The first and foremost question would be: What are the benefits of marketing to the University community?
The answer is simple.
Firstly, holding your marketing activities in the University would allow a more specific target market. At least you know the age group and segment of the consumers who are affected by the marketing stimuli within the University. That way, if your product is for the age group which includes undergraduates, it is a more direct approach as compared to mass marketing. Or, if you'd like a even more niched target segment, for example, ladies who are interested in networking, then clubs like NUS 85 Broads Club would be relevant to approach.
Having a more targeted segment also means less cost incurred. Instead of mass marketing to the public and competing with other advertisers out there, why not just directly bring the product/company to the school where your target segment can easily comprehend and digest?
Apart from marketing, HR has some benefits to gain too. With the huge amount of talent available, the University community is probably the best place to get fresh talent! Instead of having these graduates retrieve from their evoked set about applying to their first company, why not have repetitive signals about your company and remind them that your company is the best? Afterall, there is always the perception that companies that one has seen or known about are always "better" (in terms of perception/awareness) than those I've never heard about. So B2B companies, which are hardly known by a normal consumer, would have a good advantage to leverage on here.
Ways to market to in the University community
There are several ways to market your company/brand to the target market of the University students. Those of which are recommended below...
Collaborate with the University to Organize a Case Competition
*Increase awareness: By having a full fledged university case competition, especially with attractive prizes as incentives, will definitely attract students to take part in the competition. Taking part in a competition is usually considered as a "prestigious" event, that will easily spread to other students by Word-of-mouth (WOM).
*Reduce cost/ Obtain Fresh Ideas: Having problems with your company that is difficult to solve or you need fresh input into an aspect in the company? Holding a competition will enable the company to leverage on the ideas generated by these undergraduates. Pose the problem to the students and whoever comes up with the most feasible solution will win a prize (could be cash). Some may argue that having prize money is not exactly cost-saving to the company. However, it is important to consider the fact that the cost to be able to solve that particular problem could be even more costly than what is offered in the prize money.
>> Some examples of companies or organizations tapping on University talent: L'Oreal Brandstorm, and the Stomp Aids Challenge.
Sponsoring a certain segment of the University (Something Tangible and can be Seen)
This is seen in many Universities around the world, but probably less so in Singapore. Yes, there are buildings that are named after certain philanthropists, but go down to the details and you realize that there are still parts that a company could tap on.
*Lecture Theaters: This is taken from the example when I was in Copenhagen Business School (CBS) for my student exchange. I noticed that the lecture theaters (LTs) are named after professional companies such as Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young etc. Whereas in Singapore, for example in NUS, we have LT16, LT5 etc. Having the lecture theater named after the company will greatly increase awareness because it is repetitive information. Even after being away for about 3 months from CBS, I can still remember how those LTs were named. Definitely will be of benefit to those companies when it comes to job search for those to-be-graduates.
*A Study Corner: This example is also taken from CBS. As per the picture below, companies can sponsor a study corner which is totally decorated differently from the rest of the surroundings. It can be decorated in the style of the company, and is a nice spot for students to study, or even chit chat for that matter. Novozymes is what is featured in the example below. Because of their sponsorship of this "cool corner", I spotted their company's name and actively asked around to know what Novozymes was. Especially when the spot is attractively decorated, it can create a positive impression to students and without doubt, increase awareness for the company.
The answer is simple.
Firstly, holding your marketing activities in the University would allow a more specific target market. At least you know the age group and segment of the consumers who are affected by the marketing stimuli within the University. That way, if your product is for the age group which includes undergraduates, it is a more direct approach as compared to mass marketing. Or, if you'd like a even more niched target segment, for example, ladies who are interested in networking, then clubs like NUS 85 Broads Club would be relevant to approach.
Having a more targeted segment also means less cost incurred. Instead of mass marketing to the public and competing with other advertisers out there, why not just directly bring the product/company to the school where your target segment can easily comprehend and digest?
Apart from marketing, HR has some benefits to gain too. With the huge amount of talent available, the University community is probably the best place to get fresh talent! Instead of having these graduates retrieve from their evoked set about applying to their first company, why not have repetitive signals about your company and remind them that your company is the best? Afterall, there is always the perception that companies that one has seen or known about are always "better" (in terms of perception/awareness) than those I've never heard about. So B2B companies, which are hardly known by a normal consumer, would have a good advantage to leverage on here.
Ways to market to in the University community
There are several ways to market your company/brand to the target market of the University students. Those of which are recommended below...
Collaborate with the University to Organize a Case Competition
*Increase awareness: By having a full fledged university case competition, especially with attractive prizes as incentives, will definitely attract students to take part in the competition. Taking part in a competition is usually considered as a "prestigious" event, that will easily spread to other students by Word-of-mouth (WOM).
*Reduce cost/ Obtain Fresh Ideas: Having problems with your company that is difficult to solve or you need fresh input into an aspect in the company? Holding a competition will enable the company to leverage on the ideas generated by these undergraduates. Pose the problem to the students and whoever comes up with the most feasible solution will win a prize (could be cash). Some may argue that having prize money is not exactly cost-saving to the company. However, it is important to consider the fact that the cost to be able to solve that particular problem could be even more costly than what is offered in the prize money.
>> Some examples of companies or organizations tapping on University talent: L'Oreal Brandstorm, and the Stomp Aids Challenge.
Sponsoring a certain segment of the University (Something Tangible and can be Seen)
This is seen in many Universities around the world, but probably less so in Singapore. Yes, there are buildings that are named after certain philanthropists, but go down to the details and you realize that there are still parts that a company could tap on.
*Lecture Theaters: This is taken from the example when I was in Copenhagen Business School (CBS) for my student exchange. I noticed that the lecture theaters (LTs) are named after professional companies such as Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young etc. Whereas in Singapore, for example in NUS, we have LT16, LT5 etc. Having the lecture theater named after the company will greatly increase awareness because it is repetitive information. Even after being away for about 3 months from CBS, I can still remember how those LTs were named. Definitely will be of benefit to those companies when it comes to job search for those to-be-graduates.
*A Study Corner: This example is also taken from CBS. As per the picture below, companies can sponsor a study corner which is totally decorated differently from the rest of the surroundings. It can be decorated in the style of the company, and is a nice spot for students to study, or even chit chat for that matter. Novozymes is what is featured in the example below. Because of their sponsorship of this "cool corner", I spotted their company's name and actively asked around to know what Novozymes was. Especially when the spot is attractively decorated, it can create a positive impression to students and without doubt, increase awareness for the company.
Novozymes study corner in CBS cafeteria.Sponsorships of Events
*Increase awareness/Provide information of the company: Sponsorship of events are actually beneficial. However, in order to attract students to come to those events/talks, it is more advisable to have them free-of-charge. Why? Firstly, students are students and do not have the financial power to sign up and pay for something which have uncertain benefits. So having it free will encourage more sign-ups (which is the case if you're taking about increasing awareness right?)
>> For example, recently, I attended a talk on beauty and grooming, organized by NUS 85 Broads Club and sponsored by Shiseido - which was free. I learnt a lot about make-up which I didn't know about e.g. eyebrow shaping, and that if you have small eyes, putting on eye liner is not exactly necessary. After seeing the make-up artist perform, I had the urge to actually buy one of their products. Because the talk was informative as much as it was entertaining, after the talk, I had an overall positive attitude/impression about Shiseido as a company.
>> For example, recently, I attended a talk on beauty and grooming, organized by NUS 85 Broads Club and sponsored by Shiseido - which was free. I learnt a lot about make-up which I didn't know about e.g. eyebrow shaping, and that if you have small eyes, putting on eye liner is not exactly necessary. After seeing the make-up artist perform, I had the urge to actually buy one of their products. Because the talk was informative as much as it was entertaining, after the talk, I had an overall positive attitude/impression about Shiseido as a company.
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