Marketing to College Students — the College Demographic

Posted by Tim on September 22nd, 2008

In 2008, 95.7% of college students—17.4 million people—will go online at least once per month.They are the most digitally connected demographic group in the US.

Students have grown up with technology and it is a seamless part of their lives.They are increasingly likely to own a laptop computer, and about 90% of undergraduates have a mobile phone. Students are key drivers of change in technology usage.They brought social networks into the mainstream, and such sites remain hugely popular with this group. Watching online video is another activity that is growing fast. And students will be mobile Internet trendsetters in the coming years, as they demand access to friends and information, whenever.

Key Themes

Several traits characterize today’s college market:

Students want both to be accessible and haveaccess to information whenever, wherever.
There is rarely a moment when students are completely out of touch.They want to seamlessly get information and interact with friends in multiple ways. “They feel like everything should be available to them on-demand and they expect to have several things going on simultaneously,” said Samantha Skey, executive vice president for strategic marketing at youth marketing company Alloy Media + Marketing, in an August 2008 interview with eMarketer.
Several traits characterize today’s college market: Students want both to be accessible and have access to information whenever, wherever.
There is rarely a moment when students are completely out of touch.They want to seamlessly get information and interact with friends in multiple ways. “They feel like everything should be available to them on-demand and they expect to have several things going on simultaneously,” said Samantha Skey, executive vice president for strategic marketing at youth marketing company Alloy Media + Marketing, in an August 2008 interview with eMarketer.

Social networks are still a mainstay.

In a report slated to be published later this year, the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research found that use of social networks among college students is rising. Nearly twice as many undergraduate students visit social networks daily in 2008 as did so in 2006. More time is spent online than watching TV. Despite all the talk about students’ multitasking abilities, they report spending more time online than they do watching TV.Two-thirds of undergraduate students surveyed by Burst Media reported watching TV 3 hours or less per week. By comparison, over one-half of students (53%) spent at least 6 hours online per week. Students are leading the way to the mobile Internet. The iPhone was high on the list of cool back-to-school items, thanks to its price cut and the resurgence of Apple computers on campuses.According to researcher Youth Trends, nearly one-third (31%) of male undergraduate students who own a mobile phone and 21% of female mobile phone owners have a smartphone. “The iPhone is changing everything. It’s the device dujour among college students,” said Mr. Britton.

College students are mini-media brands. Students are not only media consumers, they are media publishers.They broadcast their thoughts and actions to friends on social network sites; publish music, video and pictures online; and write blogs and record podcasts.

It is somewhat of a myth that college students are difficult to reach with marketing. With their intense media consumption, they can be found in many places. But their media usage is also highly fragmented—in bits and pieces between classes, studying and socializing with friends. For this reason, marketers who want to each the college crowd effectively will need to rely heavily on word-of-mouth marketing, both online and offline.

US Consumer Spending on Back-to-College Products, by Category, 2008 (billions)

Electronics

$11.05

Clothing

$7.01

Dorm/apartment furnishings

$4.74

School supplies

$3.57

Shoes

$3.05

Collegiate gear