The school season has officially kicked off. Over the last few weeks, parents have needed to start shopping for school supplies including laptops, backpacks and snacks. For business owners, the back-to-school season is a good opportunity to increase product exposure and generate more revenue through digital marketing.
Preparing for Back-to-School Marketing
The first thing you need to do is determine who your target audience is and where you can find them. Focus on what your target audience needs to help you create a marketing strategy that works. Find out the kind of products or services your target market needs and make sure you can provide them with the best solution. You should know how to reach out to them to create awareness for your products and generate more revenue for your brand.
Knowing your target audience helps you craft a better marketing message and visuals that resonate with them. Another thing to keep in mind is the price. Remember, you have competitors out there so make sure that your prices are competitive and your products are high-quality.
Revamp Your Website
A website with a back-to-school theme can also help you attract more customers. If your website looks generic, we highly recommend that you work with professionals to help you revamp your website and adopt a school theme. You should make your website easy to navigate with a simple yet elegant layout and design.
As much as possible, focus on posting high-quality pictures of your products to entice customers into buying them. Your goal must be to compel parents to choose your products over the others. In addition to posting high-quality pictures, it’s just as important to craft enticing product descriptions. What can the parents get from the products you’re selling? Focus on their needs and the solutions you have for them through posting good content.
Once your website is set up, create targeted ads that will resonate with your target audience. The good thing about Google targeted ads is that you are attracting customers that are actually looking for the products you’re selling. These are qualified buyers that need just a little push to purchase your products. Create attractive ads and product pages for the target buyer in order to increase your sales.
It is also critical that you make sure that the checkout process is quicker and easier for your customers. You should provide more options for payments and as much as possible, offer contactless delivery. If you have a physical store, consider offering both pickup and delivery.
Hold back-to-school specials
At the beginning of the school season, many brands participate in back-to-school specials where they offer discounts or give out coupons to customers. You definitely should consider participating in back-to-school specials and advertise them both on your website and social media channels.
Optimize the right keywords
For SEO to work well, you often need to do it long before the school season starts. Find out what keywords or phrases parents use when searching for school products online. If you have a physical store in your area, make sure that you use local SEO to attract more local buyers.
You can increase traffic by optimizing the right keywords. Combine that with targeted ads and you get both organic and paid traffic. Just make sure your website looks professional and your products are neatly categorized to make it easier for parents to browse through them. In order to increase sales even further, you should think about having the option of a category for bundles for a more efficient shopping experience.
After checkout, it is critical that you make sure to check back with the customers and ask them about their experience. Because chances are they will likely buy more school supplies in the coming weeks. Engaging with your customers helps you build traffic and generates more sales for your business.
Leverage social media
Run paid social media campaigns to help you advertise your products and services. Share post polls, run contests and share quizzes with your followers.
Better yet, consider investing in influencer marketing. Some parents look to their favourite influencers to help them decide which products to purchase. An endorser from a popular influencer can help increase your sales. When choosing influencers though, make sure that their audience is also your target market. Don’t choose a travel influencer if you’re selling school supplies.
Back-to-School Marketing Ideas
There are plenty of marketing strategies that work well for back-to-school marketing. We have put together our top strategies to attract more customers:
Start early – The best time to start promoting and selling is not in September but a few months before the school season starts. You may offer discounts for early bird shoppers to encourage more customers to purchase from you. At the same time, you can also offer last-minute deals especially when you still have a lot on your inventory. Back-to-school sales, flash promotions, and coupons always work.
Use content marketing – If you’re selling laptops or tablets for remote schooling, consider posting shopping guides and product reviews for your customers. Reviews can help them decide which products to purchase. They are also likely to purchase these from you.
Send a newsletter – If you’ve already built an email list, craft a back-to-school newsletter for the parents and teachers. Include a sneak peek of your products, promo codes, product recommendations and product bundles. Don’t forget to also include information on how they can purchase products early, the mode of payment, and delivery and pick-up options.
Host a giveaway – Hosting a giveaway is a good marketing strategy for growing your followers and attracting more customers. It’s a win-win situation for both the parents and the business owner. You can ask the participants to follow your social media for them to get qualified for the giveaway — this helps you grow your followers as a result. Make it compelling enough so that you get more submissions and you are able to sell more products.
Offer coupons – When customers buy from you, ask for their contact information so that you can send them specials and promotions in the future. Offering them coupons for future purchases can help you grow your revenue.
Utilize social media – Almost everyone is on social media now. Use this tool to publish school bundles and special deals long before the school season starts. Don’t forget to encourage them to also engage with you to build good relationships with future customers. Remember, customers are more likely to buy from brands they trust, so it’s a good idea to keep nurturing your relationship with them to build trust.
Partner with a local organization – If you want to target local customers, reach out to a local organization to show support to the community or try to fund initiatives. Doing this can help create awareness for your brand. Just don’t forget to also advertise your school deals so that parents are aware of them.
Connect with schools – Reach out to schools in your area and provide discounts when the parents purchase products in the school. Bundles and specials usually work with in-school retail events. Plan this ahead of time and make sure you advertise this on social media. You can organize this during school events to attract parents and teachers.
Make Sure You Don’t Run Out of Items
While it’s important to have the right marketing strategies for attracting more customers, it’s just as important to also ensure you don’t run out of inventory. Make a sales forecast to help you determine how many supplies you need for the school season. Also, partner with wholesale supply stores for backup, just in case you run out of school supplies.
Back-to-School Trends to Keep in Mind
Consider these three trends when creating and implementing your digital marketing strategies during the school season.
Price – Some families may still be trying to get back on their feet due to the pandemic. This means they are focused more on the affordability of the products. Consider giving out discounts both for retail and bulk orders, holiday sales, and bundles.
Accessibility – Are you aware that users also can purchase on social media? Don’t just post your products on your website, publish them on your social media platforms as well. If you have the budget for it, consider making an app to provide even more shopping options for your customers.
Convenience – Checking out the products one by one can be time-consuming and a little stressful for the parents. You can resolve this problem by offering class kits and product bundles. This way the parents won’t have to go through each category. Just make sure to research what your target audience needs, so you can efficiently bundle them.
Contact Elite Digital Agency
Do you need help with website design, SEO or marketing to promote back-to-school products and services? We’re here to help! We are experts in digital marketing committed to helping out businesses build traffic and increase conversions. We offer a wide range of digital marketing services including content marketing, Google advertising, SEO, branding, website design, etc. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us anytime so we can discuss our services with you. Talk to us to discuss your business objectives and how we can help you achieve them.
