The month of August is upon us, which means it’s time to start packing up the swimsuits and breaking out the backpacks. Soon enough kids will be heading to the storefronts to buy all new pencils, markers and notebooks for school.
Back-to-school shopping is an eventful time of the year, full of consumers looking for products that fit their needs. So how can your business use this time to market itself? Simple. Check out these easy tips to take advantage of for your back-to-school marketing 101.
Utilize social media.
Social media is a simple and free way to market your small business during the back-to-school season. Kids have an enormous amount of influence on purchase decisions, and social media is an effective tool to reach both them and their parents for back-to-school shopping.
Demonstrate what product or service you have that could benefit their experience heading back to school this month. Get creative and make it fun to stick in both kids’ and parents’ memories.
Host a back-to-school sale.
One classic marketing technique is hosting a back-to-school sale. Get students and parents excited for the new school year by offering timely discounts and promotions.
Examples of this could include offering a mystery special to customers, a free item to the first number of customers in the door or giving discounts for customer referrals. Take time to promote your business and its products or services while fitting seamlessly into back-to-school season.
Offer contests and sweepstakes.
If your company is able, try offering back-to-school contests or sweepstakes to gain potential consumers’ attention. Sweepstakes have the broadest reach of any promotion type. Their easy admission ability results in lots of entries for your business and encourages social sharing.
You’re able to gain marketability and promotion, while customers have the potential to win a new and exciting prize for their back-to-school shopping.
Get involved in the community.
Show your school spirit by using local schools to market your business. Offer sales on items connected with community high schools or colleges, promote local schools in advertisements or use them in online marketing campaigns.
You can even offer a referral campaign for students to gain discounts and save money if they refer a friend. Remember that back-to-school isn’t just for elementary school students, and broaden your marketing campaign to all ages.
This August, your business can take advantage of back-to-school season by creating a strategic marketing campaign. By utilizing these back-to-school marketing 101 tips, your business will grow its sales and gain relevance for the upcoming school year. So go ahead, get to studying!
