BAM Student Marketing explores some of this year’s biggest student trends and how brands can tap into them to target the student audience.
Just when a business thinks they know their audience, new technologies, new behaviours and even new audiences appear that shake the market once again.
At BAM knowing students is our bread and butter and we’ve got 20 years of experience that proves it. So after two decades of connecting brands with the student audience, we’ve got pretty good at predicting the next big trends that connect these consumers in the ever-changing landscape of Student Marketing.
Transparency is key
We strive to continue to develop the latest technologies, but as we do so we also make it possible for our consumers to view and track us at every stage of the development and delivery journey.
This is why Transparency is more important than ever before. If you’ve got something to hide then you should be prepared for this to be found out.
Communication will always happen between humans, this works in your favour if you are a transparent brand with a lot of positives to showcase, but it will work against you if your product or service journey isn’t meeting the ethical or moral ideals of your audience.
The 2019 student is more conscientious than ever before, they care about where their products come from and the process that gets them to their door.
Transparency is now key in winning the hearts, trust and most importantly, the Capital of the student consumer. Share your values, goals and processes in a transparent and authentic way and your brand will be rewarded.
A password protected lifestyle
After all the hacking’s, breaches of data and invasions of privacy over the past year, people have seriously clued up about their online security and are more cautious than ever before, with students being no exception.
No matter the size of your business, you should ensure your security is meticulous, even if this isn’t obvious to your consumers, they still deserve thorough online protection when it comes to their details, data and privacy.
You may think that in 2019 that this is now a compulsory business requirement, but it’s not and customers are starting to notice this. Win the trust of the student consumer by promising them your bullet proof protection and increase your reputation of online safety and watch students favour you over your competitors who have not been as fail safe with their online security.
Becoming the face of your brand
As a brand your audience is everything to you. Utilise this and start to make your student consumers part of your student brand stories.
Students connect with students, even if they share no other connecting qualities or factors, they are all united by the fact that they are students and they trust each others recommendations and reviews.
Whether you include students in your brand stories though publishing testimonials, recruiting student Brand Ambassadors or even curate a place for students to discuss and review your brand online, showcasing your engagement and activity with this audience will inevitably influence the student market into seeing your brand in a positive and student loved light. It also provides you an organic and cost effective way of bypassing traditional influencer marketing.
Think Visual
It’s no secret that the use of imagery and strong visuals has been a fast growing trend in general marketing within the last 5 years, but taking this one step further in 2019, visual searches are set to become the norm.
Today’s students have grown up alongside the highly visual and engaging worlds of Instagram and Facebook and as a result of this constant bombardment of digital imagery has become a part of their everyday lives.
Although voice searching is also on the increase, when it comes to a more accurate and specific search, the future is visual.
A pioneer in this technology, Google, has long enabled reverse-image searching, but more recent developments in recording technology now makes it possible for consumers to take real world pictures and accurately and effectively find information about the subject of the image.
Pinterest was one of the first student favourite sites to implement this lens feature back in February 18, with ASOS following close behind by launching its Style Match reverse image search for shoppable clothes in March 18.
Although it is unlikely that visual search will replace text based searching over the next year, or even within the next few years, it does open the door to a new word of exciting possibilities that will inevitably play a large part in the future of searching (Sentance, 2016).
BAM Student Marketing is a niche, values driven agency. BAM have the experience and expertise to deliver full-service youth marketing campaigns from concept creation through to campaign evaluation, and everything in-between. Whether dipping into one element or the whole package, their clients benefit from their 20 years’ experience and unparalleled insight into the youth market.
