The back-to-school season is unique for a lot of reasons. It gets children hyped for school and makes everyone surprisingly excited over new school supplies. The opening of the new school year makes people feel that they can have a fresh start. This is also a great time for businesses as it is among the busiest seasons of the year. Shoppers flock to stores for great deals, so retailers are buckling up for challenges ahead. Here are some ways to put together a stand-out back-to-school campaign that is fantastic and inexpensive at the same time.
1.Host a fun live event.
Stand out by literally standing right next to your customers. A live event lets you connect to your crowd, especially if you’re a brand used to doing things online. Seeing your customers in person allows them to interact with you, puts a face to your brand, and makes you seem more personable, which instantly levels up your marketing game.
Your event needn’t be so fancy—you can host it in a local café or bookstore. All you need is some space to set up a table or display that has information about your brand or your products. Include interesting facts and tidbits about your company and the school supplies you are selling, like what inspired your new line of notebooks, for example, or where to buy enamel pins and how to customize them. Set up speakers to play music, and give away fun things like pens, USB sticks, pins, and water bottles to participants and onlookers.
2.Host a giveaway.
Giveaways can be a risky strategy as they can cost a pretty penny, but they can also be an effective marketing tool when done the right way. To maximize the effectiveness of the event, make sure that the giveaway items will benefit your business just as much as the people receiving the freebies. You can use the freebies to get people to sign up and join your email list, or you can encourage people to use a hashtag to further boost your social media presence. Your brand reach has the potential to grow exponentially on social media, where most people interact with each other these days. And while we’re on that topic…
3.Make a video.
Since everyone—most especially school-age youths—spend most of their time bent over their mobile devices, it can be to your advantage if you reach them via a video. You don’t need to invest a lot of money to put together a video. You don’t even need to make it look good. Case in point: this incredible and adorably low-budget promotional video for a rescue shelter went viral for its sincere sense of humor alone. Some other creative ideas for a promotional video include directing one in stop motion, doing a live product review, interviewing a local celebrity, or partnering up with influencers to ask them to do videos for you.
4.Include teachers in your audience reach.
School materials aren’t only sold to children but to teachers as well. As the unsung heroes of the public school system, teachers use a frighteningly large chunk of their own money to buy school supplies for their classrooms. Appealing and giving great bargains to teachers is a fantastic way to grow your audience and give back to the community at the same time.
However you decide to put together your back-to-school campaign for the upcoming school year, don’t forget to focus on giving back to the community. Schools are there to educate future generations, and your part in it is not only invaluable but a crucial responsibility. Keeping the best interests of your community will also come back to you in the form of brand loyalty, which will only contribute to the success of your business.
