It’s that time of year again. Kids are flocking back to their classrooms carrying backpacks filled with books, electronics, and an endless array of new items. For brands and retailers, it’s a seasonal opportunity that warrants prompt action. Back To School sales add up to over $27 billion a year, and most of them occur around this time.
If you haven’t yet capitalized on the “Back to School” rush, not to worry. According to a Deloitte study, ⅓ of parents plan to do their Back to School shopping after the start of the year, so there’s still plenty of time.
Here are some ways to get the most out of the opportunity even after classes begin:
Launch Home Page Promotions
54.2% of shoppers opt for making their purchases online. If you haven’t already created promotions on your e-commerce site for Back to School, this would be the time to do it. The campaign can be as simple as a single front-page image which displays a product assortment targeted towards students with limited-time offers that extend a few weeks into the school year.
The beauty of this type of promotion is that it can begin any time before, during or after the school year has started. Parents often take some time to get their kids completely ready for school and don’t always get through their entire shopping list by the time school starts, so make sure you’re ready to catch these late stragglers.
Create Shareable Content
Parents face new challenges every year during the Back to School season. Often they’ll look to the web in hopes of finding simple solutions to their child-related concerns: from tips on improving their children’s school lunches to new ways of keeping their kids safe. Take advantage of these challenges by providing thoughtful solutions through informative posts on your blog.
One way to do this is by creating a listicle (eg: 5 tips for helping kids succeed this school year). You could cover any type of topic in this realm and find ways to relate it back to your company; for example: creating nutritional lunches to keep kids energized (great for a brand like Kraft), or instilling clean habits to keep children healthy and germ-free (perfect for the Kleenex brand).
Once you’ve created the content, promote it across your blog, social media, newsletters, etc. Parents looking for this type of information will come across your content and – if they find it useful – share it with other parents, friends and colleagues. All it takes is a little creativity to generate relevant content that aligns with your business and offers meaningful school-related advice for parents.
Run a Unique Social Campaign
Back to School-inspired posts on Instagram and Facebook work fine for many brands, but if you want to stand out, try something different. Create a contest where parents can submit a short essay written by their kids on what they hope to accomplish this school year, or what they like most about their favorite class. Offer several prizes – such as gift cards and discounts to use on your site – to the winners.
This type of social media contest is both entertaining and helpful, as it gets your audience interacting with your brand. Additionally, it has the ability to generate a viral effect by amplifying your social media presence and introducing you to a broader audience.
For kids across the country, Back to School season means summer has come to a close and time for a new set of gear. Make sure that you take advantage of this seasonal opportunity and extend your sales well into the school year. Execute engaging tactics such as the ones mentioned above and offer products that will help students get excited for the new school year.
SUMO Heavy is a digital commerce consulting firm based in New York and Philadelphia
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