Foreword Online

Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers



Tips for Using Your Store’s Buyback Promo Dollars

Posted by Liz Schulte on 4/17/23 7:15 AM
Topics: buyback, marketing for college bookstores, campus bookstore marketing

Before you know it, it will be time for buyback once again. To help you prepare for and promote your college store’s buyback and rental returns, we have collected some ideas for how you can use your MBS Buyback Promo dollars this fall.

Tips for Using Your Store's Buyback Promo DollarsBuyback promo dollars are a perk of an MBS Premier Partnership. Stores can use the funds to promote their on-campus buyback and rental returns and drive more foot traffic. How or what type of promotions your store does is up to you. Here are a few ideas to help you start thinking about what type of fun buyback promotion would work best for your store.

Social media ads

Did you know you can use your store’s buyback promo dollars to purchase social media ads? An easy way is to boost your typical social media posts about buyback and rental returns to help spread the word further. Or, you might choose to work with marketing to create a buyback ad.

Once you know what you are going to post, next pick which social media site you want to use. Consider what social media students use and where you can get the most attention for the money you spend.

Another clever marketing idea might be to use your buyback promo dollars to encourage some influencer marketing. You could offer students a set amount of money to work with your store on making some video content for your social media pages (and to share on their social media) that encourages others to get money back on their books.

Direct appeal

Sometimes a direct method is the best choice. As you get faculty adoptions in and you know you will be using the same book next term, create signs to post around campus and outside the class advertising that you are buying back their book and for how much. If students know how much they are going to get for their textbook, it might be more worth it to them to head over to buyback.

Another direct approach would be to also speak with the professor. Let them know that the bookstore will be buying back their books at the end of term and for how much. Ask the teacher to please remind the students before the end of term. You could even give the teacher something from the store for helping or a gift card to the campus store. This could also be a way to help encourage early adoptions.

A giveaway

You can use your buyback promo dollars to fund a giveaway to help encourage more foot traffic. Free food and t-shirts are always popular items for students. Make sure you advertise what students can get and that you will only be giving the item away while supplies last.

You could also create a larger giveaway for one lucky student. You could bill it as a textbook scholarship for the next term. Every student who sells back a book (or tries to sell back a book) gets entered into a drawing to receive a store gift card to use on their textbooks the next term.

These are just a few ideas for how MBS partners can use their promo dollars to help boost their store buyback this spring.

 

Set up an MBS Online Buyback in three easy steps. Get started  

 

Article comments

Subscribe for updates

Share your experience

Contact our editorial team to set up an interview or to contribute a guest post.

Most popular posts