Summer is approaching and rising inflation is hitting young people hard. They still want to celebrate the warmer months with new clothes and fun experiences, but they’re looking for discounts to save them precious pennies.
As brands, it’s your responsibility to step up and support these young shoppers with great discounts. And as a Student Beans partner, we want to make sure you get the most out of your relationship with us.
Today, Izzy Cowan, Client Services Team Lead at Student Beans, shares her top tips on how you, as a brand partner, can optimize your media placements to get maximum results.
8 ways brand partners can get the most from their Student Beans media
1. Run a strong boost
Boost your student discount to create compulsion amongst students with a competitive offer they just can’t ignore!
2. Run a full-funnel campaign
Focus on the ‘Big Three’: Awareness, Consideration , and Conversion.
Awareness campaigns will help you build brand affinity before peak shopping periods. So when Gen Z are looking for their next purchase, your brand is the first that comes to mind! These campaigns could include anything from social media campaigns, through to sponsor or co-created blog posts.
Consideration is all about making your brand stand out from the crowd when Gen Z students are deciding who to buy from. Keep your brand front of mind with app placement ads, or an attention grabbing creator marketing campaign.
And lastly, conversion is all about getting that sale over the line! This is when your student discount will seriously come into its own. Make sure your offer is visible across your website, in your email newsletter and standing out on the Student Beans site – to make those savvy students feel like they’re grabbing a bargain.
3. Use current imagery
Whatever sector your brand falls into, competition is stiff. And with students being even more savvy about their spending thanks to rising inflation, you need to really stand out in the crowd if you want to secure their spending.
“Regularly updating your imagery to make sure it stands out rather than getting lost in a sea of familiarity is important”, says Izzy. “Using models who look like they might be of student age is going to be super relevant for our user group”, as well as using imagery that is seasonally appropriate.
4. Make sure you’re visible, regularly
You need to be seen during loan drops and off-season to really grab students’ attention. Competition is rife, and you need to convince students to spend their hard-earned cash with you!
But it’s not just TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter that matter – email marketing is also a massive pull for these young shoppers. In fact, we found 69% of students want to be notified about offers via email! Segmenting your marketing lists and shouting about your great efforts is a great way to reach those young people who are just waiting for your latest discount to land in their inbox.
5. Work with your Account Manager and Customer Success Executive to uncover the most optimal promotional periods
Your Student Beans Account Manager and Customer Success team have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips that they’re dying to share with you! By having regular catch-ups, you’ll be able to uncover key details to truly optimize your success, like: which days your student discount performs at its best, what offer competitors are running and SO much more.
6. Align student offers with your key dates and promotional calendar
If you’re holding a sitewide sale, or are launching special deals for key shopping periods – like Black Friday or Back to School, make sure your student discount can be stacked on top. This creates a sense of urgency for penny-pinching students to take advantage of the offers before it’s too late. Give them an offer they simply can’t afford to ignore!
7. Check what extras you can add to your offers
Think about offering buy now, pay later or free shipping. Whether it’s a delivery saving that will get their product to them for free or a quick and easy payment deal, students always want the best offer available and will be easily swayed.
The type of discount matters too. For students, ‘£10 off’ isn’t as appealing as ‘10% off’, something that’s important to bear in mind. “Students prefer not to be tied to a certain spend, which means they’re more likely to spend more if they feel they’re getting a cheeky discount which is proportional to their spend”, says Izzy.
By swapping monetary for percentage discounts, you’ll see those conversions increase in no time.
8. Promote products that have recently launched on your website
If your offer is available across several products (great!), then make sure you’re creating separate offers for the most popular products to allow students to see the full value. This might even alert consumers to products they didn’t know they could get a discount on!
A great example comes from Schuch, who engaged students by highlighting offers on their trending products. “Schuch offers a 10% discount and they highlight some of the relevant products for Gen Z right now, such as Crocs and Nike Air Force”, says Izzy. “This really engages students, and if your offer is available across several products, creating those separate offers allows students to see the full value of your offer.”
Want to hear more about how you can optimize your Student Beans partnership? Speak to your Account Manager.
