In case you haven’t heard, millennials are a big deal right now. The U.S. is currently home to upwards of 21+ million college students to market to. In between studying, homework, class, socializing, work, mental breakdowns, and coffee, college students are turning to social media to relax. This gives small businesses a great opportunity to reach a new audience. You, as the business owner, need to make sure you’re being effective with your strategy. If you don’t keep the content interesting then students will stop paying attention to you and fast. When looking for examples of ways to market to college students effectively, look at universities and college themselves. They engage students enough to get them to choose their college, so they’re a great resource. If you’re located in a college town, like McMinnville, you need to start capitalizing on college students. Digital marketing is the perfect way to do it.
As a college student and marketing intern, I often notice how companies market to us in ways that work, and in ways that leave us frustrated and confused. Small businesses, both nationally and locally, have the products and services that appeal to fellow college kids. Yet, somehow businesses find it difficult to market to use effectively. Here are some simple tips to help you better market to college students:
Make it easy
We’re lazy; don’t make us try harder than we have to. We have 17-plus hours of studying and homework to complete each week. When we go to relax, we turn to our social media feeds to do so. We don’t want to have to go searching for information; it needs to be right there in front of our faces in order for us to care. That means mobile marketing or mobile optimization. Making sure your business’ website looks good on a phone is crucial for our easy browsing. If you want to make navigating through your platforms a breeze, then you need to make the links to your website obvious in order to attract customers. College students, in between mental breakdowns and coffee consumption, can be found on their phones scrolling through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram so make sure your business is recognizable on these platforms. This will increase the potential for customer leads. Don’t make us go on a hunt for your product, make it hard for us to avoid the useful content you’re producing.
Don’t dumb it down
We aren’t stupid. We enjoy learning, so if you market something that’s simplified or dull we’ll feel patronized, and that won’t help you. Instead, it will make us mad, which won’t help your company’s reviews either. We like puzzles. Create a campaign that makes us think. If it looks like you’re targeting a second grader, we’ll probably be bored enough to start doing our homework. It may be hard to find a happy medium at first, but that balance is so important. Just get to your point, make it simple but exciting enough to keep our interest.
Did you say free?
We love free things. If you’re located in a college town, offer a percentage discount or a BOGO (buy one, get one) to all college students with an ID. It’ll set you apart from your competitors and the students will line up. Trust me, we love deals even if we don’t necessarily need the product. We rationalize the purchase by telling ourselves “it’s fine, it’s on sale.” However, simply passing out fliers on campus won’t set you apart from competitors. Even just amping up your social media marketing to push a limited-time promotion will make your product stand out. Then, the natural word-of-mouth community that is college will have students spending their study breaks with you.
Group activities
We’re not good at being along and love any opportunity to be with friends and family. Therefore, promoting your product as a group activity can be a huge boost for your reputation throughout the community. For example, the 1882 Grille, here in McMinnville, markets themselves as a family-friendly restaurant. Their Instagram posts encourage people to come in and enjoy the laid back environment with friends young and old.
Make your promotions easy to follow
We tend to stick to a schedule. Either have the same promotion repeat every week or never repeat the same promotion twice. Between classes, football games and on-campus events, it can be difficult to keep track of all your events if it’s not consistent. Make it easy to follow your upcoming events and promotions. Don’t forget to encourage your staff to direct customers to the page!
Cupcake Couture, also here in McMinnville, does a great job making it easy to follow their promotions through their Instagram account. Their handle, @cupcakedoesitagain, is displayed by the cash register and above the store as you enter. The account is constantly updated with new items and their prices, making it unbelievably easy to follow their inventory. We applaud their Instagram account for being direct, simple and, most importantly, effective.
Being socially aware is cool
We care. Are you a company that gives part of your proceeds back to your favorite charity or community? Authentically promoting your favorite cause is more likely to attract others who care. It makes your brand stand out, creates a loyal following, and increases positive association with your company. We all love to give back when we can. That way, next time college students get paid, they’ll visit your store and feel good about their purchase. They’ll tell all of their friends about your great product they’re proud to rep!
Don’t be something you’re not, but be confident about who you are
We try to stand out. It’s no longer cool to stick to the status quo, so if there’s something quirky or “weird” about your business, embrace it. As long as you’re confident about your differences, college students will be more than willing to stand by your side. If you’re not confident about your company’s unique qualities then creating a loyal following will be hard to come by. Remember, we all love a good underdog!
Make us laugh and you’ll have our hearts (and our wallets)
We want to be entertained. Keep things interesting. Funny gifs and videos cause us to make room in our hearts for your company. Using humor in your marketing will persuade us to patronize your business. Creating a funny blog post, tweet, Instagram picture, pin, etc. is basically a surefire way to get your post shared and guarantees more than just one student knocking on your door. Be sure to make the content relevant to your product, putting a little twist to it without straying from your target audience’s wants or needs.
Involve us please
We love having an opinion. Sharing our opinions, especially on the Internet is a specialty of ours. College students love being a part of the conversation on social media and we’re often extremely opinionated. If you want to increase traffic to your site, ask followers questions and get students to join the conversation. When you make us feel our opinion is valued, you create a loyal customer. Don’t forget when you ask questions or ask for our input, you have to follow through with engagement!
And finally…
We love college! If you want to capitalize on (and be a part of) the best four years of our lives, then do some research and find out why we love it so much. Don’t be afraid to implement that in your marketing strategy. Sometimes, the simplest answer is the best one!
Whether you have been through college or are marketing to college students, you understand how busy schedules can get. The combination of Suite 4 and Inbound Marketing can save you time and help you target the ever elusive millennials.
