Back-to-school preparation is well underway for students and dreams of colourful school supplies, trendy digs and go-to gadgets fill their heads. Meanwhile, parents are preparing for the happy chaos that begins when the school bell rings. Marketers should seize the opportunity to showcase their brand online and make back-to-school buying a breeze.
Combined spending for back-to-school and college in the U.S. alone is expected to reach $75 billion this fall according to the National Retail Federation and research suggests 74% of Canadian consumers will do most of their back-to-school browsing online before making a purchase. For brands who want to reach these consumers a proactive programmatic strategy can make all the difference.
In this instance there is a focus on two main demographics; the parents with children heading back-to-school (BTS) and the older students heading to university or college (BTC). For many retailers these two groups are second in sales only to winter holiday shoppers.
Millennials, many of whom fall in the BTC category, have huge buying power, including the influence they have on the buying decisions of their parents (think big electronic items such as laptops, cell phones and iPads). Millennials are incredibly active online, consume information quickly and prefer content driven by their peers. One in five purchases this year will be made on a mobile device so by using a combination of social targeting, video, mobile targeting, apps and geo fencing we can effectively access this group to deliver a relevant brand message.
For parents with a household of one to three (1-3) children or teens, research says it’s moms who are the CBOs (Chief Buying Officers). By targeting the context of a page, either via keyword or by channel (e.g. news, shopping) we can get in front of parents at the right time and in the right place including premium websites. We also have the ability to show ads across multiple devices within the same home via IP targeting. For busy parents who use multiple devices inside and outside their home, brands need to make sure they deliver informative and engaging creative with a clear call to action that reaches parents throughout their decision making process.
Understanding your audience is only half the equation a trader needs to solve and it’s usually something marketers will inform based on the wealth of knowledge they have around their consumers. The focus for us is finding the right mix of targeting tactics, which comes from understanding the performance objectives for the brand. Are you trying to sell 6,000 laptops? Drive 400,000 people in store with a voucher? Once we have identified the goal and the demographic we can build a successful programmatic media strategy that ensures you reach your customers, strengthen your brand identity online and do your part to help shoppers keep those back-to-school-butterflies at bay.
Back-to-school shopping isn’t just in the fall, it occurs multiple times throughout the year with seasonal changes and holidays ranging from one week to three months (ah, to be a student). This means that crucial data and insights you collect during the first campaign can and should be applied to the next phase of your digital strategy in order to maintain the attention of these groups throughout the year.
Marketers, it’s time to pack programmatic tools and tactics in your knapsacks to ensure a bright back-to-school season.
