How to sell to students

(c) Tony Attwood 2006. Please direct enquiries concerning the right to reprint any
article on this web site to anne@hamilton-house.com

This report is divided into two sections: selling to students who are in the sixth form at school, or in a sixth form college; and selling to students who are in a college of further or higher education, or attending university.

Part 1: Sixth form students

If your product or service can be presented in an educational light it is possible to sell to sixth formers via the school. For example if you are promoting a magazine with some content that will be of use to students (New Scientist springs to mind, along with The Economist or The Spectator) then you could inform the school that sixth formers who subscribe can do so at half price.

The same approach can be used for selling revision guides (although without the discount), CDs that relate to A level music, trips to concerts, historic sites, galleries, and other venues, and indeed anything else that relates to A level studies either directly or as background.

The way to do this is simple. One writes to the school, and states that this product or service is available to students and that the school might like to inform the students of this fact.

Two things will make this approach all the more satisfactory.

Firstly, offer the school something free in return for passing the information on. A subscription to the magazine is one option. Half a dozen free books for the library is another.

Secondly, enclose a letter which the school might like to photocopy onto headed paper and give out to students.

The success of this approach depends on two factors

The way in which the letters are written. There are certain key tactics that really do work here. Get the wrong tone or style or fail to make the right point and the whole thing can fall flat.

The educational aspect of the whole operation. If the product for sale and the free gift look non-educational then the whole thing flops. But this does not mean your product has to be utterly educational. We have managed to turn some fairly unpromising looking items into educational products and services through the way we write about them.

If you would like to talk about this approach, please call Tony Attwood on 01536 399 013.

Part 2: University and college students

Method 1: Sell via their department

Just as it is possible to sell to sixth form students via the school so it is possible to sell to students via their department. The same approach applies. See part 1 above for details. The key aspect of this approach is to do it via the individual departments. Departments have a clear interest in their own students, and will of course have an awareness of the types of products and services that can be of academic interest to their students.

This approach is new, and few organisations are doing it – which is probably why it works well. But I do think that everything does depend on the letters – particularly the letter either to the administrator within the department or the head of department. Generally speaking they are not used to commercial approaches, so any free materials you are providing must be highlighted and headlined, and the educational benefits of the whole approach need to be made explicit. But at the same time you need to remember that you are dealing here with people of considerable intellect who are not going to enjoy being pandered to or talked down to.

Method 2: Sell via the Students Union.

The Students Union is potentially a very good way of reaching students. They are obviously in touch with the students every day and have the opportunity to distribute leaflets, put up posters etc.

Students Unions sometimes handle Freshers information, handing out packs of vouchers etc, and potentially can be a great link with students across the college or university. But “potentially” is the central word here. The problem with Students’ Unions is that they are run by…. Students. Some elected students are good organisers, full of administrative ability and really interested in doing something for their fellows. Others unfortunately are only there for the beer.

What you need to do is to offer the union and/or its officer a reward for doing the promotion – but you need to ensure that the reward is dependant upon the promotion actually happening.

Method 3: Sell via the library coffee shop

Most major university and college libraries have a coffee shop associated with the building – or failing that a suitable lobby where students can relax in between the serious business of reading in the library. These are good places to install stands containing information of interest to students – cards promoting anything that might be of interest to students. The normal approach here is to locate, through the students union, a reliable student who will keep the stand topped up with the cards and information packs.

Method 4: Freshers week

Freshers weeks work in different ways in different universities and colleges but are often a source of information on all things local – plus some national as well. There are no general rules here – you need to know what each establishment does in the opening week and how you can tap into it.

The National Union of Students

The NUS is the obvious organisation that ought to be involved in getting marketing issues like this sorted out, and I believe that they do run various services. All I can say personally is that each time I have tried to get an operation of this sort going, or indeed even tried to get a quote from them, I have had no luck at all. My own philosophy is that if people can’t deal moderately efficiently with a general enquiry then they are unlikely to be able to handle a complete campaign.