What are you doing for Thanksgiving? It’s a question that both provokes good vibes and bad feelings. Whatever you’re doing, shouldn’t your business be apart of that plan, too? Thanksgiving is, after all, the official start of the holiday season (even though SOME retailers insist on November 1st) and with it, the promise of strong sales and financial security. You’re in the big leagues now, and you’re going to want to market your store the best you can. So what are you doing for Thanksgiving, and how are you going to pull off an advertising campaign for it?
Be bold.
Maybe you already shamelessly plug your shop, but you’re going to want to whip out the big guns in anticipation for the holiday season. Thanksgiving is a great target for preparing your holiday campaigning because several shopping holidays immediately follow it: Black Friday (which, taking cues from November 1st Christmas advertising, now starts Thanksgiving evening) and Cyber Monday.
The key to shameless advertising is that while it can be shameless, you’ll be excommunicated and uninvited from Thanksgiving dinner if it’s anything less than superb. Offer deals galore, sharpen your graphic design skills, and keep your ads fresh and interesting. Posting similar ads in the same template will get boring quick, so utilize GIFs and videos as well.
Post on every platform—and I mean, every platform!
Listen, I didn’t get to where I am today by keeping things nice and tidy on Facebook. To get your brand seen and heard requires social media accounts on nearly every platform, but no worries if you can’t fathom an online presence of 20+ social media accounts. Stick with the basics, particularly the ones with ties into the ecommerce community.
To start, Twitter, Instagram, and of course, Facebook, are the trifecta in the social media game. Even platforms like Google+ can help showcase your shop. Producing unique, engaging posts several times a day on those platforms, that tie into your Thanksgiving plug but still offers something new each time, might seem like a challenge, but if I can post several times a day about my own baby (cat), then with all the love and passion for your business you’ll be able to as well.
Ham it up.
I can still recall jingles from holiday commercials that aired years ago, and their catchiness and cheesiness are both equally remembered. Now, you don’t necessarily have to do cheesy (but hey! I’m not stopping you either) but it’s hard to stand out without trying extra hard. Giving your all sometimes requires dipping into your personality, and personal qualities like a sense of humor or being artistic will make producing fresh content a breeze.
Fact is, everyone and their mother is going to be pushing out ads like crazy, and some will be a hit or miss. Standing out won’t exactly be an easy game, but if you can handle just the advertising part of a holiday campaign, then you’re set for the rest of it.
Ready, set, go!
Everyone loves Christmas. I’m Jewish and even I love Christmas! It’s no wonder why retailers begin advertising for it the day after Halloween, and why they go the extra mile to broadcast their sales. It might seem all so overwhelming, but it’s the price to pay from being in this industry. And hey, if this is your first Black Friday, there are plenty of resources out there to help you get through it.
There comes a time in every merchant’s career when they must succumb to the Christmas spirit, but at the end of the day, when you’re producing a good product, a good product that someone wants to buy and then gift to a loved one, it’s a sign that people really love your stuff, and that you too can cash in on the crazy world of holiday shopping.