It’s Thanksgiving Week 2017, and that can mean vastly different things to different people. For some, having the tail end of the week off of work is a welcome reprieve from the regular schedule. For others, Thanksgiving may be a dreaded time of forced interaction with relatives, when being at work might actually be preferable. Conversely, maybe Thanksgiving is your favorite holiday, and you truly enjoy spending time with loved ones and expressing thanks for the positive aspects of your lives. And still others may regard it as just another week. Whatever Thanksgiving week means to you, it’s true that it is a time when many people are reflecting on what it is they are thankful for. That being said, in the business world, Thanksgiving is an ideal time to thank your customers.

We talk about giving thanks, but really we should be saying thanks. Thank you for being a loyal customer for all of these years, thank you for spreading the word about our business, thank you for expressing interest in working with us. You should acknowledge all levels of customer interaction with a “thank you” year-round, but while gratitude is on everyone’s minds, Thanksgiving is a good reminder to do so.

So with Thanksgiving being the ideal time to thank your customers, how should you go about doing it? Here are a few ideas—both digital and traditional—as to how you can express appreciation to your customers this Thanksgiving week.

• Send an email blast. Sending out a simple Thanksgiving-themed message to your email list is a quick and easy way to communicate that you appreciate your customers’ business. Think about it as sending a digital “thank you” note. In this message, be sure not to push any products or services on your customers, but instead keep it simple and straightforward—“We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and want to thank you for being our customer,s” or something to that effect. It can also be effective for your owner or CEO to “sign” the message to give it a personal touch.
• Give a gift or discount. This is something that you can do throughout the holiday season to express customer appreciation. Giving your customers a free gift with no strings attached is a great way to show them you care—and prove that there is value in them being your customer.
• Schedule a social media post. A Thanksgiving social media post should be a given as far as your digital marketing efforts, but instead of a standard, “Happy Thanksgiving,” think about addressing your customers directly and thanking them for supporting you. This is an effective way to reach a large audience of people who may or may not have ever patronized your business.
• Write a blog. If you’re inclined to be more verbose in expressing your gratitude, take your thoughts to your blog. Write about the reasons you’re thankful to work in your particular field or industry, about the positive interactions you have had this year with customers or even about the best things about living in your community.
• Send a post card. Beyond the digital realm, Thanksgiving is the ideal time to thank your customers in more traditional ways as well. Send your customer list an aesthetically pleasing postcard that they might end up hanging on their refrigerators or with their other holiday cards. For your longtime customers (or for everyone if you have the time), consider handwritten notes expressing your thanks for their business.
• Make a phone call. Pick up the phone and say, “Thanks!” This is a simple, inexpensive and personalized way to show your customers that you care about them this holiday season. Again, this may be more feasible for a smaller business reaching out to regular clients, but it will certainly show that you are willing to invest time in their well-being.
• Tell them in person. If you see your customers this week, there’s no better way to say thank you than to tell them in person. Today’s technology allows us to reach a large number of people from behind a digital screen, but nothing will ever replace face-to-face interaction when it comes to making a connection with customers.

Thanksgiving is an ideal time to thank your customers due to the nature of the holiday, but you can make any of these gestures at any time of year to express your appreciation.

Happy Thanksgiving from the McNutt & Partners team! If you need help with any of your digital marketing efforts this holiday season, call us at 334-521-1010 or visit our contact page.