How times have changed

Here come the students!

Can you remember that scary first day of Uni? Waving goodbye to your teary-eyed Mum and anxiously navigating your way to the Student Union for the cheapest drink you could find. Well, I know it seems hazy to me, but I am sure we all have a few vivid memories. This nostalgic thought on a Friday afternoon got me thinking about how marketing has dramatically changed since ‘my day’. Long gone is the radio spiel and the columns of university adverts in the newspaper. Well, now our teenagers are targeted by social media, videos and all the rest of the clever stuff agencies and brands do to get our attention.

It doesn't seem that long ago that I was using MSN messenger for mundane chats and Limewire for dodgy downloads (just music of course, promise). I am pretty sure these weren't full of adverts and targeting. I am sure the advertising times have changed and this in turn has changed how a consumer, or potential consumer, absorbs marketing messages.

There are over a million students in higher education, who spend on average over ￡2,000 in preparation for uni (yes, before they even get there!) So, it certainly seems like a keen and valid audience to create a specific campaign for.

Is 7 the magic number?

I was told that people need to see an advertisement 7 times, for them to be converted to a customer. I still believe it. But the questions are; how does that really work in today's modern society? If it still works, how long does it take to convert? Is this a week? A day? An hour?

With technology now so readily (and literally) at our fingertips we see so many more adds a day. So how many more buying decisions do we make and when do we make them? We looked at a recent study we did about students and saw the following about how they use social media:

This an example of just 5 social media channels and look at the variation of activity the student does and how they use the platforms - do you consider this in your campaigns?

That's 5 channels and likely 5 touch points in just 1 day!

So do you know this audience?

You need to ask yourself- do you know this audience? We feel that we understand the student and how they move along their journey not just to Uni but how and when they are interacting. We have recently moved in to creating optimised and data driven campaigns and it been working really well. We have seen more interest in the first party data we have to build highly reactive campaigns and more targeted approach. We overlay the student journey from the application process. We know the day they get accepted so why not share in the same success, be the brand that really knows the student. I mean of course this will help you increase engagement and with a well thought outcome or action based on the image above it could help you create the noise and not be lost in it.

So why would you create a social campaign to just target 18-24 year old's with a student message if you don't know if they are a fresher or about to graduate, or even worse not even a student. As mentioned about you need to have 7 points of contact before that all important purchase, why would you make the first contact the wrong one. Worth consideration, no?

To download the full UCAS report click this link and fill in your details and one of the client experience team will be in contact.

Cheers all

Luke Clarke - [email protected]