By “game plan,” I don’t mean your strategy to catch all the best football games, even when they’re on at the same time. I don’t mean your kitchen maneuvers to successfully cook a turkey and 10 side dishes with just one oven, and I don’t mean your proven system to avoid talking to your creepy uncle who pops up at Thanksgiving dinner every year (although all of these strategies are necessary – and impressive, I’m sure).

The “game plan” I’m talking about is your strategy for marketing during the holidays, since Thanksgiving is the official kickoff. No matter what you’re selling, you’re missing a great chance at your own demographic of merry shoppers if you don’t have a campaign structured around the holiday season.

Let’s be honest. If you’re just thinking about this now, you’ve probably missed the boat on a Thanksgiving marketing campaign this year. It’s true that most marketers begin planning for the holidays in the summer, but it’s not too late to execute a great Christmas promotion and run it during the 3.5 weeks after Thanksgiving.

According to an Experian survey, 27% of marketers aren’t using any promotions this holiday season. If they’re your competitors, a Christmas campaign tailored to your audience could be what you need to get ahead. A few other facts to get you motivated: Adobe Digital’s research says Monday is the preferred day for online shopping around the world. For Americans, the most shopping happens on Black Friday and “Cyber Monday,” this coming Monday, Dec. 2^nd, and continues right up until Christmas.

If you’ve already signed up with Distribion, you know we have hundreds of pre-made templates you can use for online displays, email or print, and you know how easy it is to modify them for specific campaigns. Write your copy, plug it in and choose a few settings, and you’re off to make the most of the 2013 holidays for your business.

If you haven’t signed on yet, head over to read about our Quick Start Program to see how you can take advantage of our platform and services for a very, very low cost during a trial period. Don’t like the results? You can walk away with no commitment (although nobody has yet).

Though it might be too late for a Thanksgiving campaign, it’s not too late to plan for 2014.

About the Author: Sharon Eliza Nichols created the Facebook group “I judge you when you use poor grammar.”, which grew to almost 500,000 members. She turned the content into two books, “I judge you when you use poor grammar.” and “More Badder Grammar!”, which have sold 90,000+ copies. Sharon has a law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law, she’s been featured in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and she works in marketing in Virginia.