No matter what product or service is being offered to the college student market, your brand is likely already have started to think about the approaching holiday season. Even if your brand does not offer the traditional “gift-able” item, you should not discount this season of increased spending. When building a strategy, it is important to push efforts to communicate marketing to consumers. The 2016 holiday season revealed that holiday consumer spending had gone up in comparison to previous years. Here are some ways to capitalize and prepare for this year’s holiday season.
- Focus on offering more value, not more discounts
When college students think of holiday shopping, they immediately think of brands offering flashy discounts. Therefore, almost every brand is now offering discounts. To differentiate your brand, you don’t need bigger discounts, just a better story. College students want to feel a connection with a brand that goes beyond what they physically offer them. The best way to encourage that authenticity is to integrate storytelling within your campaigns.
- Prepare a budget and stick with it
One of the biggest complaints from retailers is that while sales increased during the end of the year, overall profit did not. A lot of money was used in marketing and operations ate into the extra profit. Therefore, before the holiday season gets in full force, it is important to take extra care in looking at upcoming expenses and generating a sales estimate. Decide from there the exact number your brand is willing to spend on advertising, and choose the appropriate channels that fit that budget. For more information on different advertising strategies to target college students, contact us at OnCampus Advertising.
- Identify appropriate channels for campaigns
There are endless options of how to go about executing your advertising campaign. Which channels you choose depends on many factors including budget, timing, and targeted audience. OnCampus is here to help in choosing the appropriate channels that is best suited for the audience of college students your brand is interested in targeting.
- Produce all marketing materials as soon as possible
Once you have decided on a budget and the channels to use, it is important to design the creative assets as soon as possible. It is important to check this step off early, as once the season starts, getting graphics done last minute will be stressful. Additionally, many design freelancers or agencies will be swamped and an expedited service fee will be incurred.
