Buyback is a bi-annual occurrence for nearly every college store; however, one thing that’s often missing from the event is the element of fun. Recognizing that trend, Iowa State University Book Store decided to take a different approach this semester.
“Selling back textbooks can have such a negative connotation,” said Amy DeLashmutt, marketing manager. “We work hard to ensure that we get adoptions in early, so we can give students top dollar for their books; but, at the end of the day, many just don’t understand why they’re receiving that amount. We wanted to come up with a theme that was really off the wall and would give us a chance to change the perception of buyback.”
Together, the store’s book division manager and textbook department came up with the idea to integrate mustaches into this year’s buy, and so the ‘Cash for your Stache’ theme was born.
“It was just something goofy and different,” DeLashmutt added. “It didn’t feel book-oriented or sales-oriented; it was just fun!”
The store promoted their new event through a variety of channels to ensure they spread the word.
“We placed an ad in our student newspaper, created a lot of in-store signage, and of course promoted it on Facebook and Twitter,” DeLashmutt explained. “That social media piece is so crucial; you have to inform your audience while still engaging with them in a fun way, and our event coordinator, Laura, does a fabulous job at that.”
Then, they hosted a series of in-store giveaways and contests during their buyback to enhance the theme further. For instance, the store enticed students to stop by and sell their books with a Mustache Scavenger Hunt.
“We hid about thirty small, paper mustaches throughout the store and then I took obscure photos of their locations,” explained Laura Shelton, event coordinator. “We posted the photos to our Facebook page and encouraged students to come in and hunt for them.”
If students found one of the hidden staches, they simply had to alert a staff member and were rewarded with the chance to select a prize.
“We’ve done a few photo scavenger hunts in the past and they’re always pretty successful,” Shelton said. “Students really get in to them!”
“Of course, you hope along the way that they find a product intriguing enough to buy,” DeLashmutt added,” but that’s not necessarily the point. It’s really about keeping them interacting with your store and creating a positive experience beyond simply selling their books.”
Students could also increase their chances of winning bigger ticket items by selling their books. For every $20 sold back to the store, students received one raffle ticket. They could then place each ticket in a designated box for one of five prizes including an iPad mini, a Star Wars Xbox, and $300 toward spring textbooks.
“In the past, we’ve given out smaller trinkets as prizes, so we wanted to see which would generate better feedback,” she said. “Students were really responsive to this approach and loved the fact that they had an option of which prize drawings to enter. Those boxes had to be emptied every single night; it was a big success!”
There was also an in-store photo booth were students could snap pictures with fun mustache props. The store setup a laptop with software that allowed students to take a series of four photos and then send the results, which were formatted in custom frames with the store’s logo, via email.
“It drew in all kinds of people!” DeLashmutt described. “I was on my personal Facebook page and saw that friend of mine, who works in another building on campus, had uploaded a picture of herself in the photo booth. It was great to see that staff members made it a point to stop by and to take part, as well.”
Based on the positive response received throughout the event, DeLashmutt came to a realization about the store’s previous buybacks and where she wants to take them in the future:
“I always say, ‘If it feels like work, you’re doing it wrong,’ and I think that’s something we all should remember about buyback,” she explained. “Buyback is a lot of work for all college stores, but I realized that we had maybe been missing out on the fun part of it in the past.”
“This year, we really hit the nail on the head,” she continued. “Students seem so much happier when they come in to sell books and it’s like we’ve created this whole positive atmosphere. Because it’s been so lighthearted, we’ve also been able to get away from the stuffy, outdated perception that students usually have toward college bookstores and show them that we’re actually human beings and we like to have fun, too; it’s been great!”
