Student Marketing

A term most often used in the UK, student marketing refers to the promotion of products, brands and ideas to the 3 million+ higher and further education student population. Student marketing is generally realised through student media or ambient marketing on campuses.

Student marketing is not the same as Student Union Marketing which concentrates on marketing opportunities only through Student Union, Association and Guild media. This type of media is powered through companies who provide media services for student union bodies as well as the production of their newspapers and website systems.

Students are estimated by NUS Services Ltd to spend over £13 billion a year, making them a key market for consumer brands.

With the growth and development of the internet, campaigns have vastly diversified and now include multiple elements from traditional on-campus activity to bluetooth, Adwalkers, email, sms, online and social media. Leading youth brands such as the BBC, Burger King, O2, Red Bull, Virgin, to name a few, are actively engaging with the UK student market through agencies such as Campus Group, BAM Student Marketing, Campus Media and The Lounge Group, and media channels such as helloU who produce the official universities welcome parcels directly into the student bedrooms.

A leading factor in the diversification of the market has been the rapid growth in the size of the student market in the UK over recent years, with 1.8 million students now in Higher Education Programmes.

Although students do have a restricted budget many are living away from home and are therefore making independent choices over which brands to buy for the very first time. Attracting students at this time has huge long run brand loyalty effects.

With a combined spending power of more than £10 billion and an average student spending over £5,000 each year the student market can be a highly lucrative one. Students are certainly the most profitable group of 18- to 24-year-olds.

University students make an ideal target market for internet-based companies. Over 99% of students are comfortable using the internet, going online at least once a week, although usually every day.

They also don’t have the same fear of the internet as much of the general population, particularly when it comes to purchasing goods online – average online spend is 7 times higher than that of the general population.

Finally, whilst the working population uses the internet predominantly for work purposes, two-thirds of the time that students spend online is general surfing.

When it comes to targeting students they have in the past been considered an elusive group, with much of their time taken up on campus and through socialising. Traditional forms of advertising, such as mainstream radio, TV and billboard advertising campaigns, are not ideal channels for reaching today’s students.

• The Student Organisation – These being Students' Unions, Students' Guilds and Students' Associations (Mainly found in Scotland).

They each have their own media portfolio (From Freshers Fair, Summer Mailings, Newspapers, Handbooks, Email, Website and Flyering etc.), however they are often managed be third party specialist agencies (meaning to promote advertising through these organisations you have to book through there media agency, if booking with another agency, that agency will have to place through the exclusive agency).