Back to School: The perfect opportunity for all businesses to thrive

Digital Marketing / July 18, 2022

So you don’t sell school supplies. Or maybe you do. Regardless, back-to-school season is an opportunity you surely won’t want to miss out on. It’s the perfect chance for your business to increase sales while strengthening a loyal customer base. Who could say no to that?

For your next campaign, apply these 6 general tips before September rolls around and create a successful marketing campaign that will yield successful results.

Use “Change” as a Theme

Going back to school is a time of change that doesn’t solely apply to students. It can also mean parents adjusting to their new work schedule, first-time homeowners taking on an office-building project, or simply someone looking to revamp their wardrobe before starting a new job. 

Summer is over for everyone and as a result, consumers are jumping back into their yearly routines. It’s important to effectively identify your key audience as your business will need to adapt to their altered demands. 

To illustrate, Canadian meal-kit service, Cook It, knew that the back-to-school season was upon them and decided to collaborate with food blogger Annick Beauchemin. Trusted by moms and foodies across Quebec, her recommendation to use Cook It as a time-saving solution during the back-to-school rush served fruitfully, both on the parents’ and the business’ side. 

Manage Every Minute

In July, goods such as clothes, footwear, and office supplies tend to peak. In Quebec, however, July also represents a specific holiday known as Moving Day where thousands of people end their lease June 30th and start moving as of July 1st. Whether it’s to start a family or change jobs, moving in general can be quite the stressful process and so businesses that cater to any homeware, decoration, gardening ideas and then some, should pay close attention to this time of year. 

Come August time, Canadian consumers are famously on the hunt for food-related goods. Prices become more competitive among brands and it can be increasingly harder to stand out. 

These events usually tend to continue until September and so it is crucial to plan and organize your marketing calendar accordingly, even months before the actual behavioral changes arise. Just like school supply campaigns start in July for the upcoming academic year, every holiday and life event at this time of year will also count as insights into what will ultimately determine the best route for your “back-to-school” campaign.

Considering the remainders of COVID

With the chaos of the pandemic cooling down, there are still several long-term effects that businesses need to consider. Instead of narrowing a strategy based on bringing sales back to the same level they were right before COVID, marketers need to reassess and look at the new life consumers are facing as a result of the pandemic. 

For instance, studies have shown that most children lost some academic ground over the past two years. For those selling school supplies, this could represent a great motivator for a next back-to-school campaign. 

For any other industry, concerns could revolve around the economic uncertainty partly triggered by the pandemic. With the rising inflation, consumers are increasingly price sensitive, so building a “back-to-school” campaign focused on price promotions wouldn’t be a bad idea. 

Price Will Always Play the Bigger Role

With back-to-school shopping comes the added back-to-school stress. A strategy businesses have opted for in the past in order to alleviate that stress is through different types of promotions. From special discounts, to contests and giveaways, to free shipping premiums, to simple email marketing tactics, there are many ways your business can stand out and highlight its affordability. 

As parents try to spend less on school supplies than the year before, the same principle can be applied to other product categories for other target audiences. For some, the back-to-school season represents the perfect occasion to spend less on take-out and more on store-bought foods to cook with. This time of change should in turn be taken into consideration by food brands as an opportunity to increase sales through promotion. 

Omni-Channel Shoppers

Shopping for school supplies is no less different than shopping for a new wardrobe. While parents shop via traditional advertising, online interactions with brands and in-store experiences with products, so do the individuals looking to revamp their work attire. In fact, consumers who follow an omni-channel path-to-purchase are shopping more frequently and are spending 3.5 times more than other shopper types –  and that’s regardless of the product category. 

Consequently, when planning your “back-to-school” campaign, even if shoppers buy in-person, remember to tie the offline and online experiences together. This will highly boost your chances of converting a sale as your brand will remain top-of-mind.

Popular Platforms 

Platforms play an important role in the online segment of the consumer journey because businesses need to know where their target audience spends the most of their digital activity in order to reach them effectively.

For instance, should you be selling school supplies, it’d be good to know that 27% of parents use Pinterest as a back-to-school shopping planner. Purchase decision making will also be influenced by the involved children as they view and ask for the products they see on TikTok or YouTube. 

On the flip side, even if you’re not in the business of selling pencils and erasers, creating valuable social media content will make your business a trustworthy and reliable resource. By providing advice, recipes, recommendations, checklists, guides, or simply adapting your brand to a current trend or meme, you’re no longer making your business all about a product. As a result, showing how your product can improve a customer’s life and making a sale becomes so much easier once you’ve connected with your audience by demonstrating your human and transparent side. Social media will do that!

Class Dismissed

We hope this brief advice piece helps you better understand how the back-to-school season can benefit any type of consumer, product category or industry so long as the theme of “change” ends up finding its way into your campaign. 

If you’re reading this in July, August or even September, it’s never too late to reach out for help on your next back-to-school campaign.