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🏃 Run, Forest, Run!

You always hear us refer to marketing in terms of "run-times" - but what are we saying when we sub in track days for calendar weeks? Don't worry - no gym routines here. 

Run times refer to the number of days / weeks / months designated for a marketing campaign.

So - let's apply it to BTS (for some reason, I thought people were making Korean boy band cookies this whole time, but I digress). How can we use a marketing lifecycle to prep our audience for the upcoming back-to-school offerings?

Quick poll before we do - in a poll of about 300 SCM group members, the results on BTS offerings and run-times is interesting:

• 🏃 6 Weeks Out - 0%
• 🏃 5 Weeks Out - 1%
• 🏃 4 Weeks Out - 12%
• 🏃 3 Weeks Out - 32%
• 🏃 2 Weeks Out - 18%
• 🏃 1 Week Out - 3%
• 🏃 Not Offering BTS - 31%

Three weeks is the most popular run-time for back-to-school sets.

*  I would make a disclaimer that BTS is unlike any "cookie holiday" in that it typically sneaks up on our target audience at a time when a majority of bakers have taken the summer off. I'd assume Halloween will be a bit different.

🏃 So how can we build out a "marketing lifecycle" for back to school?

Your run-times will be different than my run-times depending on your location, back-to-school date, target audience, and how prepared you are. There's no wrong answer, but if you're looking for an answer of some sort - here's mine: we start with a 6-week marketing cycle. So if your BTS date is August 29th, guess what - you're getting your BTS cycle going this week.

🏃  1. Awareness - getting your audience prepped

First stage in this 6-stage / 6-week cycle is awareness. You're not expecting to make any sales now, but your form is probably ready just in case. You're basically introducing your audience to your offerings. Kinda like the "Hey girl heeeey" posts. This is the top of your back-to-school funnel.

🏃  2. Engagement - getting your audience to react / post / like

This is the fun stage. Asking for your audience's opinions on your offerings, posting their kiddos' last first-day-of-school photos, or hosting a contest for last year's report card grades. You're still not asking for the sale here, but you are getting people excited!

🏃  3. Evaluation - getting your audience to pick you

This is where you set yourself up as the "best in the business" - whether in cute packaging, customer support (more on that later), and featuring great past client reviews. You're also telling them your pricing options, informing them of pick-up dates, and last calls. Make it *easy* to pick you, or they'll pick someone else.

🏃  4. Purchase - getting your audience to give you money

And BOOM goes the dynamite. At this stage, you ask for the sale. Make buying *so* easy. Communicate effectively. How to order. Ease of ordering. Confirmation of order. What to expect after the order. Do NOT make it hard for people to give you their money. (ps - you could also up-sell add-ons here)

🏃 5. Support - getting your audience to trust that they made the right decision

Listen - once money exchanges hands, you can't ghost to the kitchen for 2 weeks. You can have these emails already written and ready to go - even before you made the first sale. Email clients the minute they order (auto-responder), then use a mailmerge app or bcc your list to follow up a week out from pick-up, the day before pick-up, day-of pick-up, and heck, even after pick-up! Make these clients your clients for life.

🏃  6. Loyalty - getting your audience to shout you from the mountain tops