Thanksgiving is the time to be thankful for everything you have, and to look forward to the coming year.

For businesses, however, Thanksgiving is an important time to optimize sales prospecting processes. 

With so many businesses trying to capitalize on the event, it can be hard to market your brand and improve sales.

We present 10 creative ideas your brand can adopt to boost Thanksgiving sales.

1. Use Thanksgiving Imagery

Show your digital followers how involved you are in the Thanksgiving event by updating your imagery to reflect the holiday.

You should include Thanksgiving imagery in your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter header, newsletter banners, and website landing pages.

If you can create a Thanksgiving version of your company logo—which can be used in successive years—you can update your profile images with that logo.

The logo design doesn’t have to be too elaborate—if you can’t fit imagery or icons of Fall leaves or turkeys, you can instead change the color of the logo to match the season.

2. Adopt a Thanksgiving Hashtag

Your content marketing strategy will include the use of a branded hashtag that is employed in posts throughout the year. 

But when there is a nation-wide event to celebrate, you should strongly consider adopting a hashtag for the event.

A branded event hashtag is a great way to hold a conversation regarding a limited subject.

You can ask people to share why they are spending their Thanksgiving with your brand, or what they are thankful for that year, or the funny/ horrible happenings of a family Thanksgiving dinner.

And though you are unlikely to use the hashtag for more than a week, it can be reused over the next few years for the same event.

It also helps to analyze the popularity of the hashtag campaign and what you can do with a similar tactic for other marketing events. 

3. User Generated Content

There are numerous ways to involve your followers in the Thanksgiving spirit, and one way to do that is by asking them to share their Thanksgiving with you.

We had mentioned hashtag campaigns earlier, which are an ideal method of bringing your followers closer to your brand for an occasion.

Ask your followers to take pictures of themselves on Thanksgiving, with their meals, or their family, and feature those pictures on your social media, blog, or as a video.

User-generated content is popular in the digital sphere and diversifies your existing content. 

It also helps to create deep and meaningful connections between your brand and your followers.

4. Create Thanksgiving Dinner Guides

Most families will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at home, and you can make their dinner planning process easier by creating a Thanksgiving dinner guide.

Use an infographic template to make the ultimate guide—how to cook the perfect turkey, or pie, where to seat the family, or how to set a comfortable table.

This could be a fun visual to share with your followers and customers, that will not only improve engagement, but could have the potential to go viral.

Plus, you will likely get more followers or subscribers because of the value addition of your guide—it is something that nobody else would have considered making for their customers.

You can share the guide on your social media, blog, or as a newsletter, and watch it grow your following and reach.

Remember to use the right Thanksgiving related keywords—you can use these free tools for keyword research—to optimize your reach and boost sales.  

5. Host Thanksgiving Giveaways

Thanksgiving and Black Friday are closely linked but you can hold giveaways specifically for Thanksgiving, so as to make the holiday more special for customers.

Your giveaway doesn’t have to be too complicated—discounts, BOGOF offers, referrals, or a free item can make for worthy giveaway gifts that will increase entries.

Consider holding a contest on social media, your website, or sharing it via email. You can also consider posting on giveaway promotion sites to increase the reach of your giveaway.

6. Guest Blogging

It isn’t always possible to create holiday-themed content in-house. At times like this, you should turn to the experts who will be able to better share their knowledge with your audience.

Consider connecting with guest posters for guest blogging opportunities on your blog—the guest posters will bring with them a new target audience that will increase your reach.

Plus, your blog will benefit from their insight, which will enrich your content and help you target new audience segments.

But ensure that the guest blogs follow your tone of voice and linkbuilding strategies so that your blog looks cohesiveness and continues to rank on Google.

7. Send Thanksgiving Wishes

Your audience may not know that you are celebrating Thanksgiving with them. Let them know by sending Thanksgiving wishes on the day of the holiday.

You can share a Thanksgiving post on social media, or send a letter or Thanksgiving card via email with appropriate Thanksgiving imagery. 

It is highly recommended that holiday emails should be sent using marketing automation software that will personalize the salutations for each recipient.

Use images of turkeys or Fall, if you can take those in-house. Or you can use illustrations which are fun and quirky for those receiving the message.

Try to personalize the message with a picture of your team as that will make customers feel like they are part of the brand family.

8. Share a Thanksgiving Video

Video marketing has been consistently gaining steam over the past few years, and for holidays, it is a particularly good marketing choice.

Go live on Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat on Thanksgiving to share discounts, giveaways, or a behind-the-scenes look at how your office works that day.

Alternatively, have an influencer take over your social feeds or live accounts to make Thanksgiving that much more different and special.

Like guest bloggers, influencers have a different reach than your brand, which will improve your ability to target new markets.

Influencers can also help diversify your social content, making it more engaging on the day.

9. Get Involved in the Community

It isn’t necessary to be online at all times to make sales—sometimes, stepping away from a computer is just what you need to increase your reach.

Host an offline event with your community, like a block party, or a Thanksgiving buffet dinner. 

Have your staff volunteer in the community, in soup kitchens, at animal shelters, or for tree planting, as a way to be thankful for everything you have and the ability to give to others.

These offline events are a great way to connect with people outside of your brand’s reach, and to serve the community.

10. Host an Online Event

The offline events we mentioned above can also make for excellent digital content. Share a livestream of your volunteers helping out and ask people to come down and join in.

You can hold webinars with experts who do in-person speaking gigs about Thanksgiving and your brand that you can repackage for YouTube afterwards.

Online resources can allow you to host fundraisers or auctions for the online community to donate their time or money to worthy causes.

Such events not only tie in well with the holiday spirit, but they are good publicity for your brand, as well as being a tool for helping the community at large.

Final Words

Like all events, Thanksgiving can be a stressful time for marketers. But with these 10 creative ideas, you can engage better with your audience, grow your followers, and boost sales.

About the Author:
Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic and design platform. She enjoys writing about productivity, design, social media, the digital world, as well as pop culture and diversity.Twitter: @Venngage