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You might remember many months ago I had big plans to launch a student marketing service using posters at university campuses in Australia. There is a similar service in the USA (in fact a business that is 20+ years old that has been using posters and other direct marketing techniques on university campuses for years) and I wanted to create the equivalent in Australia, although my main intentions where to use it as a vehicle to promote my other businesses for no cost and maybe make a profit if things went well.

A long story short, I stopped pursuing that idea a while ago. I was just rummaging through my archive folder for the student postering business and I came across a “Free Report” I was in the middle of producing to use to market the service. I was intending to give it away to business owners to build a list of potential clients and educate people on the effectiveness of poster advertising.

Copywriting Newbie

I am still a work-in-progress when it comes to writing good sales copy but back then I was only just getting started and this free report is evidence of one of my first attempts at writing content that sells. The letter isn’t too bad however it’s clear I was reproducing a lot of concepts from sales letters I had come across online, which isn’t a bad thing, but it needed some polishing.

For a bit of fun I thought it might be interesting to reproduce the letter here on Entrepreneur’s Journey and let everyone critique it. Do you think this is a good free report? Would it sell the service I was intending to offer (would you be interested in buying?) How would you recommend improving it?

If you have any comments, don’t be shy - reply, I’d love to read your opinion.

Here is the letter completely unedited…

The 5 little know facts and insider secrets to save you thousands of advertising dollars and help you tap into the lucrative student marketplace.

By www.Student-Marketing.com.au

The 80/20 Rule

Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? This rule states that 20% of your efforts lead to 80% of the results. It’s not a strict rule but it has been proven in millions of situations both in business and general life. I bet if you look at your business chances are 20% of the advertising methods you use result in 80% of the profits you make. Doesn’t it make sense to pursue those methods that bring in the most money for the least cost? Of course it does!

It’s easy to apply the 80/20 rule when it comes to student marketing. It’s a fact that there is one location where you will find more students than any other place - university campuses.

You can reach roughly 80% of the entire student marketplace by picking the largest university campuses to focus your advertising. It’s not rocket science - advertise where you find the most people to maximise your exposure.

Misdirected Advertising

If you only have a small advertising budget why waste your dollars on methods that only partly target your marketplace?

Placing ads randomly in all kinds of different mainstream media such as local papers, magazines, buses, billboards etc. might give you good exposure at high cost but only a small percentage of the people that see these ads are in your target market. That’s a lot of advertising wastage.

Think about it - would you prefer 1% of 10,000 people or 30% of 1000 people?

You can save yourself thousands of advertising dollars and effort by simply selecting the advertising methods that best target your market.

If you sell a product or service that primarily targets students you should be choosing on-campus advertising media.

Spending thousands of dollars without any testing

This one always baffles me. So many businesses simply assume that an advertising method works and will spend thousands of dollars with absolutely no testing whatsoever. They assume that if the big companies do it than it must work. This simply is not true. Big expensive advertising methods do not necessarily equate to big sales for you.

Like anything in life you should test to find out first. You never know what results are until you put something into practice.

The problem is that many mainstream advertising methods will cost at least a few thousand dollars for just the basic package. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of investing a couple of grand on advertising not knowing what the results will be like.

The great thing about student marketing is that there are many affordable methods to advertise on campus that cost very little to test. If the results aren’t up to scratch then you have only lost a couple of hundred dollars. On the upside, if the results are great than you have found yourself an advertising method that is affordable and effective, the holy grail of marketing!

Students love to talk

I’m sure you have heard of word-of-mouth, or viral marketing. Many businesses report that the majority of their new clients come from word-of-mouth; their current or past clients telling their friends or family about your business. This is great because it’s a personal recommendation - you can’t buy that sort of advertising.

Word of mouth tends to happen naturally if you provide a quality service or product. The great news is that if you target students and impress them with your services or products, they just love to tell each other about it!

Students are quick to spread the word about products or services they enjoy. If you can tap the student market than you have a perfect platform for explosive word-of-mouth growth.

Students are experimental and it’s natural at this point in life for them to be eager to experience new things and try new products. What’s even better is that once they find something they like they often carry this preference with them well after they leave university and join the working class.

Persistence leads to results

It’s funny how so many business owners will place an advertisement once, receive a trickle of responses and complain about the poor results.

Potential clients must be exposed to your advertisement at least three times, preferably more, before they will take action and become customers.

Marketing to students is no different. The more times a student sees your brand or advertisement the more likely it is that they will think of you when the need for your product or service arises. Persistent advertising leads to results.

Over time a good advertising campaign will repeat a message over and over to students so an association is built that links your business with a need. This is very powerful. Imagine if potential customers always thought of you whenever the need for your type of product or service surfaced.

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The basics for a successful student marketing campaign.

• Leverage the 80/20 rule by advertising at the biggest university campuses. This is the best place to reach the most students at one time.
• Pick media that reaches your target audience. Don’t waste money on advertising methods that only partly hit your audience. This is advertising wastage.
• Test advertising methods first. Choose the advertising methods that are affordable to test before investing large sums. Spend money for results, not speculative results.
• Choosing to target the student marketplace allows you to leverage very powerful word-of-mouth channels. If your student marketing campaign is successful, the windfalls are tremendous.
• Be persistent over time. You need to be exposed to students at least three times before they create an association with your business and become aware of what you provide.

By Yaro Starak manager of Student-Marketing.

For more free articles visit www.Student-Marketing.com.au