You see an email pop up in your inbox - "Get your store ready for the site-wide sale"! But other than to make sure your store is set to 20% off, how DO you get ready for a sale? What should teacher sellers focus on before, during, and after a sale? How do you market and let your audience know best?
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Kirsten 0:00
Hey there fellow TP tears and welcome to another episode of the creative teacher podcast. Luckily, my voice is back and in full force. I'm so glad that my voice fully has recovered. And we are back to normal. Today's topic is all about how to make the most of a site wide sale. And this episode is not just for an upcoming Teacher Appreciation sale at the time of this recording. But it's really great for any sitewide sale that TPT offers throughout the year. So we're gonna dive into some strategies on what you can do before the actual sale and during the sale and after.
You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.
All right, so here's how this episode is going to work. I'm going to talk to you about six things you can do to make the most of a site wide sale before it starts. And a little bit during and then I'm going to share with you one big thing that you should be doing after every site wide sale. And it's going to be something that is definitely doable, I think that you would definitely be able to take these tips and utilize them for any sale that happens on TPT.
Throughout the year, probably the biggest site wide sale that many people get a lot of sales on our The Back to School sales, the ones in August. And probably one of the other biggest sales would be in December or January around Black Friday. But that doesn't mean that with those other sitewide sales in between, like the one in April and May. And maybe there's a bonus sale happening in September, that it just is a total flop, you can still get an increase in traffic and sales. And I'm going to share with you some ways you can do that.
So let's talk about the before the six things you can do to make the most of a site wide sale before it starts.
The first one would be to spruce up your storefront. Take a look at your banners and your quote boxes and make sure they are current relevant. So if it is the spring, you want to make sure you're not having any fall leaves or any snowflakes or anything like that, definitely update it so that it looks like it is current and appropriate for the time of year. Same with the featured resources, make sure you switch out your featured resources so that the ones that are at the very top above the fold before people are scrolling down are relevant. So if you are listening to this at the time of this, it's being released, then you're probably going to want to think about summer resources that sell well in your store or interview resources or just anything related to May June. And something that might be beneficial. You can always look at your data to see you know what sells really well at this time of year and add that as your featured resources. But definitely make sure you have those all ready.
Number two would be to optimize your listings, specifically your titles and descriptions. Make sure in here titles, your keywords are relevant. So maybe instead of utilizing Phonix resources, you might want to add something that's more trending such as science of reading. So thinking about what you could do to tweak those titles a little bit so that people are able to find that resource during the sale. And then also just check and update your description for, you know, at least the top 10 resources on that first page of your TPT storefront. Think about, you know, how is it really sharing information about what is in the resource, what products are included, why it's beneficial, what it will do for your students how it will solve the pain point, there are a lot of things you can add and tweak to descriptions, that can make even just a little bit of difference, it's always helpful to have, I would also make sure to just check quickly your product covers and thumbnails and make sure they're optimized so that people are able to see exactly what they are getting. Whether that's through photos, maybe you can check to see if you have a few new photos, quickly make a product cover and upload it to TPT. But definitely, if you have the time, depending on how much time you're prepping before the sale, you can either go through and update your covers, or if it's you know, the day before the sale, then it's best to probably just pick a few really glaring listings that definitely need to be updated and spend some time working on that before the sales starts.
The third thing you could do would be to finish new resources you are creating, maybe you're in the middle of a resource, and it just hasn't gotten finished, take the time to finish it. And try uploading it a couple of days before or during the sale so that followers will get notifications of your resources. Remember that any time any follower is following you, they will get notifications when a new resource shows up. And if they're on the app, or if they are in the desktop, they're still going to see it, they're also going to get email notifications about any new resources. So it could be really strategic and helpful to add that during the sale. Maybe it shows up in the email on Wednesday morning. And it's a anticipated resource, or it's showing up on Tuesday, Monday, and then they can add it to their wish list. There's a whole bunch of ways you could do it. So consider making sure you finish those new resources you're creating and upload it as soon as you can, as close to the sale or during
Number four would be to find some social media graphics, notice how I say find and not necessarily create, you are more than welcome to create graphics. So my favorite thing to do for the TPT sales is to you know, I'm in a lot of TPT seller Facebook groups, and they have a ton of TPT sale graphic threads, somebody will say post your graphics for the TPT sale in this thread. And people will comment with some graphics. This is usually where I get my social media graphics for the majority of the sales, it is less work for you. If people are so graciously creating graphics and sharing them with other TPT sellers. I think that's really cool. And so I utilize those Facebook groups. So check out any Facebook groups that you're in with TPT sellers, and see if there's any threads and utilize one that you enjoy or really gravitate towards. If you would like to create some graphics, don't be afraid to share it in those groups. I wouldn't just randomly post without permission, just you know, some people do that. And you know, that's really helpful, just depending on the rules of the group. It really does help sellers and it also shows continuity that we're in this together. So I think if anybody creates graphics, that's awesome. You can have it for your own store or if you are generous, you can always share it with other TPT sellers who really liked your graphic as well.
All right, the fifth one to do for getting ready for your sale is to join a giveaway or host your own. You can let your followers know that you're going to be giving away a TPT gift card and you can always set the amount however you While it doesn't have to be so much, it can be something as little as $10 $15, something really big as $50. Try doing the giveaway, starting Monday and ending Tuesday, I wouldn't recommend it lasting for more than a day or two, you don't want to draw it out too much. So that means that you know, whenever you start, whether it's on the weekend, you are wrapping it up within 24 to 48 hours, and you're announcing the winner and sending them that gift card for the sale. That's a really great way to collaborate with other sellers, if you're doing it with them, or just to kind of show a little bit, you know, people gravitate towards your store, it's a good way to get followers, you definitely do not have to find somebody to do a giveaway, you can do it on your own, I did a giveaway in my teacher Facebook group in February, on my own, I did five $10 gift cards, and it went pretty well. I was able to give that to them during the sale, I had it start, I believe on Sunday, and then it ended on Monday or Tuesday. So definitely consider giveaways.
All right, number six, create a five email campaign themed with the time of year thinking about, you know, if it's Teacher Appreciation Week, make your emails related to how you appreciate teachers and their hard work and what they do and all that kind of stuff, and weave that in to the sale. And be of course as authentic as possible. I mean, use your voice in these emails, I'm going to kind of break down what I do for my five email campaign five emails seems like a lot. And it kind of is, but it's a special promotional campaign. While it is a lot of emails in a short period of time, it does produce results. And, you know, my data shows that, you know, I sent emails for that one particular sale, and then I didn't do it for the next one. And I did not get as many, you know, as much traffic. And you know, that's just how it is. So the five email campaign email, one would go out on Sunday or Monday. And in my first email, I kind of say, hey, there's a sale going on. And it's happening on Tuesday, Wednesday, usually that's when a TPT sale is and I send out some links with popular or relevant resources, depending on the time of year, email two would go on the first day of the sale, usually a Tuesday morning with a hey, the sale is here, you can get 25% off. And here are the details. Here's the code. And I add that in my email. I don't make it super long. I do kind of link a few of those resources that I mentioned the day before, email three would be the next day Wednesday morning. And it's just sharing that it's you know, last day to save. Don't forget, it ends at this time you can insane details, you're kind of repeating yourself on this, you're giving them information on the dates of the sale, when it ends, how much percentage they get off and how they get not just your store. But it's you know, a ton of resources, I don't always just say, Oh, my store is only 20% off, I say there are a lot of great resources from other sellers that are you know, 20% off, and then you can get an extra 5% off with a code. The fourth email would go Wednesday afternoon. And I go into a deep dive into a popular or relevant resource. So I kind of focus on a resource and the benefits and what's included in all of that. And I just kind of tie it into the sale. Email five is super short. It's just one hour before the sale ends with a you know Last call. Don't forget the sale ends. This is just an idea of what you can do. If you have an email list. You can't really do it on the note to followers, but you might want to think of you know, sending out an email on Monday or Tuesday. But you won't be able to send it again until the following week. So with email lists, you can always send as many as you want. Five emails again, sounds like a lot I know but it's definitely effective.
All right. Now that we've talked about the six ways to make the most of a site wide sale before, let's talk about after what you should do, and I only list one thing because I feel like it's you know, super important is to analyze your sale results. Check your traffic sources in your dashboard. And then try comparing the sale results and you know the amount sold with the same sale last year. So if it's a back to school sale, then make sure you compare it with the one from last year if you've been on TPT in that timeframe. Or you can compare it to last sale that you participated in. And just to see how it does decide, you know what worked well, what could you improve on for the next sale? What would you want to do? Again? Do you want to do that five email campaign that Kiersten is talking about? Or do you, you know, want to try to create your own social media graphics, think about what you would want to do for the next sale, sometimes sales flop, this is just kind of a sad thing to end on. But sometimes sales flop, you don't get the sales that you're expecting, if any, use that traffic to see what did convert what products sold the most in that timeframe, and just continue to optimize those products in marketing platforms. So as much as we you know, who want to make a good amount, sometimes were below where our goal is, and it's okay, it's not the end of the world those things happen.
Alright, so let's recap these ways to make the most of a site wide sale. Number one, spruce up your store, right, number two, optimize your listings, number three finished new resources you are creating. Number four, find social media graphics. Number five, join a giveaway or host your own. And number six, create a five email campaign during and before the sale. And of course, the big tip after the sale is to analyze those results to see how you did my creative action tip for you is to at least utilize one or more of these before strategies for a sale that's coming up for you. And you everybody needs to use that after everybody needs to analyze how they did after the sale. So make sure you take the time to do that.
All right. Well, that's the end of this episode. I hope you got some great tips on how to make the most of a site wide sale. I will talk to you all again soon.
Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.