GIVE EXCLUSIVE STUDENT PERKS

SEPTEMBER 2020 Mecosta County Area Chamber of Commerce News • Visit us at mecostacounty.com 7 5 TRICKS FOR MARKETING TO COLLEGE STUDENTS – WORKS EVERYTIME

By Lisa Smith, owner of InVerve Marketing

Marketing to college students doesn’t have to be difficult if you know what they’re looking for. From there, you can base your marketing strategies and pattern your visuals. And speaking of visuals, you must work with a credible graphic design team. And that’s where Penji comes in.

Working with Penji means you can get unlimited graphic designs when marketing to students. Moreover, working with Penji means you get quality work fast and at affordable rates. In the meantime, you must focus on how to market to college students, so you’ll know what visuals to request from Penji.

University students are one of the most interesting markets to target. They don’t have as much disposable income and are selective when using it. For any company, having their business is beneficial. It provides a foundation for life-long usage. You must establish a connection early on to secure their business. It’s possible to remain true to your company while marketing to the target audience. Here’s how to use marketing strategies to target university students:

1. UNDERSTAND TREND CYCLES

If you want to market to university students, you need to understand how quickly trends come and go for them. This isn’t the 90’s where trends can last up to a year anymore. In today’s world, trends can last from months to merely days.

TRENDS MOVE FAST FOR STUDENTS

Things that were funny and trendy a few months back are out-dated today. This can be a huge frustration for marketers as, by the time you’ve got the marketing budget approved, your demographic’s interests have already shifted. Fear not, as you can easily stay on top of their trends by following brands that excel at keeping up with millennials and students.

SUCCESSFUL CASE STUDY: URBAN OUTFITTERS

One effective brand to know is Urban Outfitters. Urban Outfitters uses vibrant colors and patterns to help not only set trends but adopt rising ones. In recent years, there’s been a revival of 90’s colors and styles. The company now uses shades and textures popular from that time period. It’s fueling the trend while also find a way to make it their own. Many of the models in their campaigns are college-aged people. They look like the target market. Urban uses its full creative freedom to reach its audience effectively.

2. HIRE STUDENT AMBASSADORS

Who else can market to students better than students themselves? In recent years, brands have begun to turn to student ambassadors. These representatives go to local communities and colleges to promote the company. They typically create relationships with on-campus organizations to work on a larger scale.

It provides a direct connection to the target audience by using them. They know how to interact with each other already, take advantage of it by paying them to represent your brand. Not to mention, they’ll likely know when the fading and coming of trends and can help guide your marketing efforts.

SUCCESSFUL CASE STUDY: INSOMNIA COOKIES

Insomnia Cookies is a local cookie business already using student ambassadors to push itself further. Labeled as ‘campus reps’, their goal to spread awareness of what the cookies taste like and the options available. They work a few times a week on campus and events. The brand even specifies the position benefits certain majors such as public relations and advertising. It targets the best kind of students to sell the cookies while still marketing to other majors.

3. GIVE EXCLUSIVE STUDENT PERKS

Marketing to college students through perks and discounts is supereffective because the one thing 99% of students have in common is how many zeros are absent from their checking account. They’re all broke and always looking for “student deals” and discounts. Use this to your advantage and offer exclusive perks to students and they’ll line up for you as fast as they would for a Dave Matthews concert.

EXCLUSIVE PROMOTION WITH A VALID ID

Have a promotion just for students if they can provide a valid student ID. It might mean lower costs or benefits like free items. Many brands use this to establish a connection with the audience early on. Ideally, they’ll see your business is worth paying the full price.

Another variation is longer free trials. This is popular with tech companies. The businesses offer the service for a few months to a year as long as they registered with a college email. Two stand-out options are Spotify’s bundle and Uniday’s phone app.

SUCCESSFUL CASE STUDY: SPOTIFY

Spotify began with a discount for college students. The company offered its premium services for $5/month, compared to $10/month. It then added Hulu and Showtime to its lineup in 2018. Any student with a Spotify account now has access to an ad-free music platform and two different streaming services. For all three resources, it normally costs almost $30/month. This is an incredible deal because if they begin to use the bundle as a freshman, they get accustomed to having it. Once it’s gone after graduation and they secure a career, they return to it.

Unidays is striving to become a onestop-shop for student discounts. The company offers reduced prices from hundreds of organizations known to the audience. It takes offering a simple discount and brings it to another level. It gives them the tools to find things they were already looking for. The only difference is it’s more convenient and it benefits Unidays. Plan accordingly and your business could become a similar hub for them.

4. CATER TO THEIR DARK SENSE OF HUMOR

Next to oxygen, they need humor to survive and relate to one another. College students are notorious for their dark, silly, and witty sense of humor. If you can send a message that speaks to their funny bone, they’re significantly more likely than any other demographic to give you a share and boosting your brand’s visibility.

DON’T TRY TOO HARD

Marketing to college students through humor can be a double edged sword. Be very careful when attempting to speak their language with humor as it’s easy to come off lame or cheesy. Avoid using memes if possible as this comes off obvious to them that a brand is trying too hard to relate.

What college students find funny might be different from what you find funny. It’s valuable to understand their sense of humor to create a connection. It’s difficult to fully immerse your brand in it, especially if it’s a serious product. Some businesses are even ridiculed online when they attempt to follow it. However, there is still room to execute this strategy. It’s about timing and understanding what’s funny before it makes mainstream media. Hiring young marketers is one way to do this.