How did your back-to-school (BTS) marketing campaign go last year? Did you attract new customers? Did you increase sales? Did you get a decent ROI? If not, or if you didn’t run a BTS campaign at all, now is the time to begin getting ready for this year.
In 2018, the National Retail Federation estimated that back-to-school spending hit close to $83 billion – more than Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day combined. You’ll want to get in line for some of those sales. Here are a few ways to do it:
Advertising Campaign Planning – Don’t Be Late
Winston Churchill said, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” Early planning is the pinnacle of your back-to-school marketing campaign success. If the new school year begins in August for your neighborhood, set your advertising strategy and content to launch at the beginning of July. If you want to give yourself and your team enough time to produce an effective campaign, you need to get to work planning it now.
As an adult, you now realize that when you took the time to study and prepare for school projects and tests, your grades were always better and you were far less worried about the outcome. It’s the same with back-to-school advertising. A recent Deloitte survey indicated early bird retail stores certainly did get the customer worm: 62% of shoppers made their back-to-school purchases before August and they spent about $100 more than later shoppers.
Study Your Subject
Or subjects. Both students and parents influence BTS spending. At the end of the day (or summer), it’s the parent who spends the hard-earned income and searches for discounts, sales, specials and coupons. In fact, 48 percent of surveyed parents said coupons influenced their purchases and 94 percent of teachers spend their own income on classroom supplies.
Coupons in the Classroom
Coupons are important to BTS shopping because parents are usually looking to get the highest quality items at the best possible price. So much so that an Inmar shopping behavior survey found 50% will search for digital coupons inside the store and 39% will purchase a product sooner because of a coupon.
Digital coupons are growing in today’s retail environment, but many parents still use traditional, physical coupons. Consider the following coupon statistics:
- 95 percent of parents prefer paper or printed coupons
- 36% of back-to-school shoppers responded to an ad in their mailboxes in the past 30 days1
- 55 percent of consumers said they use both digital and print coupons
Back-to-School Campaign Strategy
Once you’ve decided on your offers for the back-to-school season, it’s time to decide how you’ll distribute your coupons and get the word out to consumers. Depending on the size and capabilities of your business, your budget may empower you to:
- Send emails to customers and purchased consumer lists
- Send coupons via text messages
- Send your coupon promotion via direct mail
- Offer your coupons digitally
Valpak can help you develop your coupon offers and creative design in print and digital formats. We can help you get the word out through direct mail and create a business listing branded with your logo, business locations and more. Valpak always keeps your marketing budget top-of-mind and provides ROI and performance tracking too.
Ace your back-to-school advertising campaign and start planning today for greater sales tomorrow. Contact your local Valpak office for more information.
