Students in Marketing

The current state of the market for goods and services makes producers pay more attention to consumers. Not just the question “Who will be a consumer of our products, and what are his needs?” comes to the fore, but rather “What are the characteristic features of a consumer of our goods?”

What is marketing for students

Marketing experts divide the consumer market by age:

• Generation X: 35 - 49 years;
• Generation Y: 20 - 34 years;
• Generation Z: 16 - 19 years.

In accordance with the age category, companies develop their strategy to promote their product.

The student audience of buyers contains a youth audience, which belongs to the age group of 18-32 years. Its main feature is dynamism, the desire to learn something new, try new products, take advantage of new services, and purchase new products.

Students belong to the part of the population that makes independent decisions about the goods purchasing. Representatives of this group have not yet formed a level of financial wealth and belonging to a certain social class. They mostly locate far from home and live in dormitories. Many of them begin their careers by working in their first jobs.

Increasingly frequent, young people choose clothes, focusing particularly on their individual style. The need for individualization of style allows many new brands of products to exist in the world market.

Despite the fact that part of the student audience is not committed to specific brands, we can observe the formation of loyalty to some of them. For example, Nike has become a cult brand among fans of street basketball, Campus backpacks and windbreakers are popular among young people interested in tourism, and the iPod has become an element of an individual image among young music lovers.

Student audiences are a “tasty” segment for any company. Since it is at a young age when the consumer has the most stable relationship with the brands that he will take “into adulthood.” Thus, a brand that has achieved customer loyalty in his youth, and has proposals for an adult audience, can count on the long term stability of sales.

Students are able to spend the most money on entertainment and traveling, and the least on real estate purchases. In addition, they almost do not keep money in cash, preferring banks to their own pocket. This makes student communities desirable and attractive for financial institutions.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Internet marketing technologies aimed at the audience of students. Modern students spend a lot of time on the Internet. Therefore, trading companies use already existing social networks and sites (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, thematic forums, and communities) to advertise. They also re-create online communities, blogs, and viral videos that address the brand’s objectives.

Students show a high degree of confidence in the recommendations, and reviews of other people (the so-called social proof). Social networks are a place where young people spend quite a lot of time, and no one is surprised by the fact that, when choosing a product, 66 percent of them are guided by the advice of their friends and acquaintances on social media. In turn, young people themselves are ready to give advice and write such recommendations.

Content marketing is a profitable and highly effective way to let students know about a company and its products. According to surveys, 85 percent of young buyers, before becoming clients of any company, conduct a small preliminary study: a user collects information about a company and its products, gets acquainted with customer reviews and online reviews. The information that is posted on the official website of the company also is subjected to a close analysis.

Consequently, websites created in support of an advertising campaign should not be just convenient and informative, but also interactive. However, not only is image information important, but so are the news chronicle about all sorts of discounts and sales, about the release of a new product line, etc.

The link between promo in the virtual and real world is mobile phones. More than half of the representatives of the student audience actively use mobile devices when making purchases on the Internet. Considering it, we can easily make two obvious conclusions:

1. It is necessary to optimize the process of shopping for mobile devices. This means that you need to use only large images, set up a friendly interface (for example, embed large buttons that are easy to click on mobile devices), provide high speed of loading a web page, etc.
2. The process of buying should also be optimized for all types of devices.

Let us turn to an overview of ways to communicate with young people in the real world—on the streets and on the Internet. The first tool is BTL actions—a marketing communications complex that allows you to contact with participants of promotions personally, directly at points of sale.

The second thing that is more or less well known is the branded festivals (Urbania, Oktoberfest, Tuborg, Greenfest, etc.). The list continues with guerrilla marketing, flash mobs, and brand embassies in universities.

Creating a brand embassy, at first glance, looks weird. The technology is rather simple: opinion leaders are chosen among young people, a brand signs a contract with them, and they act as local stars—that is, they must wear or use a brand’s products for a certain number of days per month. In addition, the team of ambassadors receives bonuses for increasing sales in each particular university. Brand embassies can be organized in the form of permanent focus groups in an informal setting, and in the form of a supplier of branded products for students—from t-shirts to chocolates.

Students are an important segment of buyers in the modern business space. If you want to get across to them, then you need to learn to speak the same language. Do not forget this when developing your marketing strategy.