How You Can Use Proximity Marketing to Attract Business from Students
Since every year nearly half a million students start new courses at UK universities, armed with new student loans and unheard of amounts of spare time, it makes sense that companies are falling over themselves to attract business from this new demographic. Whilst stereotypes dictate that students are usually poor, there is a very good reason for this: they always spend all their money quite quickly after student loan day.
Another stereotype of students, and one which is usually very accurate, is that they are always out and about, from morning (sometimes) until night time. While this means they are probably going to be spending some money, it also limits the amount of places that you can reach them. Obviously traditional forms of advertising can be effective, such as television and radio ads, along with adverts in magazines – the internet in particular is a good way to reach students, as they are a part of one of the first fully fledged internet generations. With smart phone ownership on the rise, it is becoming increasingly common to access the internet on the move; research shows that students are among the most populated demographics of smart phone ownership.
Since many university campuses are located in the city centre, students invariably have to walk past at least a section of shops on their way to and from lectures. It is likely that they will do at least a little window shopping as they pass, whilst sometimes a stressful lecture will result in a bout of retail therapy. Many shops have to rely on a knowledge of available student discounts or an attractive window display to entice those who are passing, but this does not have to be the case.
Proximity marketing is becoming more and more popular with the student demographic. Proximity marketing uses Bluetooth to appeal directly to the mobile phones of passers-by, but distributing messages as people come into range of the carefully placed transmitters. The system can be used to distribute everything from links to websites, to advertisements and discount vouchers, to mobile apps which students can make use of. Retailers can use the service to target students in particular by placing the transmitters in the student union or close to the university building itself, though some services target both the student demographic and general public in order to maximise revenue for their advertisers. The proximity marketing medium is naturally popular with students due to its implementation of cutting edge technology.
Proximity marketing, using Bluetooth to appeal directly to the mobile phones of passers-by, is extremely popular with the student demographic. Services like JungleDrum distribute discount vouchers and student deals in the town centre.
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