Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas: 5 Insider Tips To Boost Sales This Holiday

The country’s most popular holiday is right around the corner. And if you don’t want to miss the opportunity to amplify your ecommerce sales, you should have your thanksgiving marketing ideas lined up and ready to launch.

But if you are still somehow lost and don’t know what to do to make the most out of this holiday season, we’re here to give you valuable thanksgiving marketing ideas that you can use.

After reading this article, you’ll go from zero to expert in marketing and you’ll be on top of your target customers’ holiday shopping list.

Outline

• The Most Popular National Holiday In The United States
• Thanksgiving Marketing Campaigns Open Up Promos For Subsequent Holidays
• Thanksgiving Marketing Campaign Ideas
• 01. Thanksgiving-Related Emails
• 02. Content Marketing
• 03. Host A Thanksgiving Contest
• 04. Reward Your Loyal Customers
• 05. Thanksgiving Social Media Posts
• Bottom Line

The Most Popular National Holiday In The United States

Thanksgiving gets its historical significance back to the early 17th century when the Pilgrims organized a feast to celebrate and express gratitude for a successful harvest.

Nowadays, Thanksgiving is a time when families and friends gather and share a festive meal to express gratitude for a year full of blessings.

It is then followed by Day After Thanksgiving (also called Black Friday) and Cyber Monday (first Monday after Thanksgiving).

Let us look at a few statistics to gain a wider perspective on the importance of Thanksgiving in terms of business revenues. We will also take a look at the subsequent holidays to see which one fares well in terms of holiday sales.

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In a survey conducted in the first quarter of 2023, research showed that Thanksgiving is the most popular US holiday, raking in a popularity score of 82%. Based on the insights in the chart above, it surpasses Christmas day (which only got 77% popularity score).

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In 2022, more than 196 million Americans went shopping in-store and online during the five day holiday shopping season from Thanksgiving day through Cyber Monday.

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Although Thanksgiving is not when shoppers spend most money during the stretch of the five-day holiday season, it marks the beginning of a shopping spree for US shoppers.

In 2022, Americans spent:

• $5.3 billion on Thanksgiving
• $9.1 billion on Black Friday and,
• $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday

Thanksgiving Marketing Campaigns Open Up Promos For Subsequent Holidays

If we look beyond what the numbers tell, we can say that Thanksgiving is an opening salvo of an extended holiday season where Americans are willing to spend on things that they want.

22% of US consumers are most likely to begin their holiday shopping on or after Thanksgiving Day. Having this in mind, implementing the thanksgiving marketing ideas in the next section plays an important role in hooking up customers in their holiday shopping.

If your thanksgiving marketing idea can successfully invite shoppers into your landing pages, we can safely say that you’ll have a higher chance of racking up sales for your ecommerce store throughout the holiday season.

When customers are on your website or social media accounts, you have the chance to drop your subsequent holiday marketing campaigns (Black Friday and Cyber Monday) as well. That is, if you have marketing plans for those, too.

Thanksgiving Marketing Campaign Ideas

Now that you know its importance, it is only proper that you implement a competitive thanksgiving marketing idea to attract holiday shoppers.

Doing some marketing campaigns in your first try is an overwhelming task. Although we advise that you implement all these thanksgiving marketing ideas in your business, realistically speaking, it is easier said than done.

So if you don’t have the resources yet, you can pick some ideas from this list, implement them, and go all-in in your efforts. Doing a few things with commitment and mastery is always better than doing a lot at once haphazardly.

With that, let’s jump right into our thanksgiving marketing ideas from these Shopify stores to inspire your campaign.

01. Thanksgiving-Related Emails

Emails are a crucial part of a marketing campaign.

They give businesses the opportunity to craft more personal messages directed to their target customers.

With the availability of various email campaign software, you can nurture your target customers - no matter what stage they are in your sales funnel. And you can do all this automatically.

Additionally, you can schedule emails to be sent out on specific holidays. Just like Thanksgiving.

With that said, it could be tempting to send out email blasts of the latest and greatest updates in your business. But doing so might work against you.

Emails are not solely for making sales. Instead, you can use them to nurture your leads and customers, get personal, and show the more human side behind your brand.

Check out these email samples from Shopify stores and see how you can do the same this Thanksgiving.

Thank Your Customers

Source: Leesa

Leesa is a company that sells mattresses, pillows, and bed sheets.

Their email campaign started with a line saying, "Thankful for you." It is then followed by a short greeting to their customers.

They had subtle mentions of their mattresses in the email but in no way does it feel like they were selling.

Majority of their copy is about gratefulness to their customers. What has the most impact in this one is that they make their customers feel that they were part of changing other people's lives.

Show Goodwill

Source: Shokz

Shokz is an electronics company that sells bone conduction headphones.

Their Thanksgiving email back in 2020 looks back at the unexpected challenges of the year (pandemic).

They started their message with a sincere message of gratitude that they owe everything to their loyal customers.

It is then followed by three ways on how their customers can celebrate Thanksgiving alongside them - Donate, Volunteer, Show Someone You Care.

Sneak In Your Black Friday Promo

Source: Astro West

Astro West is a Shopify store that sells fossils, gemstones, and debris of meteorites. They also have high end jewelries like necklaces, rings, and earrings.

Although the two previous email examples have some subtle promotions in them, Astro West went boldly and all-in in promoting their Black Friday sale.

The email started with a Thanksgiving message and continued in promoting their Black Friday sale.

As Black Friday comes right after Thanksgiving, Astro West sent an email campaign with a dual purpose – to give thanks and promote.

If your email is nicely crafted like this one, it will still provide a delightful reading experience to your customers.

02. Content Marketing

Content marketing is the process of writing blogs that revolves around your entire business.

Content marketing done right can attract organic visitors to your website which increases your chances of converting them into customers.

Of course, this does not happen automatically. It starts by careful planning, preparation, and producing the content themselves.

In creating content, search engine optimization or SEO plays a crucial role. Optimizing your content makes them searchable in Google. And if you're good enough to land on the first page of search results, you'll see a significant increase in your web traffic.

There are 10 types of blogs. Amongst them are Listicles and How-To blogs – which are used by these websites below.

Make A Listicle

Source: Cosmopolitan

Although they don't sell physical products, Cosmopolitan is a Shopify website that focuses on publishing content in various fields.

This includes beauty, lifestyles, relationships, and more.

To produce relevant content for Thanksgiving, they published a list post about Thanksgiving gift ideas.

Listicles provide value to readers who are looking for a list of things to do, purchase, and sell. They also work for those who are looking for some ideas.

As is the case in this one, this post by Cosmopolitan will be very insightful to those looking for gift ideas.

Create A How-To Guide

Source: 360 Cookware

To some, Thanksgiving dinner wouldn't be complete without turkey roasted turkey. But to those who don't have an oven, this specific blog could save the day.

360 Cookware is an online store that sells cookware, bakeware, and other kitchen tools.

As a cooking-related ecommerce store, they did the right thing by publishing a how-to guide in cooking turkey without an oven.

Right off the bat, you'll know that the blog targets people who are looking for alternative ways to cook turkey. And if you are one of those people, you will definitely find this extremely helpful.

The goal of every blog that you publish should be to provide value and solve your customers' problems. If you can craft ones like this, you could succeed in attracting increased web traffic.

03. Host A Thanksgiving Contest

Hosting Thanksgiving contests is a form of interactive marketing. It helps your business acquire new leads and attract improved social media engagements.

One platform that you can use to host a Thanksgiving contest is Instagram.

Here's how you can do that:

Decide on a giveaway

It can be a discount coupon, an exclusive access, or a product from your store. Whichever one you choose, make sure that it is enough to grab your customers' attention.

With a highly-coveted prize at stake, your social media followers will surely participate.

Create a dedicated landing page

Although you can conduct a contest right on your Instagram post, creating a dedicated landing page for your giveaway contest is still the best way to go.

For one, you won't have to create a lengthy social media post.

In your landing page, make sure that all mechanics are in there. In complete detail.

Promote

This is where your social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn come in handy.

Use your social media reach to spread the word about your holiday giveaway to get as many engagements as you can.

Encourage your followers to share the post and offer incentives if you want.

Be consistent in promoting and reminding people about your giveaway as long as the promo is running.

If your number of social media followers are not that many, you can consider running some ads to increase engagement.

Replenix Giveaway

Source: Instagram

Replenix is a Shopify store that sells various skin care products such as eye creams and lotions.

In their Thanksgiving giveaway, they partnered with Brazilian influencer, Franciele Medeiros (@franciele_medeiros) to promote their contest.

In partnering with an influencer, they were able to tap into Franciele's more than 400K Instagram followers. That is on top of Replenix's already huge number of followers amounting to more than 220K.

Read: How To Do a Giveaway: 7 Tips To Drive Sales (2023)

04. Reward Your Loyal Customers

Do you want to make your loyal customers feel exclusivity? You can try launching a thanksgiving marketing campaign that is specifically made to reward your existing customer base.

Early Access Program

An early access program is an effective way to enhance customer loyalty to your brand.

If you are planning to launch exclusive products this holiday season, you can give your existing customers first dibs on these exciting new launches before you announce it to the public.

If you want to go beyond early access, you can launch some promos or services that are part of your community of loyal customers.

You can also create an early access program that does not isolate your potential customers.

Source: Gymshark

Gymshark is a British sports and fitness brand selling all kinds of fitness apparel for men and women. They have physical stores all around the UK and the United States and they are now catering to a global audience.

They did this clever trick in their May 2022 campaign to give the customer up to 30% off by using the code FAMILYFIRST. Those who received this newsletter were able to avail of the exclusive discount in any purchase in Gymshark’s website.

Source: FrostNYC

FrostNYC is a Shopify store that sells gold chains and diamond-clad accessories such as necklaces, bracelets and luxury watches.

In one of their Independence Day email campaigns, they used an early access program that grants 10% off to all those who access their website and used the code 4JULY_10.

05. Thanksgiving Social Media Posts

If you are among small business owners who are just starting out their ecommerce journey and just learning the tricks of the trade, launching a marketing campaign that diminishes your potential profits might be the last thing on your mind.

But don’t let this be a reason to pass up on an important celebration.

Every successful Shopify store nowadays hailed from humble beginnings – just like you. If you are operating in a pinch, creating a relevant Thanksgiving post to commemorate the holiday is enough to remind your customers that you are celebrating alongside them.

Create a relevant post

Source: Instagram

Although Hot Wheels is not a small Shopify Store, you could learn a thing or two from their Thanksgiving post back in 2019. They posted this short Thanksgiving video featuring one of their collectibles spinning on a pie while whipped cream is added as the car turns as if its smoke coming from the wheels.

What you’ll learn from here is that creating a Thanksgiving post is one of the easiest things that you can do to celebrate the holiday as an ecommerce business.

But in doing so, we suggest that you don’t leave out your products in creating your post. Just like what Hot Wheels did, you can still direct the spotlight to your main products in your Thanksgiving message to your loyal customer base.

Trivia:

Did you know that there is a holiday called Small Business Saturday? It is celebrated every Saturday after Thanksgiving. With large businesses with deep pockets competing against customers during the holiday season, Small Business Saturday is celebrated to support small business owners.

Bottom Line

Thanksgiving Day is an important celebration that is deeply imbued in American culture. With its significant share of history, Americans are all festive during this holiday season.

In the world of ecommerce, this season is an opening salvo of a five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend when Americans are willing to spend money to spoil themselves or their loved ones. As such, it presents a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs to attract more customers and increase customer loyalty through their well crafted thanksgiving marketing ideas.

With these insider tips that we shared, you are now armed with marketing knowledge to make the most out of this holiday season.

However, the true celebration of Thanksgiving Day lies within one’s sincerity to express gratefulness for the blessings he or she received throughout the day.

Keeping this in mind, whether or not your business is equipped to launch a gigantic marketing campaign, what’s most important is to give thanks to your loyal customers who have been trusting your brand since its humble beginnings.