The back-to-school rush has come and gone! Now it's time to figure out how to promote our resources for the rest of the year. Today we're talking about leveraging promotions. And, we’re continuing the conversation in our Mastermind group. Head over there to share what works for you and hear what others are saying: www.growwithusmastermind.com.

Happy back to school! It's that busy time of year where everyone's adjusting to new schedules. But, the back-to-school sales rush is over which leaves us TpTers asking "What now?"

The back-to-school time is great for sales as teachers prepare for their classes, but it's also a time when it's easy to get lost in the crowd. There are tons of sales, giveaways, and promotions going on. This is one of the reasons why it's great to continue doing promotions throughout the year.

Angie and I are working on creating our promotion schedule for the year. Teachers are really appreciative of fun giveaways and promotions throughout the year, so don't think you have to wait until the next big holiday or TpT sale to promote your products.

We're going to give you insights on both group promotions and individual promotions and share what's worked well for us.

Group promotions

To be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with group promotions. I love how great they are at getting me in front of new people. And, it's a really affordable way to do that because you can pitch in some money instead of having to do all the advertising on your own.

But, they can be a lot of work, especially if the organizer isn't really organized.

Over the past five years, I've really learned a lot from the different group promotions that I've been a part of. I've also learned that I like to be the one organizing them because I'm a bit of a control freak. The simpler they are, the easier they are to be a part of. But, in all honesty, they can be fun to participate in and when run well, they can give you great results.

Tip: Find sellers with similar grade levels as you

Angie and I have both found that it's really helpful to work with other sellers that focus on the same grade levels as you. This gives you similar audiences which is exactly what you want when doing a group promotion.

The more targeted you are, the more likely you are to get in front of an audience that will join your lists and buy your products and resources.

I know some TpT sellers also like to pay attention to what specialties the other sellers in a group has as well. If you all focus on a different area there is less competition among the group. You don't really want competing resources within a promotion.

Tip: Look at past performance

Before joining a group, you want to make sure that the other sellers in the group participate and follow through on the things they're supposed to do for the promotion. You don't want to join with other sellers that aren't going to share the posts with their group. And, you'd be surprised how many people this really is.

Check to see how they performed in other group promotions they were a part of. Did they post the images to their platforms? Did they comment on the others?

There are some people that participate 110% and then there are others that have great followings but don't really participate.

Tip: Don't do ALL promotions with the same group

If you only work with the same group over and over again you're going to limit your reach. You'll only be getting in front of the same people over and over again. The last promotion that Angie and I did, we worked with some new people from the group and it turned out great.

If you do a few a year with the same group and spread it out over the course of the year then you'll most likely be fine. Both you and the other sellers will have grown your audience in between the promotions, so there will still be new eyes seeing your stuff.