A new school year means new back-to-school marketing campaigns for brands to captivate shoppers and drive brand revenue.
With the school season rapidly approaching, brands must develop marketing strategies targeting teachers, students, and parents looking for great back-to-school deals and trends. With back-to-school shoppers spending billions annually to prepare for the new school year, brands must take advantage of this shopping season.
Keep reading this post to learn more about back-to-school consumer trends and marketing strategies, and consider partnering with Skyline Studio on your next school campaign.
Consumer trends for back-to-school marketers to know for implementing successful campaigns.
In the U.S., the back-to-school season usually starts around mid-July and lasts through early Fall—so now is the perfect time for brands to promote their educational products and services.
According to marketing research by the National Retail Federation, back-to-school spending for K-12 students is estimated to reach $39 billion, making the start of the school season a lucrative business for brands.
With some schools in the U.S. returning early to mid-August, back-to-school shoppers have already begun purchasing school supplies and necessities.
Below, we’ve rounded up riveting statistics to help marketers better understand the back-to-school spending consumer habits for the 2024 school year:
- Back-to-school families plan to spend $875 on average.
- Back-to-college students and their families plan to spend $1,365 on average.
- Total expected spending on back-to-college will reach $87 billion.
- Top categories for back-to-school:
- Spending on electronic devices is expected to reach $14 billion.
- Spending on clothing is expected to reach $11 billion.
- Spending on shoes is expected to reach $8 billion.
- Top categories for back-to-college:
- Spending on electronics is expected to reach $23 billion.
- Spending on dorm and apartment furnishings is expected to reach $12 billion.
- Spending on clothing is expected to reach $11 billion.
- The biggest spenders for back-to-school shopping are in the 35-44 age group.
Six smart marketing strategies to target back-to-school shoppers.
To reach your target audience and maximize campaign effectiveness, keeping up to date with back-to-school marketing trends will increase the likelihood of campaign success, purchase intent, and brand loyalty.
Here are six smart marketing strategies to implement into your current back-to-school marketing plan to drive consumer engagement and increase your lead generation efforts:
1. Define your target audience.
Before marketers can develop marketing campaigns, you must define your target audience and tailor your back-to-school campaigns once you know your target audience.
There are six main types of back-to-school shoppers:
- Millennial moms make up a considerable portion of back-to-school buyers. These shoppers tend to research and shop online. Marketers should personalize their online marketing campaigns for this group.
- Moms with little kids (under 12) generally seek kid-friendly, fun, and learning-focused products or services for their young children. Developing marketing campaigns focusing on kid-friendly content will drive these shoppers down the sales funnel.
- Moms with teenagers are often looking for trendy yet practical school-related items. These moms want products that reflect their teenagers’ hobbies. Brands should target these buyers with on-trend and entertaining content.
- Deal hunters are economically savvy back-to-school shoppers who prefer great brand offers. Marketers hoping to target this audience must create promotional content that advertises markdowns, package deals, and specials.
- College students are a massive part of the back-to-school buying audience. These shoppers want products that reflect their personality and cater to specific school needs. The best way to target this audience is by emphasizing how your products or services are valuable and practical for the college journey.
- Wealthy families are shoppers who want high-quality school products or services. These buyers will pay more for the best quality, design, and functional items. To target this audience, luxury and premium brands must create content that shows off the quality of their products.
2. Create back-to-school bundles
Creating and promoting back-to-school bundles is an excellent strategy for driving back-to-school purchase intent and brand awareness. Bundles catering to different back-to-school audiences can significantly increase product or service sales, save shoppers time, and provide a great deal.
One of the most well-known back-to-school bundles is by Apple. The electronics conglomerate has offered college students electronics bundles, like buying a Mac laptop and getting a free pair of Beats headphones—one of their most famous bundles provided in 2017.
Here are some ideas for effectively bundling back-to-school items:
- Bundles of underperforming products to increase sales.
- Subscription bundles offer discounts and convenience.
- DIY bundles, especially for parents and teachers.
- Seasonal bundles.
- Student must-have bundles.
- Limited-edition bundles can help create urgency and interest.
Ensure that shoppers get a great deal and that the products and services bundled make sense. Remember to promote your brand’s bundles as an alternative to buying items separately.
3. Offer special discounts
Offering special discounts can be a real game-changer and revenue booster when developing marketing campaigns for back-to-school shopping. Consumers want a great deal, so promoting sales, discounts, rewards, and easy returns gives them incentives and creates brand loyalty.
To help marketers come up with special promotions, here are some time-tested back-to-school product offers:
- Percentage-based or cash-off discounts are offered for a limited time or season, specific products are discounted, or great deals on bundles are offered.
- Free shipping is a must nowadays. Offering online consumers free shipping when meeting a specific price increases purchase intent and incentivizes shoppers to return.
- Promo codes are an excellent offer for affiliate marketing campaigns and limited offers. Brands can promote promo codes in marketing newsletters, with partnered organizations, and social media posts.
- Student discounts are a great way to target specific demographics with your products or services. Personalizing campaigns targeting students or parents will help capture this audience online shopping.
- Teacher discounts target teachers looking for great deals and show teacher appreciation, helping to develop brand awareness.
- Returning customer discounts creates brand loyalty. Brands can offer exclusive deals and promotions for customers registered in loyalty programs or with a long purchase history.
- Last-minute deals help create urgency in the minds of consumers while increasing sales with last-minute offers or bundles.
4. Run social media campaigns.
Back-to-school-themed social media campaigns are excellent marketing tools for reaching younger demographics and acquiring new customers.
With consumers spending a lot of time on social media, brands can develop brand awareness and recognition by consistently running social media campaigns. Platforms to consider for social advertising include Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, where a large portion of your target audience is active.
By directly communicating on social media platforms, brands can quickly capture the attention of their target demographic and interact with them by providing users with valuable information and entertaining content.
Marketers can produce campaigns that promote discounts, show the value of your products or services, and reshare user-generated content (UGC). Brands can create a hashtag for customers to use and encourage them to share what they bought or the promotions available using the hashtag.
Brands can use social media to do contests or giveaways, like the school supplies brand Yoobi:
View this post on Instagram
Social media continues to be the go-to platform for consumers to discover products, shop, and research. Marketers must develop social media campaigns, which are crucial to driving revenue and increasing their customer base.
5. Partner with teacher, parent, or student influencers.
Influencer marketing continues to be a force in the marketing landscape. Regarding back-to-school marketing, there are plenty of influencers with whom to partner and produce influencer marketing campaigns.
Influencer partnerships allow brands to tap into the influencer’s large following, increase brand visibility, and build brand trust with consumers. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are three excellent platforms for influencer marketing. There are teacher, mom, and college student influencers who depict their daily lives, create DIY projects, show off products, share tips, tricks, and hacks, etc.
From school supplies, clothing, accessories, snack ideas, dorm furnishings, etc.—there are different areas to focus on when building influencer marketing campaigns. An excellent example of influencer marketing is NutriGrain partnering with a local Orange County teacher influencer to showcase the brand’s snacks for students:
View this post on Instagram
TikTok’s “back-to-school haul” videos are a fun example of back-to-school influencer trends on social media. These short-form videos are posted by parents and students showing off the products they purchased for themselves or their children for the upcoming school year.
@vlogswithpeyton7 Back to school supply haul!! #fyp #foryou #viral #goviral #inspo #haul #shopping #backtoschoolshopping #backtoschoolhaul #backtoschool #shoppinghaul ♬ original sound – Peyton🎱🪩🥂
Aside from partnering with influencers to create campaigns, brands can offer discount codes through the influencer. Special discount codes help increase purchase intent and incentivize consumers to become loyal brand customers.
Brands should consider partnering with teachers, parents, or student influencers for their back-to-school campaigns—your brand’s ROI will thank you.
6. Create a back-to-school campaign newsletter.
To help promote your brand’s back-to-school campaigns, consider developing an email marketing strategy as a campaign newsletter. Email campaigns are an excellent tool for retargeting consumers and backlinking to other ad campaigns.
For email campaign newsletter ideas, here is a list to help you get started on your next back-to-school email campaign:
- Countdown to back-to-school emails help remind parents, teachers, and students that it’s almost time to get back into the school routine and generate excitement with product offers they may need for the new school year.
- Exclusive discounts or loyalty rewards-themed emails help incentivize parents or students to purchase products from your brand. Offer discounts on back-to-school merchandise or reward loyal customers with early product access.
- Educational content emails can help parents, students, and teachers prepare for the start of the school year with tips and advice on craft ideas, lunch recipes, and the latest fashion trends.
- Curate product guide emails are an excellent way to offer advice on products and bundles consumers may need for school, like a school supplies guide, college survival kit, or fall favorites.
- Personalized recommendations show consumers your brand is interested in fostering deeper relationships and developing customer loyalty. Brands can construct personalized emails to drive customers down the sales funnel using purchase data.
- Inspirational content is an excellent way to motivate students and teachers to achieve their school year goals. These emails can include success stories, motivational quotes, or educational resources.