What Are Campus Marketing Strategies?
It is quite surprising and you need to make some campus marketing strategies to catch the huge potential future generation adding to them with your brand.
According to 2011 re: fuel survey, campus marketing holds over $417 dollars which means it has a chance to grab a comprehensive young audience.
In every country, students aged between 18 to 24 constitute a large portion of the population. We can refer to them as the young generation.
They mostly are enrolled in college institutions, preparing for their future lives. They all are full of potential and possibilities.
Now apart from being the currently young population, they will turn into the adult population very soon. And, that’s why they matter very much to the marketers.
Students not only belong to a demographic that is absolutely important from a marketer’s perspective at this very moment, but also to a future demographic that will matter more in upcoming days.
And that’s the reason why campus marketing is a very popular concept nowadays, that involves marketing efforts focusing on students.
What is Campus Marketing, Really?
When brands hire students (mainly in college, universities, etc.) on different campuses to make promotions of various products, ideas, or the brands themselves to the higher student population, we can call it campus marketing.
As the self-explanatory name of this type of marketing says, campus marketing happens on campuses, can be on the college campus, or maybe in a university.
Students are hired by brands there, with being tasked to create several marketing strategies, campaigns, social media contents, events, contests, etc. with a view to promoting the brands and their products.
No one can deny the fact that the size of the college or university going students’ market is pretty big.
That’s why marketers are nowadays so much interested to use its massiveness and get involved in campus marketing.
Even though one might prefer a student with a profile that tells he/she has a huge number of followers on social platforms while hiring, it needs to be remembered that online life is not the only thing that matters.
Real-life scenarios matter too!
That’s why a student should be quite effective and efficient in making useful communication and interaction with others while engaging in campus marketing. The hirers should remember that as well.
Users of Campus Marketing
Thousands of companies and brands are out there that use campus marketing for business purposes or promotions of products. Brands like Red Bull, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and many more have been using campus marketing for quite an amount of time.
Responding to Campus Marketing
Basically, students are the ones who are the main purpose or focus of campus marketing. Brands target students belonging to different demographics and plan their campus marketing strategies.
It’s natural that if students are somehow habituated with buying products from a particular brand from their student lives, this will likely impact their future buying behaviour as well. The brands that they feel more preferable while being students might be the brands from where they will be purchasing in the future too.
Not only that, their younger siblings or friends from other institutions might be influenced by campus marketing at the same time.
It’s obvious that even though it sounds like campus marketing is only about influencing the current students of a certain campus, it’s actually not like that. Rather, the after-effect of a successful campus marketing strategy is far more expanded than it can ever be imagined.
Campus Marketing Strategies
There are some ways you can make sure your chances of successful campus marketing execution get higher. For that, follow the tips below:
1. Hire Potencial Campus Ambassadors
Hire those ambassadors who are proficient in spreading the word on both online and offline platforms.
Even though a student has a huge follower base on Twitter, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this one’s the best option for you as an ambassador.
There will be many situations where real-life interactions with important personnel will be needed.
So someone who can be effective in both online media and real-life situations should be more preferable.
2. Give Discount Only For Students
From apple to Microsoft every company gives various offers for the students who are just enrolling in college life.
Those offers attract the students and certainly, they are more interested to buy via that discount.
Sometimes their purchase decision 100 degrees turns on a brand to another brand because of the heavy discount.
So, definitely giving discounts to the students is one of the best strategies for campus marketing.
3. Admission Gift
Sometimes big and small companies march with the college to give 100 or 200 products for free and colleges use their product to make strategies.
And do a huge digital marketing advertising around their product and tell the first 100 students that they will get this free product.
This marketing strategy became a win-win for the company and college as well. One of the keys is that students cannot forget those first attractions. So, in her company, we use emotion making.
In addition, one student affects the other. If those products are good then others feel interested to buy the same product from the same brand.
4. Stay on The Campus And
You can do direct selling to the students staying on the campus as well.
There will be many situations where the students might be interested in buying stuff from your brand directly.
So, use that opportunity!
5. Create Events Sometimes
Don’t forget to do sponsorship of various events on the campus.
It is good to create some events around your products to build a good impression and awareness.
In today’s world, nobody likes to buy anything without knowing good information and knowledge of the product or service.
In this way, your brand’s exposure gets higher. The students also consider you as a party that genuinely cares for them.
6. Give Free Gift College Popular Students
You can give away free samples if it’s possible for you.
Especially when you have just started your campaign on a certain campus, most of the students might not know about you.
In that case, at first, you have got to let them taste your product. Only then they will start buying from you once you have gained their trust.
In addition, choosing popular face making can get a boost and expose more people to the campus.
Students love to follow that popular face and like to buy those types of products from the same brand.
Offer for The LifeTime For Those Campus Students
Treat the students with special care. Remember that on the campus, students are the major party about whom you should always think. You can offer special promotions too just for the students.
Campus Marketing Plan: How to Develop and Employ
Developing and employing the right person is always something that needs lots of effort. However, don’t panic, you just need to follow some basic steps to start your own successful campus marketing campaigns.
1. Doing the Complete Research
The first stage is always deep research. A great amount of research work can help you identify the right campus and the right student demographic for your campus marketing campaign.
There are also other factors such as different competitors, likings, and dislikings of the students, their culture and traditions, which mediums to use perfectly for effective communication, and so on.
Without proper research, it’s really hard to find and sort out these critical issues.
So before jumping onto it, complete your research!
2. Crafting the Perfect Brand Message
The next thing you need to do is to develop a perfect message that you will send to the students of the campus.
No matter what type of product you want to promote or what idea you want to preach to the students, that should align with the mindset of those students.
They should not feel your brand yours as some kind of intruder.
Rather, you have to try to be a part of the native campus life and then promote your brand accordingly.
In this way, your campus marketing campaign is more likely to be a successful one!
3. Selecting Brand Ambassador and Monitoring Overall Effectiveness
The final task of yours is now to select the ambassadors of your brand from the campus and then monitor their work.
Closely watch how effective and efficient your brand’s representatives are on the campus from situation to situation, how the students are reacting or reflecting on various events, contests, or campus marketing programs.
After receiving feedback and monitoring, you might be needed to change your initial plan and adjust it appropriately.
If needed, do so and see how much effectiveness you have got now!
One significant thing to remember is the fact that campus marketing is certainly teamwork.
So many types of professionals are going to be engaged in this type of marketing campaign, but remember that unless they all work together with proper unity and cooperation, your whole plan might just get devastated!
Conclusion
Campus marketing is something that needs to be done with great care and creativity simultaneously. Whether it will be a successful one or not depends on a lot of factors. But it’s also true that the importance of campus marketing at the present moment is absolutely great. So gather all your resources and begin your journey with campus marketing!