With college students everywhere returning to campus, don’t let the opportunity slip by to capitalize on their back-to-school needs. One great aspect of college students is that they can make informed decisions on their own and you don’t have to go through the parents to cash in on the lucrative market. Think college students don’t have money to spend? Think again. Many college students are subsidized by student loans and family members so they may have more cash than you realize. There are 20.4 million college students enrolled across America with a spending power of $417 Billion

Here are a few ways to capitalize on this often-untapped market:

1. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn- Using these social media platforms allows you to specifically target students who attend certain universities. You can get as local or as broad as you want. If you operate a pizza parlor in a college town, send out mass tweets with university specific hashtags which advertise deals and specials. Use Facebook and LinkedIn advertisements to reach your student market. Twitter is FREE, so use it often.
2. Student Affairs-Contact the student affairs and activities office on campus to see how you can reach the students and advertise your products or services to them efficiently. You may be able to sponsor a dorm activity or give a presentation to a group of students around campus. There are ample opportunities to get your business out there, you just have to find it and you won’t find it unless you ask.
3. Campus Newspaper-Almost EVERY campus has a newspaper which you can advertise in and most students will see you ad. Don’t just throw a 3-line ad int eh classifieds ,get the quarter or half page ad to maximize your returns. Ads running in the campus newspaper are pretty cheap so you can afford to try out a different ad or two to see which one produces the best results. Again, do your research…go to campus and pick up a newspaper to see what ads are running in there and tailor yours accordingly.

Remember, there are 20.4 million college students enrolled across America with a spending power of $417 Billion! There’s plenty of money to go around so be sure and get your piece of this lucrative market today!

Should you require assistance in tapping into the college student market, do not hesitate to contact The Hardy Group at contact@hardyconsultation.com or call 434-770-0230.

We’ll be happy to assist and help you take your sales to the next level by marketing to college students the right way!