Why You Should Market to Students: Part 2

With students being both a difficult and easy market to tap into, it can be overwhelming to know where to start and why you should be targeting them in the first place. We wanted to get right back to the beginning as to why we think it is essential to market to students. We covered the economic impact students have in the economy, and also how students have the potential to become a client for life. We’ll continue on with a few more reasons why we think your business should market to students.  

The opportunities are there for you 
With regular campus fairs and events across most Universities, there is always the opportunity for your brand to connect with students and give them the opportunity to let them know who you are, as well as give you the chance to do a little market research to find out who they are. Research what motivates them to buy, from the brand message to the timing of promotions, and use this research to inform your future campaigns and student marketing. This is known as a community environment, and allows you to access this student population in a quick and easy way. Promotional gifts are an excellent way to form an instant connection with students, as you can gift them with a product that they will find useful and use regularly, for instance a promotional tote bag, pen or diary. In this way, you are able to raise awareness of your brand which in turn will potentially raise sales. 

They let you release your creative side 
Ads simply do not tend to work on students. Research has shown that a mere 1% of millennials are persuaded by advertisements due to the lack of authenticity, and instead are far more interested in content marketing. Get creative and start advertising your brand in a new way, from blogs to podcasts, create content that is easily accessible, sharable, and – above all – authentic.  

As you will have seen from this two-part series, marketing to students is both essential and fun! There can be real benefits for your brand to get involved in Freshers fairs and events on campus – from increased sales to effective market research opportunities.