I always like to just help people with their questions. Below are some questions I recieved from people following me on Linkedin.

Hey Adam,
I am interested in this as well. One of the divisions of the company I work for is involved in off campus student housing for Miami, Oxford, UC (U of Cincinnati) and Xavier. Any thoughts on this market? Any students at either of these already involved in your program?

Derek,
I do have students in those markets. A student is a good start but finding out your end result is what will turn that student into a great student. Is it to drive students to the leasing office, is it to schedule talks around campus…etc. An idea I had is to make a apartment guide and call it the Student Apartment Guide. Partner up with a small student publication to insert it within their distribution. Dont put any logos on the publication, just your contact info to the leasing offices. Exchange distribution in your apartment complexes for the month that your guide is going into their publication as a insert. (This is why you work with small publications to avoid $$$$ of big publications). There are plenty of hidden gem student publications out there…This is just an idea but easy for students to execute on campus and has driven results for me in the past at some Big Ten colleges when I was working with a property management client.

Adam,
Thanks for the great insight! I actually don’t direct the actions on this, but the guy who does has asked me on several occasions how he can build awareness and obviously fill rooms/homes. This is a great idea and I will pass it along to him to see if he can move with it. Thanks a lot!

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From Michael
We provide uniforms (wearables) and other promotional products . Currently we work with Penn State’s admission office for polos, jackets, tees, etc. We also worked for LaSalle University’s food service department. Any suggestions as to how to do more business with the colleges. Would prefer to work within the Philadelphia, PA area.

Michael,
I have found it is about creating relationships with different departments at universities. It is about digging deep by asking a lot of how and why questions. You will be able to uncover needs by that if you dig deep enough. There are many departments within a university that need promotional supplies and I assume it is all about timing. So asking time frames they do their ordering would be key too.
Most information about departments can be found online also. For example, take Michigan State University. They have student government info on asmsu.msu.edu or University Activities Board info at uabevents.com where you can read about upcoming events and hit them up at the right time to create a working relationship.

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Great Discussion on marketing to college students can be found by clicking here