Marketing to college students is a great strategy for many brands, because these students have a lot of purchasing power. When you used to think of a student, you thought of someone that had no money and was eating a strict diet of junk food they could scrounge off others. This may still happen, but for the most part, students in college are older, are working or have parents that can help them.
Discounts
The first thing you should be doing is offering a discount to students in your town. If you don’t have a college in your town, consider the closest school or two. Many companies refuse to offer discounts, because they think it lessens their brand, but in reality it can boost their brand because students will think positively of the discount and the brand offering that discount.
Allow Yourself to Be Old
If your company (or you) have been around a while, don’t try to hide that fact. You won’t be able to and it will show to young consumers that you are trying too hard. Don’t try to radically change and speak like them or understand them. This is the easiest way to lose college students.
Simplicity is Key
Honesty is what a brand should offer, not hip sales people and making brands look new and different. Have the courtesy to send short messages to your loyal customers, both young and old. Another thing is to hire those that understand college students. In order to market your product to a younger generation, you need to employ young people. These people understand the college youth because they are living it. If you can’t afford to hire extra employees, then consider offering an internship.
Segmenting is Important
Separate your customers into different groups. This will allow you to market to each specific group in the right way and right venues. Advertising in your local newspaper is a great way to reach the older generation who grew up with newspapers as the only reliable source of information. However, college students probably won’t read these. Instead, advertise in the college newspaper.
Incentives
Obviously, the sound of the word free brings about a lot of new business. Everyone loves a free sample, and this is definitely something to consider. However, offering free trials, better conditions and terms and other things could also be helpful and set you apart.
If you want to start marketing to college students, you need to find out the best ways to do this. To learn more and get help, visit the website of NAMOOH, a collegiate marketing specialist.
