Collegiate Marketing
Believe it or not, it’s getting to be that time of year again —back to school! College students are one of the largest markets for promotional products. For at least four years, they are walking, talking, FREE advertisements for their alma mater. It’s easy for outside companies to get in on the free promotion by sponsoring events or being present at career fairs.
We recently sat down with Quintain Marketing’s summer intern, Melissa, who is a University of Delaware student to talk about what is hot in the collegiate market. She shared some key tips for getting college students to use promotional products, and we’re going to share them with you! According to Melissa, college students will either completely embrace or completely ignore certain products-there is typically no middle ground. They also love products that are free and accommodate their needs.
Below are a few suggestions from Melissa that should be considered when selling to the collegiate market:
- School Spirit: College students are generally excited to be a member of their school’s student body and therefore have a lot of school spirit. They love to wear branded apparel around campus and to sporting events, so make sure your promotion is focused on the school name, mascot, sport, or club. For example, if you are sponsoring an event and giving away t-shirts, the school’s name should be front and center and your brand should be on the back. Use the school’s colors rather than your own to make an item more appealing.
- Student ID: Student IDs are essential to college life. They grant access to housing and food, and are often used as debit cards. Students are constantly looking for simple and convenient ways to carry their IDs. Lanyards and badge clips are most popular. Branded environmentally friendly lanyards would be a great giveaway that would also appeal to students’ environmental conscience. Badge clips that leave the ID exposed (for swiping) are also popular – we like the block badge clip from Leed’s.
- Weather: On a college campus, there is no avoiding the rain on a nasty day. Students have to walk from one class to another and often don’t have another option. For this reason, compact umbrellas are a great promotional product for students. Easy storage is also important in order to avoid wet books and assignments. We love the high quality, yet relatively inexpensive umbrellas from Peerless, Toppers, and Via! For Travel.
To ensure that your back-to-school promotions are successful, give college students something they need AND want. And remember, with the right promotional product college students become walking advertisements for your brand!