It’s back to school time! The kids are all ready to go back to school. The parents are ready for the kids to go back to school!
So what does that mean for local businesses? I want to share a few tips that will be helpful for your business, in order to get ready for the school year and hopefully some new customers, too.
1. Run a “Back to School” special
As consumers, we love specials! We love deals and sales! If you’re a dentist, maybe you could offer a special on back to school cleanings. If you’re a medical professional, you could offer a discount on physicals. If you’re in the auto repair industry, maybe you could offer half off of an oil change for students driving back to college. Think about how your business connects with kids going back to school, and see if you can come up with some kind of related sale or special.
2. Offer tips and information
But what if it doesn’t make sense for your business to offer a back to school special? What if you’re a plumber, for instance? A back to school toilet unclogging special is maybe not the way to go. In that case you can offer tips that are helpful to the community. You can remind people to watch out for school zones, since we all fell out of that habit over the long summer. Remind people to give themselves more time in the morning and watch out for school zones increased traffic around schools.
Think about some tips you can offer to parents who are getting ready for the school year. Even if it’s something as simple as reminding parents to get their kids back on a sleep schedule for school, you can find some kind of general tip that will be useful to everyone getting ready for school.
3. Do a clothing/supplies drive
Do some kind of a back to school clothing, school supplies, or backpack type of drive for children whose families struggle to afford to go out and buy new clothes and supplies. I really love this idea! You can hold a drive at your business, if you have a physical location. If not, you can have the type of drive where you offer to go pick up the items and drop them off to be donated.
These are a few ideas for getting your business in the forefront during the back to school time. If you have some tips that I’ve left off, feel free to add those in the comments!