It’s almost that time of year again. When all the kids get ready to go back to school. Of course, that means for the parents it’s time to stock up on supplies. And why shouldn’t they buy from you? Here are four tips to promote your store’s back-to-school clearance sale.
Design eye-catching posters
You might think that posters are obsolete in the era of social media and digital marketing, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Posters are a great way to advertise your back-to-school sales locally. Hang your posters around town in places where both parents and students spend their time, like restaurants, public spaces, and parks, just to name a few.
The key to an effective flyer campaign is to make sure your posters look professional. Your posters are a representation of your business. They also need to appeal to both parents and students. Some businesses even create two separate poster designs, one specifically for parents and the other for students.
You’re busy running a business and likely don’t have time to design professional graphics from scratch. Luckily, there are thousands of templates for back-to-school posters available on websites like PosterMyWall. Just pick the template that best fits your brand, customize the information with the easy drag-and-drop editor, and you’re ready to hit the printer.
Run ads on social media
Although back-to-school posters might be better for a local audience, that doesn’t discredit the effectiveness of social media. With over 5 billion active users worldwide, it’s a powerful marketing tool to reach large numbers of people quickly and at low to no cost.
However, the main problem with social media is that only your followers see your posts organically. If you want to extend your marketing reach you either need to get creative or run social media ads.
With social media ads, you pay the platform to put your advertisement in front of an audience of your choice. Even better, you get to choose how much you want to spend, making it easy to stay on budget.
Try to target platforms where parents spend their time, like Instagram and Facebook. You can also try running ads on “younger” platforms like TikTok to reach students, but make sure your ads are properly suited to your target audience. Parents and students are interested in very different things…
You can also reuse your back-to-school posters on social media. Just save the file as a JPEG or PNG and upload them to your various accounts for easy promotional content.
Use product bundles
Students never need just one thing when going into a new school year. Most back-to-school lists include dozens of items — if not more! One great way to promote your clearance sales is to offer product bundles.
For example, when someone buys three notebooks, they get a pack of mechanical pencils for free. Parents would need to buy all those products anyway, but they might have only wanted to get one or two notebooks.
With product bundles, not only does it encourage customers to come into your store for the amazing and unique packaged deals, but it also entices them to potentially purchase more than they would have initially, helping you sell more merchandise.
Start an email marketing campaign
Email might be the oldest form of internet communication, but it’s hardly obsolete. In fact, it’s one of the most cost-effective forms of digital marketing, generating an average $36 for every $1 spent! But it does take some effort.
You can’t just send an email out of the blue and expect people to shop your back-to-school clearance sale right away. It takes time to build up your email contact list. So the best time to start is right now!
Throughout the year, collect as much customer contact information as you can and send regular emails to keep your brand top of mind. Then when fall approaches, start to tease at your amazing back-to-school clearance sales and continue the email cadence all the way through the school season.
The true power of email comes from regular touchpoints. Don’t let your customers forget about your brand. Best practices say to send between two and four emails per week.
Your customers will be marking their calendars to take advantage of your amazing deals (and bundles).
Promote your back-to-school clearance sale the right way
Back to school is a big time for both parents and students. Parents want to get the best deals, while students want to get the best gear to show off to their friends. Make sure everyone gets what they want at your back-to-school clearance sale by hanging posters around town, running a few ads on social media, putting together product bundles, and launching an effective email marketing campaign.
When all your promotional efforts are working together, there’s no way anyone in town will be able to miss your back-to-school clearance sale.