At this time of the year, you can come up with inspiring back to school campaign ideas and boost your sales.

Many companies are profitably engaged in the fall semester of schools and colleges with their innovative marketing ideas for schools, higher education institutions and obviously, for students and their parents. Numerous kids and parents have already begun purchasing school supplies, clothing, and technological devices. 

2024 Back-to-School Spending Forecast

According to Statista, average back-to-school spending per household reached 

• $789.79 in 2020
• $848.9 in 2021
• $864.9 in 2022
• $890.07 in 2023
• And projected to be around $874.64 per household  in 2024.

People who shop for back to school are going to spend approximately $31.30 billion this year, or about $586 per student in kindergarten to 12th grade. This substantial spending highlights the importance of well-crafted back-to-school ad campaigns to capture consumer attention.

And back-to-college spending was 

• $67.7 billion in 2020, 
• $71 billion in 2021
• $74 billion in 2022
• $94 billion in 2023 and,
• projected to reach $86.6 billion in 2024.

Where Do People Buy School Supplies in 2024?

K-12 spending categories for parents is as the following:

• 84% on clothing and accessories
• 70% books and general supplies
• 37% on arts and crafts
• 30% on groceries for school
• 29% on electronics such as computers and iPads
• 20% on extracurricular activities
• 17% on sports equipments
• 16% on health and safety supplies

Unlike back-to-schoolers, college shoppers will spend the most on electronics ($229.21). Besides electronics, they also plan to spend:

• $153.32 on clothing and accessories
• $109.29 on dorm or apartment furnishings
• $102.82 on food
• $83.41 on shoes
• $78.70 on personal care items such as skin and hair care
• $69.46 on school supplies such as notebooks and backpacks
• $62.61 on gift cards
• $53.34 on collegiate branded gear

Compared to their habits prior to the pandemic, back-to-school and college shoppers intend to shop at a single location as opposed to multiple ones. The top five places for back-to-school shopping are;

• Department Stores (61%)
• Online Retail Apps (45%)
• Grocery Stores (40%)
• Dollar Stores (40%)
• Office Supply Stores (29%)

9 Essential Back-to-school Marketing Ideas

As online back to school shopping is one of the most preferred places to shop in the US, eCommerce stores must enhance their offerings with the aid of eCommerce marketing agencies. 

Customers can purchase your goods with a single click; however, you must develop innovative back to school campaign ideas to convince clients to choose you!

Top ideas:

• Meet customers’ needs
• Consider offering back-to-school promotions
• Provide back-to-school packages
• Think about influencer marketing
• Organize social media contests
• Sort your customers into distinct groups
• Check your mobile purchasing experience
• Engage your audience with email marketing
• Get noticed with giveaways

Meet consumers’ needs 

Every student enters the new school year with a unique perspective. Although the majority of students have returned to full-time, in-person education, some still face a hybrid remote/in-person education system.

Keep this in mind when designing and selling your items. Demonstrate how your items may benefit students and fulfil their needs. Personalize a variety of things, including backpacks (for school) and mouse pads (for at-home learning).

Consider offering back-to-school promotions

Every company must provide a convincing reason for clients to choose them over their competition. This is referred to as a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your unique selling proposition can be found by completing the statement, “Customers will purchase from me because my company is the only…”

Crafting unique USPs as part of your back to school ad campaigns for K-12 or higher education can attract more customers, especially when combined with digital marketing ideas for schools that showcase your brand’s strengths.

Your USP might alter as your firm or industry evolves, and you can create unique USPs for various consumer types.

For instance:

• A stationery store might offer a free same-day delivery service to local businesses such as schools and colleges – a compelling USP for firms that require quick delivery.
• The same stationery store may give a discount as a back-to-school promotion to clients who spend over a specific amount; this would be a USP for price-conscious consumers.

Provide back-to-school packages

Back-to-school shopping might be daunting due to its lengthy checklists. You can bundle deals for clients’ convenience. These packages may contain essential school supplies, snacks, high-tech devices, and sporting equipment.

Back-to-school packs appeal to the busiest consumers. This is because they save buyers money and reduce the amount of time required to find what they require before the start of the school season. Also, product bundles alleviate the stress associated with completing a lengthy back-to-school shopping list. This is one of the simplest and most effective back-to-school promotion ideas.

Think about influencer marketing

As more consumers go to their favorite social media stars for product suggestions, influencer marketing plays a more significant part in back-to-school campaigns.

A recommendation on an influencer’s feed adds a personal touch to your back-to-school marketing effort. Influencer marketing can also enhance the legitimacy of your products and increase brand recognition among your target audiences.

This is due to the fact that social media influencers, such as family blogs, have frequently established a robust and genuine connection with their followers. They can assist you in reaching a younger, social media-savvy audience through back-to-school posts and back-to-school advertising.

Organize social media contests

Contests are one of the quickest ways to engage your audience and increase brand recognition. A win-win situation. It generates significantly more interest than a typical social media post.

Here are some Facebook contest suggestions to help you get started:

• Friend-tagging contest
• A present giveaway
• Photo contest
• Caption writing contest

Sort your customers into distinct groups

Back-to-school buyers come in a variety of sizes and forms, including:

• Parents 
• Students in elementary and secondary school
• College students
• Teachers
• Professors

Always customize your back to school marketing campaign initiatives to your target audience. You may even tag them in your CRM so that you can send them tailored offers. The channels, strategies, and promotions may vary based on the preferences and demands of your target audience.

Whether you are attempting to reach back-to-school buyers in elementary school, high school, or college, tailor your marketing to the prevalent fashions of your target audience. You can also connect with the parents by empathizing with their problems or feelings. 

If a product resonates with consumers, they are far more inclined to purchase from your company than the competitor. 

Check your mobile purchasing experience

Note that back-to-school sales will not be limited to in-store and online purchases. This season also sees an increase in mobile commerce. You must ensure that your customers have an exceptional mobile buying experience. 

Optimize your website, remain vigilant for flaws and attempt to offer a unified experience across channels. Another reason to take mobile-responsive design seriously is that Google will ignore your website if it is not mobile-friendly, which will at the very least have a negative effect on your SEO.

Engage your audience with email marketing

Email marketing strategy is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach your audience, despite the fact that there are several alternatives. 

There are specific advertising types that work particularly effectively for e-commerce stores. Included are:

• Re-engagement: These initiatives target subscribers who have not engaged with the brand within a given time frame.
• Upselling/Cross-selling: Occasionally, upselling and cross-selling are more effective than customer acquisition. With upsell marketing, you aim to persuade the user to acquire additional products in addition to their initial plans or premium versions. Cross-selling methods encourage consumers to purchase complementary products that are relevant to their purchase (e.g, accessories).
• Exclusively for loyal customers: Offer exclusive promotions to your email addresses list to boost sales. Display to your audience products they may be interested in based on their website activity or previous purchases.

Get noticed with giveaways

Back-to-school giveaways and gift cards could be an excellent way to create excitement and interest. Consider holding a giveaway that you can promote on social media or in-store if you have the time and resources. Perhaps you could put together a pack of your favorite back-to-school products and distribute it to brand-engaged individuals.  

And to promote your contest further, consider forming partnerships with social media influencers and brands. Find ways to connect with their audience to generate enthusiasm, exposure, traffic, and purchases.

The back-to-school season is an excellent opportunity to boost your sales. You can do a great job with the right strategies and campaigns.

5 Effective Back to School Marketing Campaigns from Renowned Brands

Let’s take a look at some real  examples of successful back to school campaign ideas that have made an impact on both parents and students. 

1. Target: Back to School: Made Simple

Target’s back to school campaign focused on simplifying the back to school shopping experience both for parents and students. The retail giant used a combination of TV ads, social media, and in-store promotions to highlight how parents could easily find everything they needed at Target. As convenience and affordability are the main concern for those who shop during the back to school season, the campaign solely focused on these aspects. And for the first time, Target offers 20 must-have school supplies that cost less than $20 to cover all classroom essentials for students.

2. Staples: That Back to School Feeling

Staples used humor and nostalgia to create its latest back to school campaign that resonated with both parents and students. They used influencer marketing by collaborating with David Pierre, a Canadian content creator, for their funny and nostalgic ad. The ad depicted the mixed emotions that come with the back to school season, balancing the excitement of new supply with the dread of homework. On TikTok, the ad was a huge success with almost 500K views. 

@staplescanada I don’t mean to throw a wrench into your summer here, but I want to remind everyone that we are weeks away from back-to-school. [ad] . . respost @David Pierre So, parents, whether you’re ready or not, you can rejoice because Staples Canada makes back-to-school shopping easy, affordable, and fun. I got all the essentials for Eva and Ben in one visit! This means I can return to enjoying the few weeks of glorious summer we get here in Canada! Visit Staples today, and don’t make back-to-school shopping harder than it has to be! #StaplesCanada #BackToSchool ♬ original sound – Staples Canada

3. Old Navy: “ONward! Back to School”

How cute are the little influencers? Old Navy partnered with younger influencers for their first day at school outfits and to showcase the brand’s affordable and stylish clothing. The target audience of these collaborations are middle graders and teenagers, as well as their parents. The influencer-driven campaign received a lot of engagement and led to a significant increase.

4. Amazon: Spend Less on Your Kids 2024

Amazon launched its 2024 back to school campaign recently, targeting students and their parents with a focus on affordability and convenience. Starring actress Michelle Buteau, this humorous ad promotes affordable prices on everything students might need from sports equipment to clothes. With the motto “love my kids but hate being broke” ad encourages you to do your back to school shopping on Amazon.

5. Urban Outfitters: “Shift Happens” Back to School Campaign

Urban Outfitters’ back-to-school campaign, “Shift Happens,” cleverly blends physical and digital experiences to connect with Gen Z. Partnering with Pinterest, the campaign features influencers creating brand-forward Pinterest boards, which are brought to life at a two-day activation event in New York. The campaign also includes pop-ups at college campuses and limited-edition drops from popular brands like Birkenstock and UGG. Through this multi-channel approach, Urban Outfitters aims to make the transition to adulthood an empowering experience for young consumers while boosting brand engagement.

Are you one of those who finds it challenging to forge a true partnership between brands and digital marketing agencies? You’re not alone—more than 70% of senior marketers believe it’s hard to find a digital agency that acts as a partner rather than just a producer, according to a survey of 100 marketing leaders.

This is where the Digital Agency Network’s marketplace comes into play. DAN’s digital marketing marketplace bridges the gap between brands and agencies, fostering connections beyond simple transactions to build meaningful, collaborative partnerships. 

With the global digital marketing industry projected to reach billions quickly, brands and agencies have never had a better time to join forces and drive mutual success, right?

Key Takeaways 

• Collaborating with an independent agency brings expertise and supports business growth. DAN’s online marketplace provides a curated selection of agencies.
• The Digital Agency Network (DAN) Marketplace streamlines the process of linking digital agencies with brands in need of marketing expertise.
• DAN’s Marketplace is also a hub for staying current with industry trends and growing a marketing agency.
• Both brands/businesses and digital agencies can connect via quotes and proposals in 3 simple steps. 

Table of Contents

Why DAN Marketplace? Discover Multi-Vendor Platform

As you already know, at its core, Digital Agency Network has always connected brands with top-notch digital agencies, making it easier for both sides to find the perfect match. The DAN team has taken this mission to the next level with the Marketplace. 

Consistent with many current research studies, collaborating with an independent agency brings expertise to the table and supports businesses. DAN’s Marketplace addresses this by offering a curated selection of agencies that align with your brand’s goals and values, fostering long-term partnerships that drive success.

Again, from the view of brands (and businesses), finding a digital marketing agency is a significant challenge. And, yes, the Marketplace simplifies that process by providing detailed profiles, client reviews, and performance metrics, helping brands find the right agency faster and with more confidence.

Another challenge? Budgetary concerns, no doubt. A significant point is that DAN encourages pricing structure transparency, with almost half of marketers citing it as a major challenge. 

What about digital marketing agencies? What does the marketplace offer them?

For digital marketing agencies, the Digital Agency Network’s marketplace is a golden opportunity to grow their business and connect with clients actively seeking expertise in a specific area.

In the most basic terms, the marketplace is a way to get clients for a digital marketing agency. 

When brands submit projects, DAN experts step in to match them with the most appropriate agencies. This means agencies connect with brands whose needs align perfectly with the services, increasing the chances of successful partnerships. 

How DAN Marketplace Works for Digital Agencies

The Digital Agency Network (DAN) Marketplace is designed to connect digital agencies with brands seeking marketing expertise in simple steps. 

Besides being matched with brands and projects, member agencies can browse and view projects submitted, giving them insight into potential opportunities.

The matching process works as follows for digital marketing agencies:

Create a Profile: It’s the fundamental step to becoming a member of the Digital Agency Network.

Start by creating a detailed profile that showcases their services, past projects, and client reviews, making it easier for brands to find and evaluate them.

Get Matched: When brands submit projects, DAN experts match them with the most suitable agencies, ensuring a perfect fit for both parties.

Finding the perfect fit depends on the brands’ preferences of location, budget, expertise in a field, or time scope while submitting a project. 

Start Collaborating: Once matched, you can connect directly with brands, discuss project details, and begin collaboration on campaigns that drive results.

The process in a nutshell:

Remember that DAN Marketplace is not just about landing one-off projects; digital marketing agencies can build relationships leading to repeat business and ongoing collaborations. It’s also a hub for staying up-to-date with industry trends and acts as a boost to grow your marketing agency as well.  

How DAN Marketplace Works for Brands

So far, we’ve covered how digital agencies can benefit from the Digital Agency Network (DAN) Marketplace. Now, let’s focus on what this platform offers for brands. 

Brands using DAN’s Marketplace gain access to a curated network of pre-vetted, industry-specific agencies, all of which have undergone a rigorous vetting process. This ensures that you’re partnering with trusted experts who truly understand your marketing needs.

For brands, this means a simplified, more confident search for an agency that can deliver impactful results tailored to your goals. 

Here is the 3-step process for brands/businesses looking for their marketing match:

Post Your Brief: Start by detailing your marketing needs and goals – the project’s timing, budget, expertise requirements, and more. 

To submit your project, go to the DAN Marketplace page or Join DAN and click on the Request Your Free Quote button.

Then start providing your brief about your project. This submission gives you access to a network of pre-vetted, industry-specific agencies.

Reach Verified Agencies: Let DAN connect you with 2-5 agencies based on your project’s location, needs, expertise, or industry.

Browse through the matched agencies to find the best fit.

Get Your Quotes: Once you’ve reviewed the options, connect directly with your chosen agency and start collaborating on your campaign.

The process in a nutshell:

Last Words on Finding Your Marketing Partner

To wrap up that blog, here are a few facts and highly anticipated responses regarding the digital marketing marketplace:

• The Marketplace is open to applications from all types of digital agencies. The agencies are notified if they are accepted into the platform following a research process conducted by DAN experts.

• Brands and businesses are, of course, not obligated to work with any of our selected agencies. DAN Marketplace helps brands and businesses find each other; it does not get involved in further communication or collaboration. 

• In case a brand’s project is anonymous, it does not have to provide full information. 

Keep in mind that by filling out this form, you give your consent for DAN to share the project details with the selected 2-5 agencies for potential matches. However, your personal information will not be shared with any third parties.

• There is no certain timeframe for receiving proposals from digital agencies; the timing of contact varies depending on the agencies’ schedule, the time of the year, or the specific requirements of the project. 

• Brands/businesses can submit as many projects as they like for matching. DAN’s RFP system is designed to assist in finding the right agencies for all digital marketing needs.

• While DAN strives to match each project with at least two agencies, there may be instances where agencies decline to submit proposals. This could be due to factors such as project scope, budget, or agency workload. Brands/businesses could expect to receive up to 5 proposals.

Whether you work at an agency or you’re managing a marketing budget in-house, you’ve probably had the classic debate before: do you focus on organic lead cultivation through SEO or try to generate as many leads as possible with aggressive tactics right now? 

I won’t pretend to be impartial: When you have the choice, favoring SEO is almost always the better investment. This isn’t an unfounded hunch, either: in our client programs here at TopRank Marketing, organic traffic consistently converts at a higher rate than overall traffic across a range of conversion types. 

Marketers tend to argue that SEO is important because it’s essential for “long term” growth. The time’s come to reframe that argument: SEO is essential because it unlocks the true potential of a brand’s lead conversion. 

Here are the big ways SEO unlocks that potential, with real-world examples from TopRank’s case studies.

Brand awareness generates more leads than demand generation over time

When the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) noticed that brand marketing was “losing the budget war” to lead generation a number of years ago, they conducted a large scale study to find out why. 

At first, this study confirmed the conventional wisdom that led to marketers emphasizing lead gen over brand marketing in their budgets. Direct response efforts yield much faster results that translate to a quick spike in leads. Marketers can point to these short-term results as a measurable win. 

As they looked at the results, however, the IPA noticed something else: brand marketing driven by SEO took longer to ramp up than lead gen, but while these lead gen tactics fizzled out quickly, the brand marketing’s effectiveness kept rising.

Ultimately, the IPA study showed that SEO-based brand marketing initiatives reliably generated more leads for the same share of budget than their direct response counterparts. On average, your money goes further when you use it on brand marketing than when you spend on lead gen.

This conclusion led the IPA to formulate the famous “60-40” rule, which states that the optimal balance of brand and demand is 60% branding and 40% direct response. Your lead gen efforts guide your customers through your sales funnel to conversion, but your SEO brand marketing is what brings them into that funnel in the first place. 

As this study proves, when you emphasize brand marketing, you simply put your brand in front of more leads overall than you would with lead gen alone. And if you want to maximize your lead gen potential, SEO is a clear necessity. 

Intent-driven SEO provides the right kind of visibility for lead gen

Impressive as these numbers may be, the best argument for the importance of SEO has more to do with quality than quantity. In today’s SEO, search volume isn’t the end-all, be-all it once was. When determining which keywords to pursue now, SEO experts carefully consider a combination of search volume, keyword difficulty, and — most importantly — search intent. 

Search intent attempts to understand why a search engine user types in the keyword they’re looking for. Understanding this intent is the best way to provide best answer content to these users. As search engines become more intelligent, intent is increasingly the best way to rank highly in Search Engine Result Pages. But understanding and capturing search intent is also one of the most important things you can do to generate leads. 

Your ideal leads have specific intent whenever they use a search engine. If you can understand this intent and provide users with the information they’re looking for, the quality of traffic to your site will rise. The people who find you via organic search will be looking for what you have to offer. Through your best-answer content, get to know your brand, start to associate you with your area of expertise, and then look to you for help if and when they become leads. 

The right intent-focused SEO doesn’t just raise your brand visibility; it brings you the right visibility to generate leads. And, as the IPA proved, it continues to do so effectively over time.

An example of how this works: one of TopRank’s clients, a public accounting firm, came to us for help raising their brand visibility. Instead of focusing on general visibility, we developed a highly-focused SEO strategy to zero in on the relatively low-volume but high intent keywords the firm’s highly-educated, relatively technical audience would be looking for. 

This strategy helped the client rank for over 55 new keywords in SERP positions 1-3 and earn a 96% year-over-year gain in new keywords in top search positions. Even more crucially, however, the keywords we were able to rank for drive the right kind of audience to the firm’s site permanently. The client has become visible to the right people for the right reasons, and the leads follow.

Strong SEO can multiply the effect of all other lead gen initiatives

As the examples above show, SEO strategies aren’t just for raising brand awareness. Instead, it’s more accurate to think of them as the central hub of any digital marketing strategy. 

After all, everything you do — from your long-term brand raising efforts and content marketing to your SEM lead generation — feeds back to your site. The more effective you can make this hub, the more all your other efforts will benefit as a result.

When a luxury home décor retailer approached TopRank Marketing, they were looking for a way to stand out against much larger national brands and e-commerce juggernauts in their competitive category. To do that, they would need to carefully manage a long, multi-touchpoint customer journey.

To help them achieve their goal, TopRank incorporated every tool in our tactical mix into an integrated, multifaceted strategy with SEO at the heart. 

Through competitive auditing and analysis, our SEO experts identified high-intent keywords our client’s audience was searching but their competitors weren’t winning. We pivoted the client’s SEO and content strategies to focus on these opportunities, then used a combination of lead-generating influencer marketing, social media marketing, and video and content affiliate marketing to drive leads back to the newly SEO-optimized pages.

The result of this strategy was a 11.2% month-over-month increase in revenue, driven by +28.6% MoM gains in organic traffic, +30.9% gains in total website sessions, and a +55% return on ad spend. 

By starting with SEO strategy, TopRank was able to provide the backbone that the rest of the initiatives needed. First, organic SEO, focused on intent, captured the attention of the right audience. Then, we retargeted this audience with social media and influencer lead generation advertising. Finally, these ads led the audience back to search engines – and back to the high-intent pages we optimized to give them what they wanted. 

It’s time to stop thinking of SEO and lead conversion as two separate objectives to be pursued in isolation: they are both a part of the same buyer’s journey. If you want your marketing to convert leads as effectively as possible, building a strong SEO strategy should be one of your top priorities.

For more help using SEO to drive the measurable results you need, check out our Top SEO Strategies for Lead Generation.

About the author

Harry is one of TopRank Marketing’s Content Strategists, and has been a professional digital content specialist since 2016. During this time, he has honed his content writing skills and worked closely with SEO and SEM experts to enhance his understanding of how to most effectively create high-quality content that performs well on both search engines and social media. Harry is passionate about creating content that represents the voice of his clients well and provides genuinely relevant, insightful information that his client’s customers will find helpful and entertaining to read. When Harry isn’t writing content, he’s usually reading it, or watching movies. He watches a lot of movies.