Is your back-to-school marketing always lacking creativity? Senior operations give you 5 suggestions

This article is a marketing strategy guide for the back-to-school season. It systematically sorts out key time nodes, consumer changes, marketing suggestions, etc. It has rich content, unique perspectives, and detailed analysis, providing very valuable reference materials for overseas brands.

For overseas brands, the back-to-school season is one of the major sales nodes in North America, Europe, Japan and South Korea. Especially in the North American market, the back-to-school season has even become the peak sales season after Christmas and Black Friday .

1. Back to school season is coming, do you know all these?

For overseas parents and students, the back-to-school season is more like a festival in which they are full of anticipation for the new semester. More than 60% of consumers will start purchasing back-to-school supplies at least three weeks in advance.

However, for students of different grades in different countries overseas, their return dates are different. Generally speaking, middle schools in European and American countries usually start in August, while college students usually start in September. Universities in some countries even start at the end of September. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid placing advertisements in areas where school has already started. You should study the start time of the target area and arrange the promotion plan at least one month in advance.

The following are the start dates of overseas schools:

United States – mid-July to mid-September, depending on the state

Canada – Early September

Germany – late July to early September

France – Early September

Italy – Early September

Spain – mid-September

New Zealand, Australia - January, February

Japan - April 1st is the day when cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

Mexico – late August

Brazil - School starts in the first week of February

2. Unique Challenges This Year

Back-to-school spending is expected to fall for the first time in nine years as sticky inflation bites, according to a Deloitte report.

Under this circumstance, consumers' purchasing habits have also changed greatly. Brands must understand these changes and develop targeted strategies.

1. Price is the key factor affecting purchase orders

Amid economic uncertainty, nearly all parents said they research products and prices before back-to-school shopping.

According to a previous survey by the research organization 2Visions, 62% of American clothing shoppers will wait for the product to be discounted before placing an order. When the product is 20% off, the possibility of being purchased is twice that of the original price product, and the purchase rate of the product with a 50% discount is 99% higher than that of the product with only a 20% discount. This means that the lower the price of the retailer's product, the more likely consumers are to buy it .

Obviously, whoever can keep prices low will gain a competitive advantage.

2. Decreased demand for non-essential goods

According to the Deloitte report, nearly one-third of households are in a worse financial situation than last year, and 51% of households will continue to be in a worse financial situation for the rest of 2023. Under this circumstance, consumers of all income levels are withdrawing non-essential purchases and prioritizing necessities.

Americans also divided necessities into essentials and most essentials , and they even prioritized spending on the most essentials. Buying new clothes and electronics for back-to-school has taken a back seat, with spending on clothing and electronic technology products expected to fall by 14% and 13%, respectively.

Sellers who are currently making related products or have the idea of ​​making related products may wish to start with "back-to-school necessities", conduct in-depth research, and improve the cost-effectiveness of their products.

3. Social media becomes the new generation of online shopping platform

A 2013 study showed that 72% of children 8 and under used a mobile device to play games, watch videos or use apps, a 38% increase from 2012. According to a Pew Research Center survey, by 2022, nearly all teens will have access to a mobile device as small as a smartphone. TikTok and YouTube have also soared in popularity.

To attract new audiences from younger generations, marketers need to try new avenues and methods, such as influencer marketing, to engage students and parents.

In view of this, it is recommended that overseas brands increase their social media marketing efforts. For example, they can consider cooperating with KOLs, relying on the highly sticky fan base of KOLs and the compatibility of social media and e-commerce to attract traffic to their own cross-border retail websites, rather than being limited to competing head-on with big brands on third parties such as Amazon.

So, how should overseas brands leverage internet celebrity marketing strategies to gain traffic and boost sales?

Below, professional overseas KOL marketing agency Inpander shares the following 5 creative ideas for KOL marketing content for the back-to-school season.

Inpander provides a wealth of influencer resource channels, customized solutions, and full-process services from communication, implementation to data review. So far, it has served well-known domestic and foreign companies including ByteDance, Duolingo, OPPO, TCL, and Zise , helping companies quickly open up overseas markets!

2. Creative Directions for KOL Marketing Content in Back-to-School Season

1. Direction 1: Practical Back-to-School Tutorial

If your clients are parents, share ideas on how to get kids ready and excited for the new school year. It could be anything from fun school outfits to easy lunchbox recipes or even tips on overcoming shyness.

If you want to reach college students, cover topics that can help them prepare for campus life, such as time management or decorating a room. For example, maybe you can summarize some lessons from your own experience into some effective study or life tips?

Here are some creative ideas you can try on social media:

• Dorm Decorating Tips
• Creative Lunch Box Ideas
• Extracurricular Activities Tips
• Fun DIY Projects

2. Direction 2: Fashionable back-to-school outfits and makeup

With the arrival of the back-to-school season, young consumers are returning to campus, and the demand for clothing categories is rising, which will inevitably become a hot-selling category. For students returning to school, of course, the new semester must start with the most eye-catching outfit. #back to school outfit (back to school wear) and #Back to School Makeup (back to school makeup) have become hot topics on social media in the back-to-school season in recent years.

As a concrete scenario, it is very suitable for brand promotion products in the clothing and beauty categories, using social media platforms to publish videos about clothing matching/makeup tutorials and other related videos to attract consumers .

TikTok blogger @kenavistine used the cross-dressing video, which is considered a traffic code, to show a variety of different styles of American campus wear in 10 seconds.

3. Direction 3: Back-to-school gift list

Parents will decide what kind of back-to-school gifts to give their children by searching for relevant keywords. For brands, parenting or mother KOLs are undoubtedly a great way to reach target consumers in this direction, especially for emerging brands. Packaging their products as back-to-school gifts and making them into videos, interesting images or GIFs can help them gain recognition among young parents.

For example, @Brittany Xavier, an influencer with 4.2 million followers on TikTok, posted a short video of a gift for her daughter to go back to school. Although the brand was not reflected in the copy of the video, the brand of the gift was fully and intuitively presented in the video, which still played a role in exposure.

4. Direction 4: Discounts & Special Offers

Discounts are also one of the most basic and effective content ideas. In today’s economic uncertainty, ordinary families often need to make concessions on spending to sustain their lifestyles. Brands offering discounts on services and products is a good way to achieve initial conversions.

Brands can share promotions through KOLs, provide exclusive discount codes to influencers , and require consumers to click on exclusive links to participate in the event.

In the case of Stationary Pal’s collaboration with TikTok influencer @vickys_journal_tt, the brand gave the blogger’s followers a special discount code to use and entered them into a competition — the video has already received 10 times the views of the average video posted on the brand’s own TikTok account.

5. Direction 5: Generation Z lifestyle

By situating your products within a certain lifestyle or “aesthetic,” you can help Gen Z present them in the context of their own lives (or ideal lives).

3. Other points to note

1. Identify your target audience and convince them to pay

A successful school marketing campaign targets not only parents but also the students themselves. Especially when your target audience is Generation Z (teens to early 20s).

1) Target audience 1: Parents

Parents always want to get the best value for their money, so brands can find creators who are good at producing content for parents and highlight the discounts in their materials to use their talents to break into the parent group.

2) Target audience 2: students

Students are actively seeking back-to-school outfits and shopping inspiration, and entertaining and innovative content is more likely to attract them to click and watch.

TikTok brand hashtag challenge is one of the most popular ways to play. Brands can invite KOLs to initiate hashtag challenges and encourage audiences to participate and freely express their creativity, while at the same time increasing their understanding of the brand, killing two birds with one stone.

2. Seizing the best opportunity is the beginning of success

Like other holidays, back-to-school marketing activities also need to start early. Inpander recommends starting to post back-to-school-related tweets two to three weeks in advance , and continuing to release relevant content during the week leading up to the first day of school, and providing shopping suggestions for potential consumers during the back-to-school season (buying gifts for parents/students themselves).

3. Find the right KOL to increase exposure and conversion

Generating interest and then trust is the basis for users to take subsequent actions. Selecting KOLs with high reputation and fame to participate is the most important step.

Types of KOLs you can choose from:

Gen Z students: Ask them to share their back-to-school experiences and get more young voices involved in discussing your brand;

Family influencers: provide shopping inspiration to parents;

Vertical influencers: For example, if you are a gaming company, you can choose young Twitch streamers who are interested in your games.

4. Use popular tags to increase exposure

In addition to marketing timing, using seasonal hashtags and keywords is an easy way to expand your reach in influencer marketing. To help your posts stand out in a crowded feed, try using the following hashtags in your social media posts:

#BackToSchoolOutfit – Back to School Outfit

#BackToSchoolHaul – for everything from stationery to lunch boxes

#BackToSchoolCheck – A montage of back-to-school moments showing the diversity of life

#SchoolLife – Share your school life

#CollegeLife – College Life

#TransformUrDorm – College Dorm Decor Inspiration

#BackToSchool – for everyone, including parents and teachers!

Author: Inpander

Source: WeChat public account "Inpander Going Global (ID: gh_eeba4131474f)"