Back to school is among the high seasons in the year for many businesses. It’s a great season to take advantage of the increased business traffic by rolling out some new promotions. During these periods of the year, your audience is bigger, due to supply needs of teachers, kids, parents, university, and college students, among others.
Research has shown that even though most parents shop with their budget at the back of their minds, their kids still influence them at larger percentage. Kids and teenagers also have their own money to spend. Since the market has so many customer demographics to target there must be something for everyone. The most creative businesses will usually excel at this. It doesn’t matter how close your market is to the school industry; you can still be creative and get something out of it. Here are some ideas:
Before You Promote, Consider Designs for the Season
Certain colors can make customers feel one way or another, and back to school and beginning of autumn are no exception. When designing your promotional products, consider autumn colors, such as yellows, browns, and reds. Or, for a personal touch, find out the colors of nearby schools. Local customers, and especially students, may be more likely to hang onto a promotional product longer if it has the personal touch of sporting their school colors. This also helps to keep your business in touch with the community.
Add a Promotional Gift to Shipped Orders
This is a great strategy for e-commerce business. Offering perks for online orders, such as free or discounted shipping for orders over a certain amount can encourage customers to add to their order to earn the perk. However, another useful option is to include a promotional gift with the order. Promotional gifts don’t have to be extravagant. During the school season you could provide gifts such as pens or notebooks for some purchases. Students are likely to keep and use giveaways more often, so having your logo on a promotional gift will get your brand displayed wherever the item goes.
Get Free Coffee with Purchase
Encourage parents and students to visit your store location by offering purchases with perks. This could include a variety of things, but a popular option is to offer discounted beverages to customers that buy a certain cup. Have your business logo added to a reusable coffee cup or thermos and offer discounted coffee or fountain drinks to customers that have one.
Donate to Classes
If possible, you can pair up with a school or just a teacher and make a promotional donation to a classroom. Something as simple as providing complementary pencils with your business logo on them will obviously get your logo out there, but will also make your business look good to parents.
Don’t Forget the Teachers
Teachers are another demographic that can be targeted when planning promotional items, and this can be done in two different ways. One is to offer promotions specifically to teachers. Many businesses offer discounts, which will bring teachers to your market. However, as far as giving your brand more visibility, you can create promotional products specifically for teacher needs, such as planners, calendars, and school room supplies. As long as your logo is somewhere on the item, it will likely gets plenty of attention during the school year.
The second direction your promotional items can go is marketing gifts for teachers to the student demographic. throughout the school year there are plenty of students and parents wishing to show appreciation for their educators. Promotional items such as apple-shaped paperweights or mugs with “I Love My Teacher” are some classic options.
Sponsorships
Another option for getting your business out in the public eye is to considering sponsoring a school team. This may take some research, but many schools will display the logos and advertisements of businesses that help sponsor the school team. Logos of sponsoring businesses are often included on team uniforms, or displayed on the playing fields. Sponsoring is not limited to sports only; you can also offer academic sponsors, all of which will increase your brand’s visibility.
If you’d like more information about marketing promotional products during the back to school season, contact RiverCity Screenprinting & Embroidery, located in San Marcos, TX.