Five Thanksgiving Marketing Tips

Thanksgiving represents one of the most crucial marketing seasons of the year. You're trying to cash in on the upcoming holiday season by promoting Black Friday sales and beyond. To complicate things, all of your competitors (at least, those worth their weight) are ramping up their own Thanksgiving marketing efforts so you have to anticipate their moves in order to beat them at their own game. Your goal is to craft creative marketing ideas that will help you stand out, get noticed and reel in a hefty return on investment this Turkey Day. Here are five Thanksgiving marketing tips that will help you do just that.

1. Host an event

Whether it's a publicity stunt or a charitable turkey dinner, hosting a Thanksgiving event is one of the best marketing strategies on the planet. If you can show potential customers a good time or give back to the community that gives to you, then you can earn free press and a loyal customer base that will make yours a happy Thanksgiving for years to come. Promote your event by printing postcards, posters, flyers and banners.

2. Send calendars to your customers

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the end ... of the year. Many people buy calendars for the upcoming New Year while they're out holiday shopping for friends and family. Head them off at the pass by printing and distributing your calendars before Thanksgiving. If you can design a calendar that strikes a chord with your customer base, you'll be positioned to market to your customers each and every day all year long. What better investment could you ask for?

3. Launch a cross-promotion

See if complementary and non-competing businesses are interested in partnering with you on a creative cross-promotion. Theaters, restaurants and hotels are all great promo partners; but if you're creative you can find a way to partner with just about any business there is. A grocer might offer discount Christmas tree print coupons from a tree farm to anyone who purchases a turkey, for example.

4. Market early and often

The early bird gets the warm isn't just an old adage or contemporary cliché, it's a true statement. When it comes to branding, repetition is key. You can't simply say you have something on sale once and expect potential customers to remember it weeks down the road (even if your offer is phenomenal). Combine these two concepts and you know that if you want to turn a profit from your Thanksgiving marketing, you have to start early and maintain momentum through the holiday season. Start right after Halloween don't let up until the eve of Thanksgiving (or morning, if your local paper delivers on Thanksgiving and you can print flyers) for best results.

5. Don't skimp on marketing materials

Customers equate the quality of your products and services with the quality of your marketing materials. If you print a cheap and flimsy desktop postcard, your products will appear cheap and flimsy. If you print a professional postcard, however, using state-of-the-art printing presses with quality inks on high-quality paper, your postcard will transfer that aura of quality to your products and services, and you'll yield a higher return on investment. Gobble up those profits!