Sunday newsagency marketing tip: 10 school holidays marketing ideas

Don’t be a victim of school holidays – you know, a retailer who does nothing special, a retailer who looks at the numbers and says it’s school holidays.

Be a retailer who says it’s school holidays, let’s lean in, let’s embrace the opportunity.

Here are seven marketing ideas to help school holidays be more valuable for your newsagency. They are the tip of ideas you could embrace.

1. Place two or three dump bins with special offers at the front of the store containing products to appeal to the largest age group of school kids in your area.
2. Reset your primary gift displays to focus on items likely to appeal to families shopping. Ideally, the display will be of new product regulars have not seen before.
3. If you sell confectionery targeted at adults, consider a school holidays survivors discount.
4. Publish a series of posts on your business Facebook page with ideas of what people can do locally during the school holidays.
5. Do more product demonstrations in-store during the expected peak days, demonstrating thinks like a slinky, kinetic sand, goop balls, jigsaws and the like. Create some retail theatre.
6. Maybe have t-shirts made for staff: Holiday Crew or something similar. This helps them look different to everyday and that is key to making the most of the holidays.
7. Host an event appropriate to the season:
   1. A papier machier pumpkin mask competition for September holidays.
   2. A paper plane throwing competition for summer holidays.
   3. A Easter art competition for all ages for the Easter break.
   4. A winter bake off for Winter – maybe connected with the cookbooks you sell.
   5. Run a best joke of the holidays competition.
8. Promote graduation gifts.
9. If you run discount vouchers, change the name to something like: SCHOOL HOLIDAY BONUS or HOLIDAY SURVIAL $$$. Have fun with it.
10. Find out what groups host school holiday events in your area and publish a list as a resource for parents.

These ideas are designed to help you create a business during any holidays period that is looked at differently to the rest of the year, to help you gain a reputation as the best school holidays place locally.