The Turkey Day Weekend

November is a big month for small business. There’s Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday — all stuffed together in six days. (Almost as stuffed as I’ll be next Thursday.)  

Thanksgiving isn’t just about spending time with family or arguing about politics over pumpkin pie. An estimated 58 million people shop online during Thanksgiving weekend. In 2020, most online sales were made on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Even with COVID-19 infecting the economy, people still spent $10.8 billion on Cyber Monday last year. 

With supply chain issues affecting product availability and inflation at a 30-year high, Black Friday may turn out to be a light shade of grey this year. Competition is fierce and it can be extremely difficult for small businesses to get noticed (especially when Karens are hitting Target at 6 o’clock in the morning the day after Thanksgiving). Don’t worry, I’ve put together some meaty marketing ideas you can gobble up: 

• Social media is your friend. Sounds like a given, but as a small business owner in the midst of a busy year-end season, it can be easy to forget what you’re thankful for. Use the Thanksgiving holiday as an opportunity to share with your social media friends what you’re grateful for this year — hint: in COVID-19 times, it’s probably them.

• #GivingTuesday is an incredible opportunity for small businesses to raise money or give a portion of sales to an organization you and your employees are passionate about. Our client Housing Families First is currently running a capital campaign and Giving Tuesday is a big day we’re focusing on to help them source donations.

• Add SEO content or blogs with relevant, keyword-enriched copy. We created blogs for our client A. Smith Bowman Distillery for holiday cocktails — I dare you not to drool over these. 

• Run paid ads on social media. Since Thanksgiving weekend is such a lucrative retail period, your customers are likely being inundated with ads. Stand out with Thanksgiving-themed social media ads and specific keyword content targeting. 

• Update your listings! Optimizing your local SEO will help customers find you when they are out and about shopping for last-minute items. The end of November is a great time to update your online listings, including holiday hours and website links. Doing this makes you more likely to pop up on people’s phones when they’re looking for retail businesses on the go — or in Texas Inn’s case, a great place to eat anything but leftover turkey sandwiches.