By John Hennessy
According to an article in Promo Magazine, many marketers are offering unique back-to-school rewards for their customers.
Chase is rewarding United Mileage Plus Visa cardholders with additional miles for back to school purchases, including tuition payments at colleges and universities.
According to Joe Venuti, senior VP for Chase's card services division, "We're giving our loyal United Mileage Plus Visa card members a special back-to-school gift this year. Given the rise in credit card payments for school tuition and other school-related purchases, we couldn't pass up this opportunity to reward our card members with double miles for these essential purchases."
Retailers IKEA and Borders are both offering two miles for every dollar spent on in-store purchases.
New York regional drug store Duane Reade is offering members of its Dollar Rewards Club loyalty program a $5 bonus reward for every $50 spent on back-to-school supplies.
Moderator's Comment: What are some creative ways to use calendar events to improve business while showing your customers and prospects you are paying attention to them?
A restaurant recently opened a few blocks from a school in our neighborhood. On the first day of school, with dozens of parents blocks away, they kept to their lunch and dinner schedule and remained closed in the morning.
Some of the parents brought their children to school for the first time and would have welcomed an opportunity to get to know other parents over breakfast. Still others were in a celebratory mood and might have entertained the idea of walking a few blocks to join other parents for breakfast and some spiked OJ.
The restaurant should have used this calendar event to offer a parents breakfast special. A great opportunity to introduce a new establishment to a new set of potential customers and garner some business in the process. Such an event would also have reinforced the other work the restaurant has done to support the school.
A few blocks down the street, the more established Starbucks was parents central. - John Hennessy - Moderator