Back to school is a shopping time! Make sure you are capitalizing on a great opportunity to get your marketing campaign up & running in time to make some sales. In my never ending quest to capitalize on the great marketing holidays throughout the year, today we are going to be talking about how to do a back to school marketing campaign.
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What Is Back To School
Back To School is actually the transition period between the end of the summer and the start of the 4th quarter of the year. Yes, there is actually back to school, but I want to also want to talk with you about all the different ways you can capitalize on this big movement time of the year.
Much like Christmas Marketing, Back To School is a time when people are spending money. Parents are spending money on school supplies and clothing, and this spending momentum carries over to all kinds of other things!
Who Is It For?
It is really easy to think that Back to School is only for little children heading to kindergarten. But there are many other things really happening at this time of the year including:
- College students heading off to university
- Teachers, custodians, bus drivers and principals heading back to work
- Women (and men) getting some time freedom back as their kids leave for the days again
- Ecommerce sellers starting to get ready for end of year sales
When Does It Happen?
According to Google Trends the time period for Back to school is July 1 – August 30. Pinterest extends that time out to September, but I really think that if you are going to try and capitalize on this "holiday" you need to have everything in place by August 1st at the latest and run it right through September 1 or Labor Day.
Also think about the fact that many children start attending school well before Labor Day. They may be on different schedules or even just early starts like my kids who are heading back August 13 this year.
Themes
There are some really interesting themes you can think about for Back To School...
[one-half-first]Children
College students
Freedom
Independence
Backpacks[/one-half-first]
[one-half]
School buses
Apples
School supplies
Happy moms
Back To School Shopping[/one-half]
Graphics
Graphically this is a super fun time! Yes, you can use the standard "school bus" look like I did for the graphics in this post, but you can also use a myriad of other looks!
I love this picture of a backpack with a giveaway attached from hopewellmb
But there are other ways that you can cater to the back to school crowd like this karate studio...
They have combined a Back To School sale with a wee bit of Mommy worry about their little darling heading back to school! I love that they are selling confidence rather than karate!
This post from the Futon Shop targets the college back to school crowd perfectly with a college age student and a need they have, bedding for a dorm room or house.
But what about the moms that are getting their freedom back? Love this Instagram post from happyacresphotography.
Ideas For What To Sell ... Back To School Sales
The first thing to go to is true back to school materials. For example I LOVE Erin Condren Planners and they have a Teachers Planner. If you sell something that is perfect for this time of year, then get it out there regularly starting in July, latest early August!
There are some obvious back to school ideas like a board that parents can use to take that first day of school picture... I love this one from RootsCustomDesigns on Etsy!
Getting Creative With Your Products
Not every product was "made" to be a back to school item. For example, I had a gal in one of my classes recently who made jewelry for kids. Now, moms probably aren't thinking of getting their daughters a necklace for back to school per se, but they may be thinking of backpacks and thinking it would be fun to have some "backpack accessories" for their kids.
This cheer tag from GemLights to hang on a backpack would be a great idea!
Selling Your Services
If you are selling services like I do with my marketing consults, you should be thinking of that mom (or dad) who is now free to start working or planning or living again because their kids have headed back to school.
Here are a few ideas...
- For Entrepreneurs - Yay! Your kids are back in school, now get back on track with this one hour productivity planner call.
- For Gym Owners - Ready to get back in shape, sign up for our mid-morning yoga class now!
- For Realtors - Yay! Your kids are back in school, give me a jingle and we can start planning your move to a new school district next year!
What you want to do is think outside the box and how your service can be appropriate for that mom who has more free time now!
Do A Back To School Roundup
One last thing you can do is make a roundup of back to school supplies that are needed to and include you product or service in it. This can be a blog post or an email to your list or even a Facebook post. Don't overthink it, just pick some things that would be amazing for back to school!
Back To School Marketing Campaigns Wrapup
Alrighty then, that turned into a lot of info, but I think that all of it is super relevant for getting your wheels turning.
Getting back into selling is hard in the middle of summer when things seem like they should be all loosey goosey, but the efforts you make now will have a big impact on how your fall sales go!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Get my free marketing holidays worksheet and start planning all your sales today!
- Learn how to do a roundup blog post
- Check out all my planners & worksheets
- Have a one hour consult where we can brainstorm some of your own marketing ideas!
