It is one week until Thanksgiving. However, it seems like a forgotten holiday. If you went shopping in the past couple of weeks you might have noticed we went from Halloween straight to Christmas – skipping Thanksgiving altogether. From a retail marketing point of view, that might make sense. I am not likely to buy a turkey costume for my children to go door to door begging for candy, nor am I likely to purchase a cornucopia of fruit and vegetables and wrap it as a gift for my wife. Thanksgiving is not all that marketable… or is it?

I contend that Thanksgiving offers all kinds of untapped opportunities for businesses that want to make a marketing splash, particularly with being a good neighbor in the area where your business operates. Unlike other holidays surrounding it, Thanksgiving has retained its original intent of bringing families together and counting our blessings. It also is at the beginning of the giving season. People are looking for ways to be charitable – Thanksgiving reminds them to do so. Being grateful and charity go hand in hand, but what does marketing and charity have to do with each other? From a corporate point of view, the two are tied together in a way that benefits them both. Marketing is tasked with keeping your brand in a positive light with consumers. Charity offers an opportunity to hitch your brand to kindness. Charities are dependent upon corporate giving. They pair well together. From a marketing perspective, if you are looking for a way to make the most of your corporate giving, Thanksgiving will give you the opportunity to get noticed without the clamor of other corporations doing the same thing at the same time. In other words, being first makes a bigger impact than doing the same thing in a pack of others.

Beyond your charitable giving, Thanksgiving offers other opportunities in the form of hands-on service. Most cities and villages have some sort of community meal for people in need. There are also food drives and other provision and distribution opportunities that include food pantries, delivery of food to homes, etc. These all are looking for businesses that can lend a hand in the form of employee volunteer hours.

If you want to get behind another type of tradition, take a look at sponsoring a fundraising activity on Thanksgiving Day. Some of the largest fundraisers for non-profits happen on Thanksgiving morning. There are numerous run/walk events that have become popular in the past decade. These all offer corporate sponsorships.

There are also some more nontraditional ways of expressing gratitude, like providing a thank you gift basket to people who are working on the holiday, such as first responders, hospital workers, nursing homes, etc. Make it your annual tradition to support those who support us. A little gratitude goes a long way.

Whatever you decide to do, I think Thanksgiving is one of the best times of the year to step forward with kindness. That sort of goodwill is valuable for businesses because it establishes a perception that your business is not all business. Be a good neighbor. Let it show this Thanksgiving.