Your business can earn some of that revenue with a little marketing effort. But what if you don’t have the huge marketing budget of the major stores? Or even what might be considered a traditional, school-oriented product mix? Below are five things you can do to carve out your share of this lucrative market anyway.
1. Start early, email often. Most shoppers start thinking about back-to-school in early August. So it’s time to use fast-acting marketing programs if you want to capture their attention. Email marketing is a great approach because you can execute a campaign quickly and be very targeted with offers. Begin sending messages as soon as possible announcing that your back-to-school inventory will be coming soon. Send follow-up emails to help build the excitement. Perhaps offer a sneak peek of merchandise or special pricing you’ll be offering.
When it’s time to officially launch your back-to-school sales, send a major announcement. Continue to send reminders each week, or every other week, always featuring either your best-sellers or the merchandise media reports have tabbed as your hottest items. If you know the actual start date, set up a couple reminders you can send before the big day.
People have short memories, especially during the busy summer months. Make sure they remember you.
2. Accentuate your local presence. It can be tough to compete with big-box retailers on a pricing basis. So rather than go head-to-head with them on their turf, use your local roots and/or small size to your advantage.
If you can obtain the list of supplies required by local schools, include that list — with links to the items you sell — in your emails. That makes it easy for consumers to shop with you instead of fighting the crowds. Offer free delivery over a certain dollar amount, or a choice of locally themed products such as a water bottle or baseball cap.
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