Many marketing types depend on the target audience. College marketing campaigns are focused on students, their needs, and their preferences. This niche can be very profitable if approached thoughtfully, but it’s necessary to find the best techniques for influencing potential customers. Students like changes, always look for something new and unusual. That is why it is so important to use effective advertising means to attract and keep their attention.
Of course, marketers should not only seek quick profits but also offer high-quality products that may benefit young people and guide them to a better tomorrow.
You will find useful tips on marketing to students below. They should help you promote your business in the youth environment.
Assess purchasing power
Students want to buy luxurious things and live a bright life but they do not always have money to embody these bold dreams. Graduates can reach their goals in the future, but very few people are fabulously reaching it in their college years. Many of them work part-time or fully depend on parental support. That is why it is worth focusing on low-cost, universal products available to representatives of all social layers.
If your goods are rather expensive or narrowly oriented, it is better to direct the bulk of marketing efforts to parents. An ideal option is working with both students and adults. For example, to become the best essay writing service, a company may not only perform academic assignments but also provide business papers, such as resume, business plan, CV. This way, it will expand services range and, respectively, increase the number of potential clients.
Use videos
Messages about your business should pop up in those places where young people relax and have fun. Use the moments when they are relaxed and open to new information. Cable TV is outdated and comparatively expensive. Better dwell on Netflix, YouTube, and similar entertainment platforms.
It is not worth making long documental films about your company. Students are not likely to watch them due to a constant lack of time peculiar to their lifestyle. It is better to use multiple short videos published with short intervals, for example, once a week. They should be vivid and engaging, provoking an emotional response, appealing to viewers’ needs and desires.
You can create how-to video manuals about your products. For example, an expert offering help with essay may tell about different essay types, give tips on outline compiling, revising a ready text, explain how novice authors can boost their skills, list major mistakes to be avoided. You may focus on any student life area, depending on the features of your product. If this is stationery, give instructions on how it can be used to make the learning process more convenient. If it is furniture, explain how young people can equip their study space at home or in a dorm room.
Visit campuses
The Internet is a nice thing, but it cannot be compared with live communication. Start with your college—a place you know well. Professors knowing you as a diligent student may agree to hold joint lectures, business games, and interesting events where your product may be advertised. A college administration can invite you to perform in front of freshmen to show that there are successful startup founders among alumni of this educational institution.
Conduct polls to find out what products students need, how your brand may be changed to acquire the maximum of useful properties, and satisfy their desires. It is better to communicate with young people in cafeterias, a college garden and not in corridors when they run to lectures.
Find the most influential students
It is different to reach each student. You will have to spend a lot of time and money to distribute advertising materials. The easier way is to detect the most influential persons and working with them. These can be group headmen, the first figures of fraternities, and student organizations. Offer them free products in exchange for promotion. Young people communicate a lot at college and hung out after classes. They will have time to discuss your brand. You will be surprised to find out how powerful the authority of youth leaders can be.
Offer workplaces
It is very convenient to use network marketing strategies if you do not want to hire regular staff but need more distributing agents. Many students look for part-time jobs. Turn some of them into your sellers and pay commission for each item sold. They may attract other ambassadors for remuneration.
Publish ads in student newspapers
Of course, social networks and other websites have long become the main information sources. But there are still many people reading traditional newspapers issued on campus. That is why you should not discard them as an effective advertising channel.
Offer discounts
Let students feel like a special category of clients. Privileges can motivate them to buy more, especially since young people are limited in funds and seek opportunities to save. Such methods are often applied in theatres, restaurants, sports centers. But they are also suitable for all other business areas.
Host a contest
College students like different competitions and enjoy prizes received for victories. You can ask them to publish a photo or a video showing how they use your product and add special hashtags. Such content will attract the attention of other people. Also, students may struggle to come up with the best advertising slogan for your brand. A winner should receive a discount or free samples.
Post targeted content
You will not do without SEO marketing if striving to advertise a company on the Internet. Be sure to find out what social media platforms young people like, what articles they read, what keywords they enter in a search box. It is worth understanding that web users are overloaded with adds attacking them here and there every day. That is why you should plan a good SEO strategy, apply non-aggressive but effective methods. Hidden, subtle messages will lead potential buyers to the right decisions without obtrusive calls to action.
We hope that the above tips turned out to be useful and you will attract many clients to your brand. Marketing to college students is a very promising area, but you should plan all your actions thoughtfully, use the best methods to reach a target audience. Research your market, always seek ways to improve a product, and make it more useful for potential buyers, take advantage of on-campus communication, social media, and all other channels to promote your business. If doing so, success is guaranteed. Good luck!
