November is probably the perfect time for you to reach out to your customers, whether they’re prospective customers, current customers or past customers.
Why? This month sets the tone for gratitude, celebration and even commemoration with the following important holidays in the U.S.:
- November 11 – Veterans Day
- November 28 – Thanksgiving Day
- November 29 – Black Friday
- November 30 – Small Business Saturday
But while you can do season-based marketing to target your ideal customers, leveraging one of the biggest holidays in the country — Thanksgiving Day— can strengthen your relationships with your customers, which can then boost your sales.
So here are seven ways you can leverage Thanksgiving Day to reach out to your customers:
#1: Send a personalized holiday message
Send your current customers personalized holiday messages through email. The more personal your message is, the better. Take the time to write a personalized message to each of them and thank them for doing business with you.
Your long-time clients deserve a hyper-personal message. If possible, use your personal or work email, not the email you used for marketing campaigns that usually look like info@company[dot]com. It’s not personal unless it’s really YOU who wrote it.
#2: Gift your customers a custom Thanksgiving giveaway
Sending promotional giveaways to your customers is a marketing tactic that has been proven to increase brand awareness and open doors for new business. And because gifting is generally seen not as a form of advertising but a way to express gratitude or appreciate others, your customers are most likely to welcome any form of giveaways from your brand.
In giving away promo items during this season, your goal is not necessarily to sell your products or services, but to build or strengthen business relationships.
#3: Run a Thanksgiving-themed poll on social media
If your prospective, current and past customers are on social media, why not leverage the platform where they hang out to engage them?
To run a themed poll on Instagram, be ready with your compelling images. You can, for example, get your followers to choose between A or B. Make it engaging, light and fun to encourage your followers to join the poll.
Here’s a sample Thanksgiving-themed campaign from Home Depot:
#4: Give your customers discount vouchers
You don’t need to give huge discounts or offers. Depending on whether they’re prospects, loyal customers or past customers, you can give them different offers.
For example, a thank-you voucher for your loyal customers would do well, a discount for new customers will encourage them to try your product or service, and a referral offer to your past customers will be appreciated.
The good thing about giving away discount offers and vouchers at this point is that you do it to express your gratitude, and in return, your customers will receive them with a gratitude mindset.
#5 Give your business partners and best customers tokens of appreciation
Although you can always do this all-year-round, the season that makes Thanksgiving extra special will make your efforts in expressing your gratitude to them more memorable and more significant.
You don’t need to give them extravagant gifts. A simple thank-you card (the physical one, if possible, not e-card) can make you stand out. Who knows, this could lead to extended business partnerships or more referrals.
#6 Engage your social media followers with posts about relevant topics around Thanksgiving
One of the best ways to engage your customers is by talking about topics that resonate with them. Searching through sites like www.answerthepublic.com will give you ideas on what sub-topics people discuss when they talk about Thanksgiving.
A quick search shows that people co-mention the terms turkey, flight, travel, dishes, holidays, family, etc. when they search online for information about Thanksgiving.
Source: https://answerthepublic.com
Create a post around those topics that resonate with your audience, which can include your prospects, current customers or past customers. You could also leverage this tactic in your email marketing campaigns. Get them to engage with your brand by creating content that has no mention of your products or services.
#7 Create specially themed product bundles that your customers will love
Do your customers love to travel? Then create bundled products that they will find relevant and useful when traveling this Thanksgiving season. Offer the product bundle at lower prices compared with when they will purchase each product individually.
Create a theme for your product bundles and give them a compelling name. For example, for travel products, you can create product bundles and name them something like Traveling Moms — to include products for moms who travel with their families — or Adventure Traveler, which includes products a traveler needs when traveling to remote locations to do outdoor activities.
>> Relevant: 12 Promotional Gifts that are Perfect for Travelers <<<
Wrapping Up
There are many other ways you can take advantage of the Thanksgiving season to strengthen your relationship with existing customers, reach out to new customers and reconnect with your past customers.
When done right, this will help you convert prospects into customers, delight existing customers and stay front and center in the minds of your past customers.