SmallBusinessNewz

An old episode of "The Simpsons" showed the family doing a little back-to-school shopping.  Bart quickly filled a cart with paperclips, rubber bands, and a couple of staplers while trying to convince his mom that those troublemaking tools were all he needed.  Now it's time to convince parents that your products are necessities.

To the disappointment of small business owners everywhere, a lot of government rebate checks got put into savings accounts.  Only some of the money should soon come out to play, as "[o]ne-fifth of parents nationwide have set aside a portion of their stimulus check for back-to-school purchases, according to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Back to School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey."

An official NRF statement then continues, "The survey found that the average family with school-aged children will spend $594.24 on back-to-school purchases, compared to $563.49 last year.  Total back-to-school spending for Kindergarten through 12th grade this year is estimated to reach $20.1 billion."

Yesterday, we talked about not cutting marketing budgets.  This sort of thing might be reason enough to increase them.  People tend to put their children in front of all sorts of practical things, so anything that would contribute to the education of little Johnny or Jill is liable to become a higher priority than other products.

Get to thinking about connections between your products and services and school, then.