We are now just a few more days away from Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, we often think about a family gathering with turkey, smashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing, and…the list goes on. Unlike many of us, to digital marketers, Thanksgiving is the beginning of holiday shopping season where they want to receive as many purchases as possible, whether it is from in-store or online website. Indeed, before Thanksgiving actually takes place, marketers from various departments within an organization are firing up and getting ready to launch multiple marketing campaigns, from email marketing to social media update and mobile push notifications.

During this preparation process, all digital marketers acknowledge that they are not the only ones taking advantage of this holiday season to promote their products or services. They all foresee that their targeted customers would receive notifications from the competitors as well. Therefore, besides having attractive deals, it is crucial for companies to invest extra effort in developing creative assets and specialized features that would help them to standout. But then, in the end, what is the right recipe for Thanksgiving? How can marketers help the brand become distinguished? How can marketers win this battle of attention during one of the busiest time of the year? With all the marketing tools ready to go, I think digital marketers should:

• Conduct social listening on a daily basis via social media to see what the customers want. Nowadays, it is fairly easy to conduct a Facebook poll or Twitter voting to find out the customers’ preference and the items on their “wish-list”. Knowing this information can also help marketers allocate resources accordingly to optimize the performance of the upcoming campaigns.
• Find a purpose for your marketing efforts so that your brand can be stand out. Thanksgiving holiday is about giving back and celebrate the precedents. Therefore, it might be useful if marketers can create a brand identity that takes on specific social responsibility. In other words, marketers should give the customers a non-financial reason to choose their brand.
• Make sure that the company’s website can operate at full capacity. It is common that customers would browse the website to get more information before purchasing an item in-store. They also like comparing prices between different brands so that they can get the best deals and leave the store without regrets. As a result, checking on the website as well as inventory and social media update is very crucial for business success upon Thanksgiving.
• Finally, it should be about having fun, being authentic, and staying true to your company’s value. Marketers need to make sure that all the messages from launching campaigns align with what the company is about.