As many businesses are making the final turn out of summer, some of you may be wondering “how can I increase sales now while waiting on the holiday season?” Whether you have kids or not, it is easy to see the shift move from summer vacations to fall clothes and school supplies.
According to the PM Digital Back to School study, the National Retail Federation (NRF) stated spending reached a total of $72.5 billion in 2013. Now these are numbers no business should ignore. So as you look over the course of the next three to six weeks, including a plan to market to the parents and students seems to make since, right?
It is important to recognize there are two demographics within the back to school season. There are the Back to School (BTS) group which typically consists of the K-12 grades. Then there is the Back to College (BTC) group which focuses on college students. If you keep this in mind you will be able to decide which of the methods will work for your brand or how to tweak them to your demographics.
Here are 3 things to focus on to increase sales during the back to school season.
- Personalized experience.
- Search engine optimization.
- Re-targeting campaigns.
Here are a some ideas in how to incorporate these strategies for those in the fashion, family entertainment and food industries.
Personalized Experience – Fashion
- The BTS crowd is either trying to figure out their own sense of style or are imitate some celebrity’s style. Identify 4-5 major styles and create display areas in the store or a page online to help the kids identify their style with what your store has to offer.
- The BTC crowd needs style with practicality on a budget. Show shoppers how they can give the same basic pieces multiple looks for class, hanging out and working.
Search Engine Optimization – Family Entertainment
- The parents for the BTS and BTC crowd are looking or the quick last-minute function with the family. Be sure to post your events online using the keywords of “back to school”. If you are a miniature putting course facility or if your paintball store is having an event (if not, put a small one together quickly), you can utilize those terms to attract people looking for something to do as a family to conclude the summer. Since those keywords are used quite frequently this time of year, it is worth the time and investment to update your website or blog to include them.
Re-targeting campaigns – Food
- Here is the cool thing about using a re-targeting campaign on the BTS demographic. Once the kid finds the item they want online, they share it with their parent online. Now you have the ability to display ads to a minimum of two people in the household. It’s an even better win when they use two different devices to talk about the same product (which is hopefully yours).
- Re-targeting for the BTC crowd is a must. Many people think college students are on the Ramen noodles daily diet. When the truth of it is they do break that regimen to dine out or visit a bar at least once per month. With that said, if you run ads to students based on geo-location, check-ins or visiting your website, you should want to keep in touch with them.
So what do you think? Are you ready to focus on the back to school season?
Let us know about any ideas you have found to be successful as a business owner or a consumer. You may be featured in an upcoming article.