Educational printables are everywhere these days. With home schooling a viable option for many parents – and mandatory during the COVID-19 pandemic – there’s a rising need for quality educational material for both parents and teachers.
If you create educational printables, then you’re probably wondering the best way to market them online. Sites like Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers allow you to list your products, but you still need to inform people about your products and direct them to your shop.
With that in mind, here are 7 ideas for marketing your educational printables online.
#1: Show Your Products Being Used
The thing that can make marketing printables a challenge is that the product is abstract until it is printed. You can help people visualize themselves using your educational printables by posting photographs of people using them.
Ideally, you would have photographs of people using your products where the products are clearly visible in the photo. If you have kids, you can take the photos yourself.
If you can’t get photos that show your products being used due to the pandemic or for any other reason, you may want to consider stock photos showing children using flashcards. If you go this route, choose images that look as natural as possible.
#2: Create Product Bundles
Product bundles are popular with buyers because they offer more perceived value than individual products. When a parent or teacher is in the market for educational printables, they may be more tempted by a bundle of products than by an individual product.
If you decide to create bundles, you can use a variety of methods to make them. For example, you might bundle multiple products for a single subject (math worksheets with math flash cards, for example) or the same product across multiple subjects (a bundle of flash cards.)
One of the big benefits of product bundling is it can lead to higher per customer sales. You may want to make it possible for people to buy your products individually, too, but bundles can help you boost your sales. They can also help you move low volume products if you bundle them with products that are popular.
#3: Create a Product Quiz
Do you have a lot of educational printables for sale? If you do, then it’s possible that customers who check out your store for the first time might be overwhelmed and unsure where to begin. One way to help them decide what to buy is by creating a product quiz.
Product quizzes gather information from shoppers to direct them toward a product that will suit their needs. To simplify matters, you may want to divide your products into categories. Then you can assign a category to each multiple choice response and calculate the results to show customers the product that will be most useful to them.
You can even create multiple quizzes, for example, one for parents and one for teachers. That way, you can maximize your sales. Quizzes can be posted on your website and on your social media pages.
#4: Post in Educational Forums
One of the best things about selling products online is that it’s easy to find potential customers if you know where to look. Educational forums are almost always free to use, and you can market your educational printables there.
Find forums to post in by searching keywords related to your products plus the word ‘forum.’ Once you have joined, make sure to read the forum rules about self-promotion. You may need to promote your educational printables in a designated area or limit your promotions to certain days. In some places, you may be able to include a link to your printables shop in the signature of your forum posts.
It may take some trial and error to find the forums that are most profitable. In some cases, you may even be able to pay for advertising within the forum, and that can be a good way to increase your sales, too.
#5: Cross Market with Other Teachers
Some people who create and sell educational printables stick to one or two subjects, or one age group. If that’s what you do, then you may want to consider cross marketing with another teacher or publisher to sell more products.
Cross marketing can work in a variety of ways. Here are some suggestions:
- Cross market on one another’s blogs
- Post each other’s products on your respective social media pages
- Create a shared Pinterest board
It’s important to choose your cross marketing partners wisely. If you do, then your promotions can give you access to a whole new audience of potential customers.
#6: Create Daily Deals
When there’s a sense of urgency around a purchase, people are more likely to go through with it. One of my favorite ways to drive sales is to create daily deals and promotions for my printables.
Daily deals need to offer a clear benefit to customers. For example, you might:
- Offer a free product with every purchase
- Put a product on sale
- Create a special daily bundle
- Create a discount code
Once you’ve created the daily deal, you’ll need to promote. I suggest featuring the deal in your shop while promoting it on your blog or social media pages – or both!
#7: Run a Contest
Finally, you may want to consider running a contest to encourage people to buy from you. You’ll need to choose a prize and create clear contest rules.
I like to post contests on social media and give people additional entries for certain actions, such as sharing the post, commenting, or liking. These things all help my posts get organic traffic and increase sales to my shops
Conclusion
In addition to the ideas I’ve mentioned here, you should consider some of the best-known marketing options, such as running social media or search engine ads, blogging, and marketing to your email list.
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