business has ever seen. 

Don’t forget to check out scroll-stopping Thanksgiving videos for your business’s socials!