Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And we all know what this means; the holiday spending has officially begun.
And if you’re a retailer, this gives you a great chance to vamp up your marketing strategy to gather in some more customers and boost sales. While this may be a very competitive time, all you need to get your audience’s attention is a well-rounded and engaging promotional strategy.
Here are some fabulous tips to help you up your promotion game this Thanksgiving and tackle the holiday enthusiasm in style.
Add that Thanksgiving vibe to your social media
If you’re looking to promote your retail store this holiday season, you have to start off by creating a strong social media presence. This means having active accounts and pages on multiple social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Make sure you’re maintaining your profiles by posting regularly.
And that’s not all. Add a seasonal twist to your profiles by throwing in some Thanksgiving related content into the mix. Add some promotional posters and deals to get your customers excited. Throw in some festive fall related emojis to all your captions. You can even add a fun little pilgrim’s hat to your brand logo to really make it feel like Thanksgiving is around the corner.
Curate your Instagram feed by adding some warm fall tones to the posts you create. Think burnt orange, brown, deep red, and all other colors that remind you of the crisp fall season. Such a curated feed will create a sense of excitement among your followers and will prepare them for the Thanksgiving surprises you have in store for them.
Host Thanksgiving themed contests
Another great way to increase hype for the Thanksgiving season is to plan out and host a bunch of fun holiday contests for your customers to participate in. You can plan these contests out according to the product or service you’re promoting.
If you’re a clothing retailer or a costume store, have a virtual Thanksgiving fashion contest where you can encourage people to create the perfect fall-themed look for Thanksgiving and post it on their Instagram story while tagging you. For cookware or food related items, encourage people to create the best Thanksgiving recipe. And with decor, have a contest to see who can set up their space the best.
Set a special discount or giveaway as a prize for your contest winners to encourage maximum participation.
Put up Thanksgiving posters
One of the best ways to celebrate and promote the holiday season is through simple decor. If you have a physical store, this will serve you very well. Create your own Thanksgiving posters and put them up around your store to really give off that festive vibe.
These posters can range from a traditional Thanksgiving blessing to an announcement of your special Thanksgiving day sale. They can also help promote your limited edition Thanksgiving menu or holiday specials if you’re an eatery. PosterMyWall has a wide variety of free Thanksgiving posters of all kinds for you to choose from according to your preferences.
All you have to do is log in to PosterMyWall, choose the template you like, and hop onto the editor to customize it according to your preferences. If you’re creating a sales poster, write down your offer in large, bold font to make sure it catches attention. If you’re just wishing your customers, add in some fun Thanksgiving themed animations and designs.
You don’t even have to limit yourself to just your store. Scope out the places in your neighbourhood with the highest footfall and see if you can put up some of your posters there. You can even resize them to post on your social media for better reach.
Host a food drive and encourage people to give back
Thanksgiving is about being grateful for what you have and helping those who are less fortunate. And one of the best ways to show your customers that you, as a business, care about your community is to host an event that is catered to helping the less fortunate.
Partner up with a local charity organization and host your own Thanksgiving food drive. Encourage people to give back to their community by asking them to donate canned foods and other home-based goods that can be donated to local shelters and the less fortunate. To promote this event, create your own Thanksgiving food drive flyers that you can hand out at your retail store and distribute around the neighborhood.
Add your brand name as well as the name of the charity you’re partnering with. Add useful information about how people can donate as well as information about who this food drive will be helping. You can also add in a QR code in one corner that leads people to more details on your charity endeavour.
Showcase your appreciation to your stakeholders
As the holiday draws nearer, people are probably thinking about everything they’re grateful for. As a retail business, there are two groups of people you should be thankful for:
- Your employees
- Your customer base
Not only should you be grateful to them for their support, you should let them know how invaluable they are to you.
Send out a Thanksgiving email to all your subscribers letting them know how thankful you are to have them support your business and how you will always appreciate them as customers. Add in a special Thank You poster to your email and send it out to your entire email list.
You can also make a public thank you post on your social media, acknowledging your employees and team for their hard work and appreciating their role in the business. Add in a special Thanksgiving treat for them to make it better, like an increased employee discount or a special Thanksgiving bonus.
Such acts will not only act as a kind gesture on your part for your primary stakeholders, but will also encourage your customers to stick with you long-term and connect with your business on a deeper level, even after Thanksgiving is over.
Final thoughts
Thanksgiving is a very special time. However, despite all the good, positive vibes that go around during this festive holiday, there’s often a lot of stress for retail businesses to do better with their promotions.
With every other business on the block competing for your customer’s attention, you need a promotional campaign that is not only effective but also allows your customers to resonate with you on a deeper level. With these 5 effective marketing strategies, you’ll be able to make a name for yourself and your business not only on this Thanksgiving, but well beyond it as well.
Senior editor at PosterMyWall.
